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

DAY    2            ARRIVE SHANNON - CLIFFS OF MOHER - LIMERICK AREA
                          (2 NIGHTS)
We will be met at the airport by our tour manager/guide, and transfer to the Cliffs of Moher, a dramatic sheer rock face, rising 700 feet from the Atlantic Ocean and stretching for five miles. During our visit, we will have the opportunity to climb O'Brien's Tower, a viewing point built for the benefit of Victorian tourists. We continue to our hotel in the Limerick area.

DAY    3            ADARE & BUNRATTY
Our day commences with a visit to the town of Adare, billed as Ireland's prettiest village. It is a picture of neat stonework and thatched roofs with picturesque ruins, all in a woodland setting. After time to explore the beauty of Adare, we continue with a visit to Bunratty Castle, a formidable castle built in the 15th century, which has been preserved just as it would have looked in the 1500s. We will take a tour through the castle, including the Great Hall, the Main Guard and the South Solar, before visiting the adjoining Folk Park, which is an authentic re-creation of life in Ireland at the turn of the 20th century. This evening we will enjoy a Medieval Banquet at Bunratty Castle, before returning to our hotel.

DAY    4            LIMERICK AREA - CRAGGAUNOWEN - MUCKROSS HOUSE -
                          KILLARNEY AREA (2 NIGHTS)
This morning we visit the Craggaunowen Project, and the exhibit entitled Craggaunowen: The Living Past, which is designed to bring Bronze Age and Celtic culture to life. This is a shining example of a recreated prehistoric site, created around the grounds of Craggaunowen Castle in the 1960s. People in costume act out particular trades such as spinning and potting, and a French slave describes how communities lived in the ring fort, an early Christian homestead. Our visit will also include a collection of archaeological finds from the area, housed in the castle tower, an Iron Age timber road, a crannog, and a leather-hulled boat used to retrace the route that legend says St. Brendan took across the Atlantic in the 6th century. We continue to County Kerry for a visit to Muckross House, overlooking the Lakes of Killarney. This imposing Victorian mansion is built in the Elizabethan style, and its elegant rooms are decorated with period furnishings. Our visit will also include the Museum of Kerry Life, with displays on the history of southwest Ireland, and a craft center with numerous workshops. After time to wander through the beautifully landscaped Gardens, we continue to our hotel in Killarney.

DAY    5            THE DINGLE PENINSULA
Today we will tour the Dingle Peninsula, which offers some of Ireland's most beautiful scenery. During our scenic driving tour we will stop to view Dingle Harbor, where we may see Fungie the Dolphin; stop to visit An Dun Beag, one of the best-preserved Iron Age forts in Ireland; visit the Fahan Beehive Huts; visit the Blanket Center, which explains the way of life of the inhabitants of the Blanket Islands; stop in Ballyferriter, a small village known for its pastel colored cottages; and stop at Risac, an excavated monastic settlement dating from the 7th century. Next we visit the famous Gallarus Oratory, a tiny drystone church and a relic of early Irish Christianity. Our afternoon concludes with a brief visit to Kilmalkedar, once a pagan center of worship, which is home to a ruined Irish Romanesque church with stone carvings, a primitive graveyard, a cross and a sundial. Late this afternoon we return to our hotel in Kilarney.

DAY    6            KILLARNEY AREA - BLARNEY - CASHEL AREA (1 NIGHT)
We leave Killarney early this morning and travel to Blarney, where we will visit Blarney Castle, one of the most haunting and striking castles in Ireland. The remains of this impressive castle include a massive square tower, with a parapet rising 83 feet, and the infamous Blarney Stone, wedged underneath the battlements; it is traditional to kiss the stone to ensure the gift of eloquence. We will also stroll through the gardens and a nearby dell beside Blarney Lake, before having the opportunity to visit Badger Cave and adjacent dungeons, penetrating the rock at the base of the castle. We continue for a brief stop at the Blarney Woolen Mills, featuring quality garments and souvenirs. This afternoon we visit the spectacular Rock of Cashel, a monumental 12th century cathedral complex dominating the surrounding landscape. The Rock was the stronghold of the kings of Munster for seven centuries, and it was here that St. Patrick converted them and made the shamrock the emblem of Ireland.

DAY    7            CASHEL AREA - GLENDALOUGH - DUBLIN (3 NIGHTS)
This morning we travel into the county of Wicklow to visit the ruins of Glendalough, tucked away in the Wicklow Mountains, and one of the most attractive and important historical and spiritual sites in Ireland. The early Christian religious settlement was one of Ireland's greatest pilgrimage centers up to the middle of the 19th century. After experiencing the history of the monastery complex, we will visit the imaginatively designed Interpretative Center. Leaving mystical Glendalough, we will continue to our hotel in Dublin, Ireland's magnificent 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, which is filled with beautifully landscaped flowerbeds, 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    8            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    9            DAY TRIP TO TARA, NEWGRANGE & MONASTERBOICE
This morning we will transfer to the Irish countryside north of Dublin to explore Ireland's ancient past. We begin at the Hill of Tara, best remembered as the royal seat of the high kings in the early centuries of the millennium before Christianity came to Ireland. We will enjoy a tour of the remains of Tara's former glories, grassy mounds, some ancient pillar stones, and depressions where the Iron Age ring forts stood. We will also explore the Visitor Center, with exhibits and a stirring audiovisual presentation. 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. Our day concludes with a visit to Monasterboice, founded in the 5th century by an obscure disciple of St. Patrick named St. Buite. This is one of the most famous religious sites in Ireland, and during our visit, we will view the roofless round tower, as well as its greatest treasures, Muiredach's High Cross and West Cross. We return to Dublin for the evening.

DAY    10            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.