Doolin Co Clare

If you travel to Ireland be sure to visit Doolin Co Clare. Now it's in the back of the beyonds down small country roads but it's worth it. I first visited Doolin in my teens when there was a big Irish music revival going on. The place was crawling with hippies. My brother James who lives in Chicago now was into the music scene in Ireland at the time. He had a large following of mostly female groupies. We would sing traditional songs and drink until we fell down. Those were the days. I spent close to a week there with Jeff on our honeymoon. James had gotten us a house from a friend for the week FREE, you can't beat that. We immersed our self in the place, the music the people, it was brilliant. We've been back many times since. We brought my sister in law Ruthann and her husband Harold to Doolin in 2007, it hasn't changed much in 30 years.

Doolin is just one little street with a few pubs that house traditional musicians every night. People come from all over the world just to get a flavor of the culture. Drink pints of Guinness or one of the many other local brews Murphy's,  Beamish or uisce beatha [whiskey]. You don't have to drink alcohol lots of Irish drink tea by the gallon in the pub. You will get drunk on the atmosphere it's loud, lively and close to heaven.

The Irish don't know a stranger which is both a blessing and a curse. There will be no wall flowers everyone is all in even the most introvert find their voice in these pubs. Conversations from politics to religion to current events, every one's an expert, all opinions welcome. Even if you don't know the songs you'll find yourself tapping your feet.  You'll feel Irish for a night...Slainte.