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Treasured Ireland
Enjoy Celtic Seaweed Baths, golf, idyllic Irish shores, history and more
 | General view of the Royal County Down Golf Club, in Newcastle, County Down, Northern Ireland. |
David Cannon / Getty Images file |
I am aboard an Irish tour bus that is driving on what I am still convinced is the wrong side of the road. Our driver, Jo, a quiet photographer-type, has no problem shifting with his left hand while winding around the narrow passages of Northwest Ireland.
You have to wonder if the roads weren't constructed this way on purpose, forcing you to slow down and submit to the views of the Atlantic tides coming and going on one side and that of mountains and villages on the other. Unlike so many American shorelines and landscapes, these are not scarred with the overdevelopment of trophy homes, preserving the views for a select few. Thanks to stringent conservation and permitting laws, the sapphire and emerald brilliance of Ireland is unobstructed as far as the eye can see.
A typical Irish spring, the weather is cold and rainy - much like what I left behind in Boston. Pallid skies are the perfect contrast for the never-ending slopes of green countryside, accentuated with fuchsia rhododendrons and beaded with stone-walled corrals of grazing cattle. Fortunately, we Irish-blooded New Englanders know better than to store the Shetlands before June, so I'm not uncomfortable. I cannot say as much for the Floridian a few seats up, relying on a rose-colored fleece to get through the week.
Ireland is Europe's third largest island and is made up of the Republic of Ireland, better known as just Ireland, and Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom. Northern Ireland occupies one-sixth of the island on the northeast side along the Irish Sea. My trip was concentrated along the Atlantic seaboard of Ireland's northwest side, which is steeped in as much natural beauty as history - both factual and fictitious.
The region is also poetic. County Sligo, known as "Yeats Country," was home to the 1923 Nobel Prize poet William Butler Yeats. The locals take great pride in Yeats' work, offering visitors numerous opportunities to become more familiar with the great bard. I had the enviable occasion to attend a Yeats Supper, hosted by Damien Brennan, his wife Paula Gilvarry and their children Sarah and Paul.
While Paula, an acclaimed executive chef turned medical doctor, artfully prepared the multi-course gourmet dinner, Damien recited selected poems from his well-read 1970 volume of Yeats' works. Other guests and I sipped wine and dined on venison; salmon (caught that day!); winter bake, a mix of mashed potatoes and carrots; lemon pudding and cream puffs, as Damien explained which parts of the outdoor landscape inspired Yeats to write "Song of Wondering Angels."
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The readings were as idyllic as the setting. Paula and Damien constructed a contemporary home, named Broc House, with a 40-foot wall that overlooked Loch Gill. The natural greens and blues provided the color scheme for the interior walls, which made me feel like I was sitting outside, when really I was warm inside by the fire.
Irish shores are home to some of Europe's most unsung beaches. "The waves hit the windows during a storm," said Paul Diver, manager of the Sandhouse Hotel on Rossnowlagh Beach, a peaceful resort near the border of Northern Ireland. "That attracts a lot of storm watchers." It also attracts the brass of the World Master Surfers short-board competition, who schedule the annual event outside the hotel.
Green, clean and sandy, Ireland's northwest coast is quickly becoming a magnet for families, prompting the construction of modest holiday homes, restaurants, pubs and resorts. Anglers will not be disappointed with the costs and the odds of hooking a long Irish fish tale. Beachcombers, too, will appreciate their finds. Golfers will love the view and smell of ocean air along the courses constructed in esplanades. Bathers prefer June, July and August, the only true summer months. After a memorable daybreak galloping through the low tide of Dunfanaghy's Killhoey Beach, I recommend taking in the surf via saddle.
Like New England beaches, the water here is cold, but not to worry; the Irish have devised a way to take the chill out of soaking up the surf. The Celtic Seaweed Baths are located in Strandhill, across the street from the Atlantic. This age-old Irish pampering ritual incorporates fresh seaweed, harvested daily, to bathwater. The heat of the water releases the algae's natural oils, reproducing the plasma makeup of the human body. After nearly an hour immersed in this brew, not only was my skin rejuvenated, but my soul as well. All was right with the world - for the next three days, at least.
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