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

DAY    2            ARRIVE DUBLIN (3 NIGHTS)
We will be met at the airport by our tour manager/guide, and transfer 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 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    3            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    4            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    5            DUBLIN - TARA - NEWGRANGE - GALWAY AREA (3 NIGHTS)
We depart this morning for the Hill of Tara. A site of mythical importance, Tara was the political center of Celtic Ireland and the seat of the High Kings until the 11th century. A Statue of St. Patrick marks the spread of Christianity, which eroded the importance of Tara. The Interpretative Center points out a Stone Age passage grave and Iron Age hill forts, which to the untutored eye will look like hollows and grassy mounds. Clearest is the Royal Enclosure, an oval fort, in the center of which is Cormac's House containing the "stone of destiny," an ancient fertility symbol and inauguration stone of the High Kings. We will leave Tara and continue on to the most important passage graves in Europe, those found at Newgrange. According to Celtic lore, the legendary kings of Tara were buried here. Our day ends as we arrive in Galway.

DAY    6            GALWAY, THOOR BALLYLEE & COOLE PARK
This morning we will explore Galway, an important university city in Ireland. We will take a Walking Tour of the city center, where we will view many of Galway's most important areas and landmarks, including Eyre Square, Shop Street, the Latin Quarter, Lynch's Castle, the Collegiate Church of St. Nicholas, The Quays, the Cathedral of St. Nicholas, and the Spanish Arch. Our day continues with a visit to Thoor Ballylee, a beguiling tower house that was a summer home to the Poet William Butler Yeats. Our audiovisual tour will include readings from Yeats' poetry and a wonderful view from the tower out across the forest and farmland of the area. Our afternoon concludes at nearby Coole Park, where Yeats often visited his friend, Lady Augusta Gregory. The lake served as the inspiration for his poem, The Wild Swans at Coole. We will stroll through the fine gardens and and view the Autograph Tree, a copper beech carved with the initials of George Bernard Shaw, JM Synge and WB Yeats. This evening, we will attend a Literary Banquet at medieval Dunguaire Castle, which will bring the words of Ireland's most famous writers to life.

DAY    7            DAY TRIP TO THE ARAN ISLANDS
This morning we will take a ferry across Galway Bay to Inishmore, the largest of the Aran Islands, and a wild and rugged place of cliffs, caves and ancient monuments. During our island tour, we will visit Teampall Chiarain, a ruined 12th century church dedicated to St. Ciarain; Dun Eochla, a circular Bronze Age fort standing close to the highest point on Inishmore; the Clochan na Carraige, a large well-preserved beehive hut built by early Christian settlers; Na Seacht d'Teampaill, the so-called Seven Churches, which make up a monastic settlement dedicated to St. Brecan; and Dun Aonghasa, an Iron or Bronze Age promontory fort with four concentric stonewalls. This afternoon we return to Galway.

DAY    8            GALWAY AREA - CONNEMARA - SLIGO AREA (2 NIGHTS)
This morning we will explore the rugged and tempestuous Connemara Coast, an area of outstanding scenic grandeur, where Gaelic is still the everyday language. We begin with a scenic drive along the Sky Road, a 7-mile circular route with stunning ocean views, before visiting Clifden, a beautiful Irish town known for its craft shops and lively pubs. After a bit of free time to explore Clifden, we will visit Kylemore Abbey, one of the most beautiful sights in Ireland. Sheltered by the slopes of the Twelve Bens, this lakeside castle is a romantic, battlemented Gothic revival fantasy, and today houses a girls' boarding school. We will view the abbey, explore its gardens and visit the Craft Shop. This afternoon we will explore Ireland's holy mountain, Croagh Patrick, which has a long history in Ireland. It received its current name from St. Patrick, who spent 40 days fasting and praying for the Irish atop the mountain. We will make the pilgrimage to the summit (shoes are optional) and visit the modern chapel, as well as enjoy the spectacular panoramic views over Clew Bay. We continue to our hotel in the Sligo area.

DAY    9            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    10            SLIGO AREA - CLONMACNOISE - ADARE - LIMERICK AREA
                            (1 NIGHT)
This morning we leave Sligo and journey 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 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. The day ends in Limerick as we take a Literary Walking Tour in the footsteps of Frank McCourt, as described in his Pulitzer Prize winning work Angela's Ashes. The tour brings to life Frank McCourt's account of his harsh childhood in this city on the River Shannon. Among the landmarks we visit are the Redemptorist Church, Leamy's School, the People's Park and Barrack Hill.

DAY    11            DEPARTURE FROM SHANNON
Our enjoyable and rewarding tour will come to an end as our guide accompanies us to the airport for the return flight home.