The Engaging Ireland Podcast

All Ireland Travel website (Kemberlee and Peter's website)

http://www.allirelandtravel.com/

Peruse the site and check out the information related to travel to and within Ireland, as well as information about car rental and accommodation. As Kemberlee notes in our interview, the information/descriptions for many of the attractions and accommodations listed on the website were recently updated and expanded.

While you're there, be sure to check out their blog. The link to it is found under "More Information" (select "blogspot"). You can also link to the Ireland Yahoo group from the website and sign up to join the discussions!

Dublin Pass and Ireland-at-a-Glimpse guides

Please visit the All Ireland Travel website for links to purchase these. They are also a great deal, if you are going to visit several of the places covered under each pass. Check the website to see if the places you are planning to visit are covered!

Lee Valley Clothing: http://www.leevalley.ie/

We had lunch and conducted our interview with Peter and Kemberlee at the Lee Valley Retail Outlet in Inchigeela (west of Cork City just off the N22 on the R584), which just happens to have a lovely cafeteria upstairs.

Other things to do in the Inchigeela (or Inchigeelagh)/Lee Valley area

http://www.inchigeelagh.com/Activities.htm

This is (yet another) lovely part of Ireland with a lot to offer the outdoors enthusiast.

OPW Heritage Card

http://www.heritageireland.ie/

The Heritage Card is a pass for entry to sites maintained and operated by the Office of Public Works in Ireland. You can purchase passes before you go to Ireland by downloading and completing the form (available at the website) and mailing it in with payment. Or you can just purchase the pass at the first OPW site you visit while in Ireland. (You may also pay per site if you don't care to purchase the Heritage Card. You don't have to have a card to get into the sites.)

Check the online site while you're planning your vacation to see how many of the Heritage Sites you might visit and the cost per each entry. Some sites cost as little as €2, while other sites cost as much as €11 (for Newgrange/Knowth/Brú na Bóinne Visitor Centre).

In response to a listener's questions and comments, we produced this show in order to illustrate what a two-week vacation in Ireland could look like. This is only one of an infinite number of options available to travellers, but it will give you an idea of what you *can* do.

Fasten your seatbelts for a whirlwind tour of the Republic and Northern Ireland!

Ferries from Rossaveel (Bus available from Galway City)

Aran Island Ferries

www.aranislandferries.com

Aran Direct

www.arandirect.com

Ferries from Doolin

Doolin 2 Aran Ferries

http://www.aran-island-ferry.com/

Aran Doolin Ferries

http://www.doolinferries.com/

Doolin Ferry

http://www.doolinferry.com/

Moher Cruises

http://www.cliffs-of-moher-cruises.com/

(This carrier provides service to Aran Islands and Cliffs of Moher cruises, as do some of the other Doolin operators.)

Flights to the Aran Islands

Aer Arann

http://www.aerarannislands.ie/

Shuttle buses for ferries and flights leave from Galway (and Kilronan) daily, but you can drive yourself out to the airport or ferry docks if you prefer.

Other Links

Kylemore Abbey

http://www.kylemoreabbey.com/

Connemara Region

http://www.connemaraireland.com/

County Mayo Home Page

http://www.mayo-ireland.ie/

(with links to towns and attractions in County Mayo, including the village of Murrisk and the town of Westport)

County Sligo Home Page

http://www.countysligo.com/

Sligo Heritage Page

http://www.sligoheritage.com/

Enniskillen Home Page

http://www.enniskillen.com/

Ulster American Folk Park

http://www.folkpark.com/

Dungiven Castle

http://www.dungivencastle.com/welcome.html

North Antrim Information

http://www.northantrim.com/

Giant's Causeway

http://www.northantrim.com/giantscauseway.htm

Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge

http://www.northantrim.com/carrick_a_rede.htm

Dunluce Castle/Carrickfergus Castle

http://www.geographia.com/northern-ireland/ukiant03.htm

Monasterboice

http://www.sacred-destinations.com/ireland/monasterboice.htm

Mellifont Abbey

http://www.sacred-destinations.com/ireland/mellifont-abbey.htm

Bru na Boinne

http://www.heritageireland.ie/en/MidlandsEastCoast/BrunaBoinneVisitorCentreNewgrangeandKnowth/

Loughcrew

http://www.loughcrew.com/cairns.htm

(When you return the key to the cairn, be sure to take a trip through the Loughcrew Gardens or buy a cup of tea or coffee and a snack at the Coffee Shop.)

National Museum of Ireland

http://www.museum.ie/en/homepage.aspx

Dublin Bus Tours (we're not making a recommendation of one over another…)

http://www.dublintours.net/tours/tourDetail.cfm?tour_id=7192

http://194.106.151.179/sightseeing/index.aspx

Kilkenny Self-Guided Walking Tour

http://www.knockahopple.com/Kilkenny.pdf

Kells Augustinian Priory

http://www.kellsvillage.bravepages.com/priory.htm

Cashel town and the Rock of Cashel

http://www.cashel.ie/

Mallow Information

http://www.mallow.ie/co/web/Cork%20County%20Council/Mallow/Visit%20Mallow

Killarney

http://www.killarney.ie/

Ring of Kerry

http://www.ringofkerrytourism.com/

Skellig Michael

http://www.sacredsites.com/europe/ireland/skellig_michael.html

http://www.kerrypoet.utvinternet.com/monastic/kerry/skellig.html

Skellig Experience Centre

http://www.skelligexperience.com/skellig_experience.html

Dingle Peninsula

http://www.dingle-peninsula.ie/

The Famine Cottage

http://www.famine-cottage.com/

Blasket Islands

http://www.greatblasketisland.com/

Blennerville Windmill

http://www.blennervilleattractions.ie/

King John's Castle & Bunratty Castle and Folk Park

http://www.shannonheritage.com/Attractions/

Join us again next time for more adventures in Ireland. Slan!

Ardmore http://www.travelireland.org/waterford/ardmore/index.html Scenic Walks around Ardmore http://www.newtownfarm.com/walksinardmore.pdf Kathy likes this travel blog about Ardmore http://travelblog.viator.com/ardmore-yes-ardmore/ Waterford Scenic Drives http://www.waterfordtourism.org/drives.htm Lismore Castle http://www.lismorecastle.com/ The art gallery in the West Wing of the castle http://www.lismorecastlearts.ie/ Lismore Heritage Center http://www.discoverlismore.com/ Comeragh Mountains and Nire Valley Information http://homepage.eircom.net/~gracedieu/Walking.htm http://www.waterfordcoco.ie/en/tourism/activitiesandattractions/walkingroutes/nirevalley/ http://www.traildatabase.org/countries/ireland.html General Information about things to do in County Waterford http://www.countywaterford.com/waterford_environment_lismore.htm Follow us on Twitter: Podcast Updates - http://www.twitter.com/EngagingIreland Travis - http://www.twitter.com/TD_Nelson Kathy - http://www.twitter.com/Kathy_SixEight

Happy St. Patrick's Day from Engaging Ireland!

In this episode, we talk about Glendalough and our day in the Wicklow mountains Glendaloughhttp://www.heritageireland.ie/en/midlandseastcoast/GlendaloughVisitorCentre/Wicklow Mountains National Parkhttp://www.wicklownationalpark.ie/ Avoca Handweavers http://www.avoca.ie/index`.php Wicklow Walking Trailshttp://www.wicklownationalpark.ie/pages/walkingtrails.phpWicklow Way Walking Trailhttp://www.wicklowway.com/Gardens and Houses:Powerscourt House & Gardenshttp://www.powerscourt.ie/gardens/Avondale House & Gardens (Rathdrum)http://www.gardensireland.com/avondale.htmlKilruddery House & Gardens (Bray)http://www.killruddery.com/Russborough House (Blessington)http://www.russborough.ie/Mount Usher Gardenshttp://www.mountushergardens.ie/Monastic Ireland Websitehttp://www.monasticireland.com/historicsites/glendalough.htm#1The Irish Fireside Podcasthttp://www.irishfireside.comFollow us on Twitter!http://twitter.com/EngagingIreland

We talk briefly about Belvelly Castle, mentioned in an earlier episode about Cobh. Then we talk about our trip to Powerscourt. *Please note: We are not specifically endorsing any of the websites, companies, tourist sites or products that we list in our show notes. We are simply providing links to things we have mentioned in our podcast. You need to do your own research when deciding upon a product or service provider to find out which one best suits your individual needs and desires. Belvelly Castle Link Real Estate Listing for Belvelly Castle: http://www.myhome.ie/residential/search/brochure/belvelly-castle-fota-cork-city-outer/YAYJY363002 Powerscourt Main Website http://www.powerscourt.ie/ County Wicklow General Information http://www.visitwicklow.ie/ Town of Enniskerry Website http://www.enniskerry.ie/ Bus Eireann Day Tours Information http://www.buseireann.ie/bubble.php?id=174 Dublin Bus Tour (that includes Powerscourt) http://www.dublinbus.ie/sightseeing/southCoast.aspx Grayline Bus Company (with trips to the Wicklow Mountains and Powerscourt available from Dublin) http://www.grayline.com/Grayline/destinations/europe/ireland.go?mode=activities&cd=&cat=Show%20All%20Tours&index=1&itemcount=6 Travel Toe Tour Company http://www.traveltoe.com/product_info.php/products_id/2641

In this episode, we interview our friend and travelling companion, Lisa, about her experiences regarding researching her Irish family roots.

One caveat: When doing research and finding information from any source, don't believe that the information you find is accurate until you can verify it by finding a second source that backs up that information. The government records aren't always accurate and neither are family records or the records of churches for that matter. ALWAYS CROSS-VERIFY YOUR INFORMATION!

The National Archives of Ireland http://www.nationalarchives.ie/genealogy/centres.html

Irish Family History Foundation website

http://www.irish-roots.ie/

The Irish Family History Foundation is the coordinating body for a network of county based genealogical research centers on the island of Ireland.

Centres specifically mentioned in podcast Episode 7:

Meath Heritage CentreCastle Street (next to Trim Castle)Trim, Co. Meath

www.meathroots.com

County Cavan Genealogy Centre1st Floor, Johnston Central LibraryFarnham StreetCavan Town, Co. Cavan www.irish-roots.ie/cavan.asp

Irish Genealogy Limited website

http://www.irishgenealogy.ie/

This is the official web site of Irish Genealogy Limited (IGL). Irish Genealogy Limited was set up in 1993 to manage and market the Irish Genealogical Project.

Ireland Gen Web Project website

http://www.irelandgenweb.com/

This site is part of the WorldGenWeb Project and is the local resource index page for Ireland research. It has a clickable map of all the Irish counties.

Irish Family Research

(Based in the U.K.)

http://www.irishfamilyresearch.co.uk

Founded by Mary Quinn, a lawyer from the U.K. Links and information and a message board where you can try to find information that others may already have located. (Many genealogical research sites have these message boards, and they can prove helpful in your search.)

Ireland Roots website

http://www.irelandroots.com/

There is no information on this website (that we have been able to ascertain at any rate – doesn't mean it isn't there; we just haven't seen it) about who is sponsoring this website. But there is a very active message board associated with the site and some interesting information about starting your search for your roots (not specifically Irish roots, just genealogical research in general).

Irish Ancestors research page from RootsWeb and Ancestry.com

http://www.irishancestors.net/

Not all resources from Ancestry.com are free, but this page contains the links to a bunch of resources specifically related to Irish genealogical research that are free.

Footnote.com

http://www.footnote.com/

On-line document look-ups. Many services are free, but if you want to print, save, or annotate all of their documents, you will need a membership. There are millions and millions of document images from all over the world on this site. I found that many of the ones I wanted to look at require a membership to access, but there are tons of documents you can access for free.

This might be a great place to go when you're just starting your research. You could probably obtain a lot of good free information to get you started. Then you could get a membership later when you're further along in your research…

U.K. Genealogy website

http://www.ukgenealogy.co.uk/ireland.htm

This portion of the website is specifically related to Irish root research. You can search for information on your U.K. roots as well, which is rather nice.

Irish Times

http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/

Even the Irish Times newspaper sponsors a website related to finding your roots!

About.com website

http://genealogy.about.com/od/ireland/tp/irish_databases.htm

This page is a list of what About.com considers the top 12 online resources for researching your Irish ancestors. Interesting stuff – not all of the areas of all of the sites are free though.

(Side note: About.com has a pretty large genealogy section, and they have some good articles about getting started with research, top mistakes to avoid, organizing your research, finding software that's right for you, and lots of other things. Go to http://genealogy.about.com/od/make_family_tree/u/learn.htm to find out more.)

Ancestry Ireland

http://www.ancestryireland.com

Sponsored by the Ulster Historical Foundation. You can do just about anything on this site. You can enter an ancestor's name to find records, you can hire a researcher to help you do your research, you can find books to help you with your research, and more.

Parts of this site are free, but some areas require a fee payment.

Cyndi's List

http://www.cyndislist.com/ireland.htm

This website has a ton of links to sites that might be able to help you with your research! Of course, we didn't have time to check them all out and make sure that all of the links were working or that the sites were useful, but we recognized many of the sites as places we had already been.

Family Search

http://www.familysearch.org/eng/default.asp

This site is sponsored by the Church of Latter Day Saints (a.k.a. Mormon church).

Irish Genealogy Centre (Professional Ancestral Research) Website

http://www.irishgenealogycentre.com

There is some good general information about how to go about doing family research, but a lot of the other pages don't have any information on them.

NOT FREE RESOURCES

Ancestry.com/RootsWeb.com

OneGreatFamily.com

The Queenstown Storyhttp://www.cobhheritage.com/index2.html

Cobh Chamber of commercehttp://www.cobhharbourchamber.ie/index.html

Cobh Museumhtt://www.cobhmuseum.com

Sirius Art Centrehttp://www.iol.ie/~cobharts/

St Colman's Cathedralhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/cobh-cathedral

Titanic trail tourhttp://www.titanic-trail.com/trail.htm

Fota Islandhttp://www.fotawildlife.ie

Fota House and Gardenshttp://www.fotahouse.com

Heritage Island Guide Bookshttp://www.heritageisland.com/Touring%20Guide.asp

Marine Transport Services (provides harbour cruises)http://www.scottcobh.ie/pages/tours.html

Foodhttp://www.goireland.com/ireland/restaurants-in-ireland-page1.htm

We give a brief update about the job hunt in Ireland and about our trip to Kinsale and Charles Fort.Heritage Ireland/OPW - Info about heritage passes and all OPW sites. Also updates on clusures and schedule modifications.http://www.heritageireland.ie/en/ Desmond Castlehttp://www.heritageireland.ie/en/south-west/DesmondCastle/ Charles Forthttp://www.heritageireland.ie/en/south-west/CharlesFort/ Kinsale Town Infohttp://www.kinsale.iehttp://www.cork-guide.ie/kinsale.htmOne-Minute Irishhttp://omIrish.libsyn.com/ Mike Hanrahanhttp://www.mikehanrahannl.com/

The Ring of Hook, Hook Head lighthouse, Duncannon and Dunbrody AbbeyOn our first day back in Ireland, we drove the ring of hook and went to Hook Head Lighthouse, Duncannon fort and Dunbrody abbey.Ring of Hook/Duncannon Fort/Dunbrody Abbey http://www.thehook-wexford.com/ The Cockleshell Gallery http://www.cockleshellgallery.com