Mesmerizing Ireland Landscapes: Handcrafted Tour for Seniors

Friary ruins and weather-beaten bricks dominate the scene in Ennis. This old Irish town is home to many quintessential preconceptions. Gaelic music slips out from traditional pubs, and green hills provide a backdrop to church spires and lanes of cobble. There is a sense that times moves slower here, especially in the evenings. Ennis is a very relaxed town and is an excellent home base after you have come off the long flight. You will be picked up at the airport and transferred to the town, where your guide will provide a short introductory tour. Another highlight of Ennis is that everything that you could want is within short walking distance. You can take a stroll and choose from a plethora of different places to dine.

Jagged cliffs line the Western coast of Ennis, and they are buffeted by Atlantic waves and wild winds. Mist sometimes enhances the scene, making the Cliffs of Moher appear even more majestic. You can peer over the edge to get a real sense of nature’s power, and if you gaze along the cliffs, you will start to appreciate nature’s size with the cliffs being hundreds of meters above the ocean. There is a classic walk that you can take along the cliffs, but your guide will also explain other routes. Usually, the main cliffs are very busy with visitors, but there is also much more to explore should you wish. Visiting the Cliffs of Moher is an easy, half-day trip from Ennis, and your day can be extended if you want to visit villages and castles in the region.

Slabs of spherical rock dominate the landscape of the Burren. All of the places that you have seen over the first two days will have been extremely green, and now there is this lunar landscape, where every rock can appear to be out of place. The Burren is a place of secrets, and your guide will plan a full day’s experience. In particular, there are some stunning hiking trails where the focus is on walking slow and discovering Neolithic history. Bronze-Age portal tombs stud the Burren, and nobody knows how or why they are there. You can make the claim that they look just like Stonehenge. The difference to Stonehenge is that there are so many of them.

The Burren is always a favorite of senior travelers, and you can easily explore part of the landscape in your vehicle with your guide, stopping at a selection of lookout points. Some of the portal tombs are easily visited with just a few minutes of walking, but the adventurous can easily leave the road behind. You can trek into the outer reaches of the Burren, where a breathtaking silence is integral to your experience. Rather than continue north, you will return to Ennis this afternoon after a stop for Ireland’s best fish and chips.

Galway is Ireland’s beating cultural heart and is a city of medieval nuance and rugged architecture. Mysteries jump out from the cobblestone streets, and Irish music weaves a tale of local folklore. You will spend the morning here, exploring sights such as the Spanish Arc, Brigit’s Garden, and the massive cathedral. After connecting with the city’s heritage, you will return to the wilderness and perhaps the most spectacular of all the country’s outdoors. Connemara is a land of moss-covered walls, craggy peaks, and sheep-dappled valleys; it is green and wondrous, and it is a land that initially appears to roll on forever. Of all Ireland’s landscapes, this is the one that best reflects preconceptions. You will be staying deep within Connemara at a country guesthouse that is tucked away from it all.

Hiding within this quintessential landscape, you will find treasures and subtleties. Clifden is concealed by mountains, and its skyline is dominated by the Twelve Bens. The islands of Turbot and Inishturk make for a theatrical coastal view. Beneath the imposing frame of the Druchruach Mountain, you can find Kylemore Abbey and its walled gardens. A strange story can be found when you ramble through the abbey grounds with your guide who will narrate about Benedictine monks, gambling debts, royal visitors, romance, and even tragedy. While most of Connemara is wild, the abbey leads to a walled Victorian garden, which is a very different piece of the Irish outdoors that you can discover.

Like each day in Ireland, your guide will individualize today’s route to your interests and level of adventure. One option will be a morning of driving and Kylemore Abbey and then an afternoon in Connemara National Park. Megalithic court tombs dot the heaths in the national park and can be visited on one of the four mountain walking trails. You can take a picnic if the weather is looking good and choose a longer hike, or you can head to Maam Valley instead, which is an old-world, woodland town that stretches out along a small lake. There is also a fjord and a couple of dazzling beaches that are always empty of people.

Traveling onwards, you will head into County Mayo with a stop at Ashford Castle en route to Westport. Beguiling gardens surround the castle, and you will be able to really imagine the days of warriors and kings as they arrived here on horseback. Soon, these cultivated expenses will be replaced by the wild once more as you set the compass for the looming frame of Croagh Patrick, which is a mountain where Saint Patrick spent 40 days, fasting in the fifth century. Yesterday is likely to have been a very busy day, and there are fewer standout sights today, but the scenery is magnificent, especially when you circle Croagh Patrick and enter Westport. This afternoon, you can choose to tour the town’s castle and dungeons or head for a spot of high tea. There are also some excellent music venues that are ideal for a traditional evening of music.

It is amazing how few people visit County Donegal. It has all the hallmarks of Irish outdoor beauty from cliffs and mountains to Stone Age remains in addition to the endless impressions of greenery. Everywhere appears so unspoiled whether at a beach or walking through a small village. Most of your day will be spent in Donegal’s Glenveagh National Park, where there is an excellent variety of natural walking trails. All of these can provide you with archaeological sites in addition to hinting at life here some 500 years ago. You will finish the day in Killybegs, which is a traditional fishing town with a couple of stunning seafood restaurants. Golden beaches stretch out from the town and provide a place for a slow walk alongside the waves.

With each day, you can choose what time to depart in the morning. You can rest any sore joints or legs and start the day slowly, perhaps by visiting a small village for tea and cake. You also have the option of rising early to do most of your exploring in the morning, therefore leaving more free time in the afternoon. This is another day where your guide will present a variety of options. The drive to Derry is one of the finest in Ireland, and it comfortably rivals the more famous Dingle Peninsula. It is certainly far quieter than the Ring of Kerry and the coast around the Cliffs of Moher.

Mostly, you will hug the coast, while the road twists all over the mountain. Dolphins are commonly spotted from the shore, and their fins seem to move in poetic harmony through the waves. Hills turn to mountains as you approach Inishowen, and you can make a stop at Slieve Snaght. Then at Fort Dunree, you can enjoy a short hill walk. These County Derry hills are an excellent choice for senior walkers as they are far less precipitous than those in Connemara. It is more of a rolling landscape, but the attractions are nevertheless very impressive, including the remains of ancient stone forts and castles. Derry is tonight’s destination, and you will settle into the only Irish city that still has its medieval walls intact.

Giant’s Causeway is so surreal that it invites myth and fairytale. They say that Finn McCool, who was an Irish warrior, created a causeway to fend off his rival: the Scottish giant Benandonner. When the Scot arrived, McCool had been disguised as an oversized and monstrous baby. Benandonner became so scared he broke the causeway into thousands of pieces so the baby could not chase him back to Scotland. It is all very fanciful, but when staring across this jagged volcanic landscape, it is easy to imagine the legend. The real story is that Giant’s Causeway is volcanic and was crafted by nature millions of years ago.

Thousands of basalt columns jut out above the waves, each slightly different from the last. This jagged formation points towards Scotland, and there are a couple of walking trails that you can take, including one that weaves alongside the tallest columns. After spending most of your day at the Giant’s Causeway, you will still have time to see more of Derry, which is one of Ireland’s most complicated old cities. From medieval legends and bulbous city walls to recent troubles and cobblestone charm, Derry is a city that you will need to explore slowly. There is a tale on every corner, and you can travel between the centuries with ease.

Belfast’s history continues one of Derry’s tales and one that is steeped in religion and Irish independence. There is still a wall here that divides the city in two. A black taxi tour will take you on both sides of the wall, showing you how a hero can be a villain, depending on which side of the wall you live. This short tour can be followed by a final pub lunch before you are transferred to the airport for your outbound flight.