After
visiting the Cliffs of Moher it was a short drive to our destination for the
evening…the Village of Doolin in County Clare.
This castle
overlooking the Atlantic Ocean at the edge of the Doolin really caught our eye. Doonagore Castle is a tower house with a
walled enclosure that was built sometime in the 1500s. In 1570 it was owned by Sir Donald (or
Donnell) O’Brien. Today it has been
refurbished and it serves as a private residence….
In
September of 1588, only 430 years before we visited Doolin, a ship from the Spanish
Armada was wrecked just below the castle.
The High Sheriff of County Clare caught 170 survivors and hanged them
all, either at the castle or at nearby Iron Age earthworks called Cnocan an
Crochaire. There could be a few ghosts
still ‘hanging’ around the castle…
This is a
view of Doolin from near the Castle. As
you can see, the Village is scattered over the countryside. There is a harbor area, Fisher Street
(village center), Fitz’s Cross with a hostel, campsite, 2 new hotels and a pub
and Roadford with 2 more pubs, 4 restaurants, 2 hostels and a number of bed and
breakfast operations.
This is
the Daly House, our Bed and Breakfast where we stayed in Doolin. It’s obviously not some ancient structure…but
it was one of the most charming and well operated places where we stayed during
our entire trip to both Scotland and Ireland!
The
gardens at Daly House were as well maintained and colorful as possible at the end
of September…
The
bathrooms and guest rooms were immaculate and well equipped.
The views
from the window in our room weren’t all bad either! These ruins are the remnants of another tower
castle…but unlike nearby Doonagore Castle, no one has saved this one as it has deteriorated.
…another
view from our room. Beautiful
countryside accented by colorful homes!
This is
one of the breakfast dining areas in a glassed in atrium at Daly House. Not too shabby!
This was
our little dining nook, perfect for the 4 of us! We had a nice view of the gardens…
This is
one of the sitting rooms at Daly House.
Bill is in the foreground and our hostess, Susan Daly, is at the
center.
We had a
nice conversation with Susan. Laurie and
Bonnie asked a lot of questions and we learned a lot about Doolin as well as
our hostess and her bed and breakfast.
Time for
breakfast! This was the buffet set up
with fruit, yogurt, etc.
In this
photo I took a close-up of one end of the buffet just to show the tremendous
attention to detail that Susan puts into everything she does!
Scones,
bread, muffins, crackers, olives and a nice selection of cheeses on another side table…again all
nicely presented.
For her
breakfast, Bonnie selected Susan’s Special, top quality oatmeal with brown
sugar, fruit and cream.
Bill
selected the Feta Cheese and Tomato Omelet.
Laurie
enjoyed this artfully presented breakfast with scrambled cheese eggs, bacon and
toast.
I went
for something that I’d almost never find on a menu back in the USA. I had this luscious plate of toast with Burren
smoked salmon over scrambled eggs. As
with everything else at Daly House, the attention to detail and presentation
for our breakfast was just outstanding…
We would
highly recommend the Daly House for anyone visiting Doolin or the surrounding
area! It’s hard to beat excellence! FYI, check out the Daly House on
TripAdvisor. With an amazing 1,353
reviews (only 6 guest rooms) 95% gave this bed and breakfast an excellent
review. Another 3% gave it a very good
appraisal… That’s 98% amazing under any rating system! Check this bed and breakfast out on their
website. It can be found at http://www.dalys-doolin.com/index.html.
Back to the late afternoon of the day before we had breakfast
at the Daly House Bed and Breakfast… The Daly House is located just a short
walk from the center of Doolin with it’s
famous pubs…all of them featuring traditional Irish music.
Along the way we passed another example of
the stonework that continues to impress me…and this was just a shed built into
the stone wall!
Then we passed this old extended stone home with attached outbuildings…
Down on the main street (R479) of Doolin, we came across
another lovely looking bed and breakfast.
We preferred the super quiet location with the amazing views up the hill
from the center of town. Learn about the
Parc Lodge at https://www.pairclodgedoolin.com/.
…One more
photo. Laurie took this picture of cows
grazing along the cliffs overlooking the Atlantic Ocean at Doolin. This is the way that we envisioned the west coast
of Ireland!
That’s about it for this post. In the next one, we’ll have dinner and be
well entertained at a famous local pub…and take one final look around the area.
Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…
Thanks for stopping by for a visit!
Take Care, Big Daddy Dave
The breakfast meals all look very good - even the oatmeal.
ReplyDeleteAwesome, awesome post again, friend Dave ... so love to travel with you this way ... although I must say that I never liked Bed and Breakfast ... cuz I find the owners to be a bit too intrusive and protective of their property, eg. the last we stayed with must have been in our apartment every time we were out ... rearranging pillows and emptying garbage and restocking the fridge and things ... I did not like that, hmmm ... ya ... but anyway ... Happy St Patrick's Day, eh? ... Love, cat.
ReplyDeletePicture of the cows in the field is awesome!
ReplyDelete