DAY    1            DEPARTURE FROM NORTH AMERICA
Enjoy full meal service on your scheduled wide-bodied flight to Dublin.

DAY    2            ARRIVE DUBLIN - CLONMACNOISE - SLIGO AREA
                          (2 NIGHTS)
We will be met at the airport by our Tour Manager/Guide, and journey into the Irish countryside as we travel to Ireland's beautiful west coast. En route, we will stop for a visit to Clonmacnois, one of Ireland's most profound ancient sites, resting silently on the east bank of the Shannon. St. Ciaran founded the monastic community in 548 at the crucial intersection of the Shannon and the Dublin-Galway land route, and it soon became one of Europe's great centers of learning and culture. We will view the remains of a cathedral, a castle, eight churches, two round towers, three sculpted high crosses, and more than 200 monumental slabs. Our visit will also include the exemplary Visitor Center, with a beautifully designed exhibition, a first-rate audiovisual program, and pleasant tearooms. We continue to the Sligo area.

DAY    3            DAY DEDICATED TO WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS
Today we will enjoy a thematic day of sightseeing around William Butler Yeats, one of Ireland's most important writers. We begin the day with a visit to the Yeats Memorial Building, a 19th-century redbrick Victorian building, which contains an extensive library with items of special interest to Yeats scholars. Our next visit is to the Sligo County Museum for its collection of Yeats memorabilia and modern Irish art. The landscape of Sligo served as an inspiration for much of the poet's work and we will follow the Yeats Trail to see some of the places immortalized in his poetry. Our tour will include Rosses Point, where Yeats used to spend his summers; Glencar Lough, where we will view the waterfall that Yeats described in his poems; a scenic walk around the Isle of Innisfree; and Dooney Rock. We continue with a visit to Lissadell House, on the shores of Sligo Bay, a large neoclassical building and one of Yeats's favorite haunts. Our thematic day concludes in the town of Drumcliffe, site of the Church of Ireland Cemetery where Yeats is buried. The poet's grave, with a simple headstone, bears the dramatic epitaph he composed: "Cast a cold eye on life, on death; Horseman, pass by." The cemetery also contains the ruins of an early Christian monastery founded by St. Columba, and a monastic High Cross.

DAY    4            SLIGO AREA - STROKESTOWN PARK HOUSE - NEWGRANGE                           DUBLIN (5 NIGHTS)
We will leave Sligo this morning and begin our journey to Dublin. En route, we will stop for a visit to Stroketown Park House, the finest Palladian mansion in County Roscommon. The entire estate tailors Palladian principles to the requirements of the Anglo-Irish gentry. Following our tour of the House, we will visit the Famine Museum set in the stable yards, which commemorates the 1840s Famine, and tells the story of tenants and landlords during the crisis. We continue with a visit to Newgrange, Ireland's best-known prehistoric monument, and one of the archaeological wonders of Western Europe. Built as a burial mound more than 5,000 years ago, long before the Great Pyramids and Stonehenge, it sits atop a hill near the Boyne River. Inside, a passage 60 feet long leads to a central burial chamber with a 19-foot ceiling. We return to Dublin, Ireland's capital city. Upon our arrival, we will take an Introductory Walking Tour of Southeast Dublin. We begin outside the Bank of Ireland, one of Dublin's most treasured landmarks, before strolling along Grafton Street, the spine of Dublin's most popular and stylish shopping district. After viewing the Molly Malone statue, we continue to St. Stephen's Green, a beautiful 22-acre park in the heart of Dublin, filled with beautifully landscaped flower beds, fountains, a lake and memorials to important Dubliners. Our walking tour concludes with a walk around Merrion Square, a marvel of Georgian architecture known for its colorful doors and the famous literary figures that once lived here, including Yeats and Wilde.

DAY    5            DUBLIN (SAINTS & SCHOLARS)
Our morning begins with a visit to St. Patrick's Cathedral, the national cathedral of the Church of Ireland. It is said that St. Patrick baptized converts on this site, and consequently a church has stood here since A.D. 450, making it the oldest Christian site in Dublin. St. Patrick's is closely associated with Jonathan Swift, who was dean from 1713 to 1745 and whose tomb lies in the south aisle. Our day continues with a visit to Trinity College, the oldest university in Ireland, with cobbled squares, beautiful gardens, a picturesque quadrangle, and buildings dating from the 17th to the 20th centuries. The college is also home to the Book of Kells, an 8th-century version of the four Gospels with elaborate scripting and illumination. This afternoon we visit the National Museum, established in 1890; the museum is a reflection of Ireland's heritage from 2000 B.C. to the present. The museum houses many of the country's greatest historical finds, including the Treasury Exhibit, with the Ardagh Chalice, Tara Brooch, Cross of Cong, and an extensive exhibition of Irish Bronze Age gold ornaments. This evening we will dine and wander through the lively Temple Bar area.

DAY    6            DUBLIN (LITERARY DUBLIN)
Our morning commences on O'Connell Bridge, where we will begin our Walking Tour of O'Connell Street. As we walk down the central mall, we will view the street's mix of architectural styles. During our walk, we will make a brief detour down Earl Street to view the Statue of James Joyce, which commemorates one of Ireland's most beloved novelists. After viewing the monument to Daniel O'Connell, we visit the James Joyce Cultural Center, in a restored 1784 Georgian town house. Our visit will include the Ulysses Portrait Gallery, with a fascinating collection of photographs and drawings of characters from Ulysses, and the Paul Leon Exhibition Room, which holds the table and writing table used by Joyce in Paris when he was working on Finnegan's Wake. We continue with a visit to the Dublin Writers Museum, housed in a stunning 18th-century Georgian mansion with splendid plasterwork and stained glass. The museum is an impressive reminder of the grandeur of the Irish literary tradition, and Yeats, Joyce, Beckett, Shaw, Wilde, Swift, and Sheridan are among those whose lives and works are celebrated here. Tonight we will enjoy a Theater Performance at the famous Abbey Theater (subject to availability), opened in 1904 under the direction of Yeats and which today still continues the tradition of fine Irish drama.

DAY    7            DAY TRIP TO RUSSBOROUGH HOUSE & POWERSCOURT                           GARDENS
This morning we travel south of Dublin into the county of Wicklow. We begin with a visit to Russborough House, a Palladian mansion and one of Ireland's finest houses. The façade is adorned by heraldic lions and curved colonnades, and the interior is impressive, with superb stucco decoration and Rococo plasterwork. Our visit will also include the Beit Art Collection, with works by Goya, Velazquez, Hals, Rubens and Vermeer. We continue to nearby Powerscourt Gardens, a 1,000-acre estate, featuring some of the finest gardens in Europe, both for their design and their dramatic setting at the foot of Great Sugar Loaf Mountain. The property is filled with splendid Greek and Italian-inspired statuary, decorative ironwork, a petrified-moss grotto, lovely herbaceous borders, a Japanese garden, and a circular pond and fountain with statues of winged horses. We return to Dublin for the evening.

DAY    8            DUBLIN (THE HISTORY OF DUBLIN)
Our morning commences with a stroll along Wood Quay, where the Vikings established their first permanent settlement in Ireland, around 841 AD. We continue with a visit to Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin's oldest building and the mother church of the dioceses of Dublin and Glendalough in the Church of Ireland. Our tour will be highlighted by the "leaning wall of Dublin," the south transept, many fine 16th - 19th century monumental sculptures and brasses, as well as The Crypt, one of the largest medieval crypts in either Britain or Ireland. We continue with a visit to nearby Dublinia, a historically accurate presentation of the Old City during medieval times, which is re-created through a series of theme exhibits, spectacles, and experiences. Aromas will lead us on a journey through time from the arrival of the Anglo-Normans in 1170, to the closure of the monasteries in the 1530s. The remainder of the day will be free to explore or shop in Dublin at our leisure.

DAY    9            DEPARTURE FROM DUBLIN
Our enjoyable and rewarding tour will come to an end as our guide accompanies us to the airport for the return flight home.