Page 362 - Lonely Planet Europe’s Best Trips (Travel Guide)

thousands of travellers
7 Doolin each year who find their TRIP HIGHLIGHT
Doolin gets plenty of desolate beauty beguil- 9 Inisheer
press as a centre of Irish ing. The largest and On Inisheer (Inis Oírr),
traditional music, owing most accessible Aran, the smallest of the Aran
Inishmór, is home to
to a trio of pubs that Islands, the breathtak-
have sessions through ancient fort Dún Aengus ingly beautiful end-of-
the year. McGann’s (www. (Dún Aonghasa; www. the-earth landscape adds
mcgannspubdoolin.com; heritageireland.ie/en/west/ to the island’s distinctly
Roadford; h10am-12.30am, dunaonghasa/; adult/child mystical aura. Steeped
kitchen 10am-9.30pm) has €4/2; h9.30am-6pm Apr-Oct, in mythology, traditional
all the classic touches 9.30am-4pm Nov-Mar, closed rituals are still very
of a full-on Irish music Mon & Tue Jan & Feb), one of much respected here.
pub; the action often the oldest archaeologi- Locals still carry out a
spills out onto the street. cal remains in Ireland. pilgrimage with potential
The island also has some
Right on the water, Gus healing powers, known
O’Connor’s Pub (www.gus lively pubs and restau- as the Turas, to the Well
oconnorspubdoolin.net; Fish- rants, particularly in of Enda, an ever-burbling
erstreet; h9am-midnight), a the only town, Kilronan. spring in the southwest.
sprawling favourite, has Irish remains the local For a week in late June
tongue, but most locals
a rollicking atmosphere. the island reverberates to
It easily gets the most speak English with visi- the thunder of traditional
IRELAND 26 MuSICAL LANDSCAPES
crowded and has the tors. Tí Joe Watty’s Bar drums during Craiceann
highest tourist quotient. (www.joewattys.com; Kilronan; Inis Oírr International
MacDiarmada’s (Roadford; hkitchen 12.30-9pm) is the Bodhrán Summer School
best pub in Kilronan,
hbar 11am-midnight, kitchen (www.craiceann.com), which
9am-9.30pm), also known with traditional sessions includes Bodhrán master
as McDermott’s, is a most nights. Turf fires classes, workshops and
simple and sometimes warm the air on the 50 pub sessions as well as
rowdy red-and-white old weeks a year when this is Irish dancing. Rory Con-
needed. Informal music
pub popular with locals. neely’s atmospheric inn
When the fiddles get sessions, turf fires and a Tigh Ruaírí (Strand House;
going, it can seem like a broad terrace with har- %099-75020; www.tighruairi.
scene out of a John Ford bour views make Tí Joe com; r €50-90; i) hosts
movie. Mac’s (Kilronan) a local fa- live music sessions and,
vourite, while jovial Tigh
4 p361 Fitz (Killeany), near the here since 1897, Tigh Ned
airport, has traditional (meals €5-10) is a welcom-
The Drive » You’ll need to sessions and set dancing ing, unpretentious place,
leave your car at one of Doolin’s with harbour views and
many car parks to board the every weekend. It’s 1.6km lively traditional music.
ferry to the Aran Islands. from Kilronan (about a
25-minute walk). 4 p361
8 Inishmór 4 p361
The Aran Islands sing The Drive » Ferries can be
their own siren song to picked up between Aran Islands
but tickets must be prebooked.

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