‘Harry Potter’ cliffs, the beauty of the Guinness & other reasons to go to Ireland

Though they don’t know it yet, Ireland has the potential to become the next cool destination on Pinoy travelers’ bucket lists.

Filipinos are exploring the Balkans now, according to John Boulding, CEO of Insight Vacations. “Filipinos are very well-traveled, but I think this destination would have something different to offer them.”

So when the premier travel company offered an eight-day tour of the Emerald Isle, I jumped on it. Why? Back in the ’80s I was a big U2 fan, and I can’t deny that part of the lure was a chance to see the country from which Bono and Sunday Bloody Sunday sprang.

Apart from rock music and legends about leprechauns and lucky clover, I knew little about Ireland, so a guided tour seemed the best way to approach the unknown. Insight offers three vacations ranging from eight to 13 days, focusing on the best Eire (the old Irish name for Ireland) has to offer.

I went on the eight-day “Treasures of Ireland” tour, which sets off from Dublin, hits quaint towns like Dingle and Limerick, and traverses Ireland’s stunning countryside before circling back to Dublin.

“What you’re experiencing is not a traditional Insight journey,” says Paul Melinis, director of sales at Insight Vacations. “It’s a lot slower pace, more time at stops… it’s built around freedom and flexibility.”

Compared to other tours, we had relaxed starts: bags out at eight, leave at nine. Insight typically uses local, family hotels that boast central locations and the real flavor of the town you’re lodging in.

The coaches are less “tour bus” and more “luxury touring vehicles” with business-class legroom, movable seats, powerful WiFi, bottled water, huge panoramic windows, a maximum of 40 guests, and extremely knowledgeable travel directors who act as obliging concierges, quick to respond to special requests.

With flourishes like free Irish coffees at Monk’s, which serves the best brew in Ireland, and “signature experiences” like dining with a local family, I discovered that Ireland is a country whose immense natural beauty is matched only by the welcoming soul of its people and the warming qualities of its Guinness.

• Music, dancing, and more music. Ireland boasts an incredibly rich musical history, from traditional Irish music with its sprightly fiddle, lively accordion and toe-tapping beats, to Van Morrison’s Celtic folk-rock stylings, to more recent artists like Sinead O’Connor, The Pogues, The Cranberries, The Corrs, and My Bloody Valentine.

Though Bono and The Edge own a four-star Dublin hotel called The Clarence, the best place to stalk trad and new talent is Dublin’s Temple Bar area, with its many pubs, clubs, and buskers crooning Kodaline emo hits on the streets.

Music is literally everywhere in Ireland, floating even through more pastoral towns like Killarney, where places like Mustang Sally’s have hosted the likes of Rod Stewart, Sean Connery, and the other Sean… Penn. Our hotel was right next to “party pub” The Grand, where people were dancing Irish reels up front and head-banging to a rock band at the back, with a bar in the middle serving as a sort of Switzerland where old sounds mingled with the new.

During a sunset cruise of Lough Corrib, an 85-year-old accordionist by the name of Martin Noone serenaded us with a heartfelt repertoire of traditional songs, and his rendition of Danny Boy brought tears to my eyes. The music of Ireland might come in wildly varying styles — tinged with anger, sadness or celebration — but you can’t question its sincerity when filtered through the Irish soul.

• The myriad of magical experiences. Druid temples, fairy folk and red-haired, green-eyed tree nymphs who enchant men — there’s more than a wee bit of magic in Eire, and even the downright miraculous. Our tour guide Michael “Big Mike” Doughty tells us about Knock Shrine in County Mayo, a Roman Catholic pilgrimage site where Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary and the heavenly host appeared in 1879. “It’s a place of miracles where statues move, and people saw apparitions of angels who took out a tumor from a sick nun, so people flock to Knock for miracle cures.”

Another highlight is the Book of Kells, which we saw on our very first day in Dublin. Insight provided one of its Signature Experiences: fast-track entry to the sacred text, with Trinity College professor Joseph O’Gorman explaining the history behind this copy of the four gospels by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Goose-feather quills were used to illustrate Christ’s passion and crucifixion in the manuscript, which dates back to 800 AD and uses 185 calfskins instead of paper.

Upstairs is the Long Room, a magnificent library that looks like something out of Hogwarts with its busts of great ancients like Plato and 200,000 books stretching to near-infinity on oak shelves. Good luck finding a book, though, as the way books are classified remains unclear to this day.

Another Harry Potter-esque experience was the School of Falconry at Ashford Castle, where we learned how to handle these fierce hunters of the sky. “Falconry” is a bit of a misnomer, however, as the birds are actually Harris hawks from the southwestern United States. One dominant female, Milly, has the capacity to take down a 14-lb. jackrabbit. “They’re not pets, though,” cautioned our falconer Tommy Durcan. “They’re working with you, not for you.”

• The chance to learn a Gaelic game. From Dublin our first stop was Kilkenny, the home of hurling, Ireland’s national sport. Hurling reminds me of field hockey in that it involves a stick (a hurley) and a ball (the slither), but in reality is similar to neither. “This is culture,” says PJ, one of the coaches of the Tenacious Kilkenny Kats, who we watch training on the field. Though hurling is an amateur sport, it’s played and followed as rabidly as football in the rest of Europe, with hopeful fathers placing hurley bats in their baby sons’ cribs.

• The picture-perfect scenery. A Facebook friend said she wanted to “fall into” the photos I’d been posting of Ireland. Indeed, so spectacular is the Irish countryside that even the most amateur point-and-shooter can take postcard-worthy views of geographic wonders like the Cliffs of Moher, Ireland’s most visited natural attraction. An hour and a half’s drive from Limerick, these sheer cliffs formed by river deposits 320 million years ago have been the location for movies like Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince and the Rob Reiner comedy The Princess Bride.

Other standouts are Torc Waterfall near Killarney and Dingle Bay, a vast, two-kilometer beach overlooking the misty McGillicuddy’s Reeks in the distance.

One magical morning we took a horse-drawn carriage ride through Killarney National Park, where our driver dispensed bits of comedy in lieu of history as we trotted past storybook lakes and mountains. Amid the gossip we did learn a useful fact, though: There are no snakes or dangerous animals in Ireland because it’s separated from the mainland, and not, as legend has it, because Saint Patrick banished them from Eire.

• The hearty soul food. Irish food is comfort food, no doubt. The mild climate and perennial light drizzles that Mike calls “the softness,” blankets Ireland in the lush, Astroturf-ian green grass that not only gave rise to its nickname, The Emerald Isle, but also feeds the cows and sheep that range freely through its countryside. The result? Creamy Kerry milk, tender Hereford beef, and flavor-packed lamb, the majority of which are best sampled at O’Connell’s, a farm-to-fork restaurant in Dublin that Insight took us to for dinner our first night. It’s a family-run affair where, despite an efficient staff that includes a Filipina server, Mr. O’Connell insists on serving and clearing dishes himself.

For the first course you choose from a smorgasbord of appetizers provided by small, artisan food producers from all over the 26 counties, like trout from Goatsbridge River Farm in Kilkenny and Toonsbridge buffalo mozzarella from Cork.

For my main I chose the lamb shank, a house specialty marinated in red wine, herbs and spices for 48 hours, then braised so the meat is practically falling off the bone. Dessert was another treasured family recipe: sherry trifle — sponge cake layered with raspberry jam, soaked in sweet sherry then bound with vanilla custard.

Warm Irish hospitality is also on show at 19th Green, a bed-and-breakfast in Killarney run by the Sheehan family. Husband John is a cook who demonstrated his kitchen skills to us before we were ushered into the dining room by his lovely wife Freda; sons Dean, Ryan and Rocco served us popular Irish fare like smoked salmon, beef stew, soda bread and boxty, a potato pancake that struck me as the Irish version of the hash brown.

• The shopping. Irish souvenirs include Aran sweaters, Claddagh rings, and shamrock jewelry. The Claddagh, depicted by two hands holding a crowned heart, represents love, friendship and loyalty. While Galway is the best place to score Celtic jewelry, there’s also good shopping in Dingle, with its quaint seaside boutiques, while the Killarney Outlet Centre has a Nike factory store and designer bags and shoes on sale.

• The Outlander vibe. Circling the Ring of Kerry we encountered many locations used in the TV series Outlander, based on Diana Gabaldon’s historical/adventure/sci-fi/fantasy books. One is Kumakista Pass, the “pass of the hidden treasure” of the Knights Templar. We also visit the Rock of Cashel, a royal landmark ruled by the pagan kings of Munster until St. Patrick came along in 450 AD and baptized the king, who converted Ireland to Christianity. The fortress has slit windows so arrows could be shot out but none could get in, and stairs were built in such a way that right-handed enemy warriors trying to ascend had a hard time drawing their swords.

Insight actually sponsored the Outlander series and generated an enormous amount of tourist interest (half a million responses).

• Ashford Castle. Voted the world’s best hotel by luxury travel network Virtuoso, a stay here is another Insight exclusive, as sister company Red Carnation Hotels owns and operates the estate.

A bagpiper serenades you into the castle, which was built as a Norman fortress in the 13th century and passed through different owners until Sir Benjamin Lee Guinness of the brewing dynasty acquired it in 1852. Guinness rejuvenated the area, building piers, roads and bridges and planting thousands of trees across the 3,500-acre estate. Guests included the Prince of Wales, George V, and today, Ashford’s fine-dining restaurant is named after him.

As Guinness had no heirs, Ashford was sold to the Irish state for a token 20,000 pounds in 1915.

Various developers turned the castle into a hotel and added more wings and a golf course until, in 2013 Red Carnation bought the estate and transformed it into the five-star landmark it is today. The castle has been restored to its former glory but with all the mod cons of a 21st-century boutique hotel, like a bespoke design for each of the 85 rooms, and carefully sourced antiques and artworks peacefully coexisting with audio speakers and electronic blinds.

There’s lots to do like biking, archery, enrolling in the School of Falconry, cruising Lough Corrib, watching films at the cinema, playing billiards or just relaxing at the hammam-style spa. Food-wise many options exist as well, from casual dining at nearby Cullen’s at the Cottage to high tea The Connaught Room to formal dining at George V.

• The beauty of the Guinness. The Guinness family made its fortune by brewing this dark-red (not black) beer, and providing their many employees jobs, housing, education and pensions. Consequently, the Guinness name looms large in the Irish consciousness, and in the Irish belly, where it’s sparked a multitude of fires (or dampened them, depending on one’s requirements).

The best way to understand this phenomenal beverage is to visit the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin; Insight provides Fast-Track Entry and a private guided tour of the facility.

In 1759, Arthur Guinness founded the company by signing a lease for four acres of land that would last 9,000 years, at 45 pounds sterling a year. Comedian Conan O’Brien, who saw Guinness’ portrait when he toured the Storehouse in 2012, quipped, “That’s the smile of a man who just got a farmer to sign a 9,000-year lease.”

Today the family still owns the land where they brew this magical elixir from barley, hops, yeast and water from the Wicklow Mountains.

You know the Guinness name, also, from its famous world records book — a project started by Sir Hugh Beaver, managing director of Guinness Breweries in 1951, after a hunting trip led to arguments over the world’s fastest game bird. Scholars were enlisted by Guinness to gather world records, and the book became a huge success starting in 1954.

We visited the Tasting Room, with its scent pillars spewing out the chocolate-y and biscuit-y aromas of roasted and malted barley. At their Guinness Academy we learned how to pull a proper pint (the glass must be at a 45-degree angle, for one) before finally sipping the savory liquid, which is so fortifying locals call it “steak in a glass.” Needless to say, we were soon overcome by the beauty of the Guinness.

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To book an Insight Vacation, contact Rajah Travel’s Manila office (email: intltoursmnl1@rajahtravel.com, tel. no. 523-8801) or Makati office (email: intltoursmkt@rajahtravel.com, tel. no. 894-0886). For more info, like Rajahtravel.com on Facebook and follow @rajahtravel_com on Twitter and Instagram.