Ireland We've only been to Ireland once. In May 2000 we visited Dublin and County Kerry. This is a very personal view, full of our opinions -- you may not agree with all of them. We'll list only the places we've really liked. Dave & Rita Curbow This will always be a work in progress. We hope you find it helpful. Last update July 23, 2001. Table Of Contents Dublin County Kerry     Dublin Hotels We stayed in the Shelbourne hotel at 27 St. Stephen's Green. We were told this was one of the nicest hotels in Dublin -- we certainly liked it, although it was a bit pricy. We recommend the "Side Door" restaurant in the hotel for casual meals. (More Info) Restaurants We can recommend a couple of places in Dublin -- one was the small cafe in the hotel. We didn't eat in the fancy restaurant in the hotel -- very expensive, and we didn't meet the dress code! For lunch we liked Trentuno Ristorante - Espresso Bar. Its located at 31 Wicklow Street, Dublin. Telephone (01) 6774190. This small restaurant had excellent Italian food, as good as any we've had in the San Francisco Bay Area -- our benchmark. Friendly staff. There's two more places you should try. The first is Butlers Chocolate Cafe. They make some very nice chocolates. There's several shops, one on Grafton Street about 3 blocks from the Shelbourne Hotel. If you then walk a couple of blocks up Grafton towards Trinity College there's another nice restaurant on the left -- I can't remember the name, but it has a shop selling tea and coffee in the front and in the back a two story casual restaurant with very good food and nice people to chat with.   County Kerry We spent several days in County Kerry, one of the counties in the southwest of Ireland. Because this is such a beautiful place there are lots of tourists to this area, which is both good and bad. Good -- lots of hotels, restaurants, shops. Bad -- lots of tourists waiting to get into restaurants, lots of traffic on narrow roads, and sometimes you feel like you're just another dollar sign to the locals. Still, we'd recommend spending a few days here. There are two must-see attractions here -- Muckross House and the Ring of Kerry. Muckross House is a very nice mansion built on a beautiful spot of land facing an ocean inlet. It was built sometime in the early 1800s (I have to check the exact date). The gardens are full of rhodendrons (sp?) -- the ones below must be over 20 feet tall! The Ring Of Kerry This is a very beautiful drive thru rugged country, small villages and towns. You have be on the look out for sheep wandering into the narrow (1 1/2 lane wide!) road. Aside from the sheep, this drive reminded us a bit of driving up Highway 1 from Big Sur to Monterey in California. To drive completely around the ring can take most of a day. BTW: Since tour buses go around the ring, it's a good idea to drive in the same direction rather than meeting them. So, most people drive from Kilarney north to the Ring and then counterclockwise. Somewhere near the southern end of the Ring. This sheep was outside the fence, 3 feet from the road. Back to Dave & Rita Curbow's Travel Page Copyright (c) 2000, 2001 by David and Rita Curbow. All Rights Reserved.