Ireland

We land in Shannon airport on time. The sky is cloudy but the sun occasionally gives reason to hope for the better. You complete formalities with the budget we have a Hyundai Accent with an automatic transmission. The vehicle is in poor condition but is found convenient to drive. Chew on the road and we head towards the Dingle Clare led dall'inossidabile voice.

As we approach the county of Kerry the weather improves and we reach our B & B on the Connor Pass Road under a sun almost Mediterranean. The temperature is pleasant, and we give ourselves a break in the beautiful porch of the House Dunin.

We decide to visit the cliffs to the west and enjoy the best views of the bay.

Here a stiff breeze and sparkling us back to normality of the Irish climate. Let's go back to town in time to book a table at the Old Smokehouse and prepare the stomach for one of the best fried fish in the area.

We conclude the evening migrating from one pub to another in the lively center of Dingle. Tomorrow we expect from the lovely beach of Inch.

It 'the first time, after so many washes in Ireland, I decided to change the routine and fly directly to Shannon. In retrospect I would say that is a very convenient choice for those who, like me, loves particularly the west coast of the island.

Test post from iPhone.

At the end there are also fallen and I let myself be groped by malafonino. The client for WordPress does not look bad but feels so much the lack of good old keyboard blackberry

This year I do not think of going to Ireland. If I were seduced by the umpteenth trip I think this will be my means of updating the blog.

A few days ago I opened a Facebook page dedicated to Magnetic Music Café in Doolin, undisputed destination of a trip to Ireland, especially if you are fans of Irish folk music.

For those of you who use Facebook that's the link:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Doolin-Ireland/Magnetic-Music-Cafe-Doolin/116082675054

We wake up and immediately our expectations of a beautiful sunny day are betrayed by the dense blanket of fog that envelops the Sky Road. An excellent breakfast at Ardmore House gives us some confidence and take the road to Roundstone still decided to visit the beautiful beaches of Connemara.

The first beach out from Clifden and 'the Coral Beach whose name does justice to a vast expanse of sand crossed by strips of fragments of coral of all colors. The temperature is nice but the sun was struggling to fight their way through a blanket of low clouds that seem too fond of the region.

We decide to head for the walk Manin Bay, where we reach a corner of paradise. I would really want to stop time exactly in this place where a white beach and the hills that encircle pruned to a perfect crystal blue sea. Too bad again for the lack of sun, but we also enjoy a nice walk.

Let's go back in the car in Roundstone where we allow ourselves the last visit to the shop. I take a cup of hot coffee and some sweets in a little place on the pier overlooking the village. We decide to look back on the road and a beach that we remember near the Connemara Golf Club

We reach the beach just as the sun decides to show courage and take even if timidly. The beach and 'wonderful and we do not resist the temptation to take off our shoes and try a bit of ocean on the skin. The sand is beautiful and for a few minutes, so barefoot and my kite, I'll be forgetting the whole child.

I decide that this is the place to say goodbye to my shoes. V seem strange that talk but you know that I put these shoes for the first time during my first trip to Ireland 13 years ago. With me who walked the length and breadth of this island sopattutto, now do not make it longer but I'm sure that if I could speak, would pray to be left to rest here, here on these beaches are in a sense born.

We go back to the Sky Road with a good dose of melancholy in the heart. A holiday in Ireland is about to end, but the beaches of Connemara have promised a goodbye.

The breakfast with French toast Lorraine color a day that there is rather gray and full of rain. From the windows of the dining room there is a view of all the crazy hills of Doolin, the Cliffs and islands Arann.

We set en route to Connemara not before being passed by the Clare Jam Company, or Heaven, where the jam is easy to give in to all sorts of temptation surrounded by dozens of different kinds of jam or marmelade. The owner and vendtore seem to come directly from the past: a few words and with an accent almost incomprehensible. I left the store with 8kg of jams and no idea of ​​how to bring them to Italy. And 'That's the beauty of being on vacation ... or not?

I drive through the moonscape of the Burren along the old road that leads from Ennis to Galway. Today seems really determined to the day when we reach the Connemara ugly and a thin but constant drizzle accompanies us to our destination along the Sky Road. We stop for lunch at the old railway station in Clifden where the delicious goodness of sadwiches is ruined by the annoying noise of a company of rude Italians who manage to obscure the fascinating charm of a place from another time. Italy is far from us as we feel these people. Too bad.

After a short break we decided to go where the obligatory stop at Roundstone, and 'the Craft Village where we are enraptured by the extraordinary beauty of the jewelry, and musical instruments of porcellene types of Irish tradition.

We return to Clifden and we prepare for dinner at Ban Pangur near Letterfrack. Tomorrow is our last whole day in Ireland. Tuesday traveling to Dublin, where the magic begins and ends, where I leave a part of me every time I come home safe, however, to find it during my next trip.

The memory of the memorable dinner at Paddyfrog is still very much alive when we wake up early ready for breakfast. Descend the stairs leading to the ground floor of this wonderful b & b and ask for our daily dose of pancakes.

The cloudy sky is gray but are moving quickly and let us hope for an imminent lightened timely that not long in coming. We continue our trip and we head for Dingle. We meet an immense bog bordered by an impenetrable forest. Convinced that certainly is the abode of some fairy, we park and we go through the trees. The play of light that filters through the leafy barely covered with moss is amazing. We walk on what seems an immense soft and furry animals. Our footsteps make no sound completely absorbed by the silence of the forest. The atmosphere is worthy of a fantasy saga and reluctantly take up the road.

About twenty miles before Dingle is the beach of Inch (so called because it looks like a big toe of sand and dunes that stretches into the ocean). The sun is high in the sky and the wind starts whipping it's time to prepare the kite. The gusts of wind, I allow some evolution and, I confess, I enjoy as a child. The feeling of having all that wind in your hands is intoxicating.

We allow ourselves a break at the beach cafes, where a showcase full of all sorts of sweet wins easily our resistance. From the window of the coffee you can enjoy a magnificent view of the beach and once again I feel invaded, drenched, permeated of Ireland. Ireland did not you tell it with words or pictures. The Ireland must feel with its icy wind, the smell of burning peat, the clinking of glasses and the smile of an old man who seems to have a thousand and one stories to tell.

We resumed our march, and enjoy the unhurried way down the coast last show before reaching the peninsula of Kerry and Dingle Connor Pass Road where it will stay for the night.

Blue sky in the morning we awake from a restful sleep. We eat breakfast in bed and breakfast including delicious pancakes drenched in maple syrup topped with bananas and strawberries. The beautiful day immediately puts us in a good mood and there we journeyed to the southwest.

I drive to Kenmare where we stop to stretch your legs. The center of Kenmare is terribly quaint and immerses the visitor in the lively and colorful atmosphere of the typical Irish villages. Every shop, pub or restaurant seems to be competing with others to get noticed and ultimately the effect is magically perfect a set of chromatic harmonies.

Go on the road that follows the coast south of Kerry Sneem and stop to visit a nearby beach hidden rightly stated "White Sdrand". The white sandy beach overlooking the sea, embraced by a rugged and slippery rocks. The show is indescribable. There's just us and a couple of seagulls. The sun is warm and the wind slaps my face nicely. I feel really at peace with the world.

We resumed our journey and we decide to have lunch on the beach between Liss and Glanberg (on N70) where there is' a little place which overlooks the sea. An excellent fish and chips and a stroll on the beautiful beach. To my surprise I notice a couple of local customers who surf the Internet with their laptops. I ran to get my car and within seconds they are networked by one of the most remote beaches in Ireland. For an instant contact with the computer takes me back to reality and reminds me of the commitment, work and Italy. Another sip of stout and memories fade away. It 'like crazy in this place you can really lose (in the figurative sense of the word) and phase out all contact with reality.

Continue along the road to Waterville as the sun and the blue of the sky as they leave room for some rain clouds. We prepare the daily Irish rain.

We landed yesterday late at night near the new wing dell'aereporto Dublin International Airport. The flight was nice so that gave us the spectacular night view of a capital city in all its splendor.

We retrieved the luggage hold of the Zafira hire and after some misunderstanding with the handbrake we head towards Swords. The sky is clear and the air is fresh. We in Ireland.

I confess: my recent trip to Sweden has shaken my traditional preference for the most beautiful island in the world. Sweden also is wonderful as a tourist and I was fine. I thought about this today as I drove from Dublin at a time of Kinsale.

We decide for a small deviation and a dutiful ritual stop at the old Jameson Distillery in Midleton. Lunch at the distillery and allow ourselves to be an atmosphere charged with involvement, malt flavors and colors.

In the early afternoon we reach Kinsale while the sky still seems to have taken a final decision for the day. In any case it rains and it is known in these parts is no small thing. The owner of B & B that we have booked for this night is absent and we are forced to come back later.

Abide by the guide and head to the Charles Fort. From strong and the road that runs along you can enjoy the best view of Kinsale and the bay. Just a small passage to reach the rocks below the fort, and finally I'm in Ireland. Not that I was not the first but that feeling of tranquility savage, the strong smell of the sea, the sound of seagulls and the incessant roar of the wind are able to project in a dimension that can not be explained otherwise than by calling His real name: headache of Ireland.

Let's go back to where we B6B welcomes the gracious Mrs. Abbey tells us how he dreams of spending a summer on Lake Garda in the sun, and delighting with Italian cuisine. It 's true that nobody in the world can enjoy what has until the end and, as it should be, feels always looking for something that is missing ... it's just different.

We go out for a walk along the sea. The evening is beautiful. The sun plays hide and seek with the clouds that run fast on the water pushed by the wind. The colors leave us speechless.

I want to share with you the itinerary planned for my next trip to Ireland July 8 to 15. The days are few but the desire to visit places that I have prevailed in the heart. Most 'of 1,500 km in 7 days but it is worth it.

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A) 08/07/2008 - Swords (Dublin) - Lazie Acres B & B
B) 09/07/2008 - Kinsale (Cork) - Waterlands
C) 10/07/0208 - Waterville (Kerry) - Links Golf Views
D) 11/07/2008 - Dingle (Kerry) - House Duinin
E) 12/07/2008 - Doolin (Clare) - House Trildoon
F) 13-14/07/2008 - Clifden (Galway) - Ardmore House
G) 15/07/2008 - Dublin Airport

With the help of a dear friend, let's go back again this year in Ireland. I had decided on a destination to spend my vacation alternative where in August (Finland) but the call of the emerald and so had the best 8 to July 15 will be back in my Ireland.

A year without Doolin, County Mayo, Donegal and the ocean beaches would not have been possible. The recall is too strong or often between us and I would never be able to give it up.

So you just have to give you an appointment on this blog where I will try to be my habit of documenting my journey every day happy to share with you every emotion.