Program 708: Favorite Tours in Ireland; Celtic Middle Earth; Ireland’s South Coast

Explore the sights of Ireland's south coast, where West Cork offers a wild and scenic alternative to the tourist-trodden Ring of Kerry.

Get tips for local tours that can provide depth and conviviality on your next trip to Ireland.

And hear what author Graham Robb discovered about the sophisticated ways the ancient Celts mapped out their pre-Roman world.

Venture deep into Ireland, on the next Travel with Rick Steves. 

• Funder 2023-1 is now available! See all fundraisers.

• Ireland tour guide and guidebook co-author Pat O'Connor
• Graham Robb, author of "The Discovery of Middle Earth" (Norton)
• Ireland-based tour guide Barry Maloney, author of "Kinsale" (self-published)
• Feature narration by former TRS producer Sarah McCormic

• Pat O'Connor provides more than an hour's worth of Ireland travel tips in a presentation he gave in 2012.
• The Rick Steves online guide to Ireland.
• Graham Robb's works are listed on his publisher's site at W. W. Norton.
• Graham's 2014 book "The Discovery of Middle Earth," was released in the U.K. under the title "The Ancient Paths" by Picador / Pan Macmillan.
• The New York Times discusses Graham Robb's theories about Celtic migrations.
• Information for visiting the second-century Antonine Wall in Scotland.
• Barry Moloney hosts historic walking tours of Kinsale, Ireland. He's collected many of the tales he tells on the tours in his book "Kinsale."
• Barry describes more about his hometown Kinsale in an previous Travel with Rick Steves, on program #669 in March 2022.
• The Jeanie Johnston Famine ship is docked in the heart of Dublin and open daily.
• The Cobh Heritage Centre has exhibits on emigration during the Great Famine, and on the last stop of the Titanic on its ill-fated maiden voyage.

• Caller is an engineer, planning a trip to Scotland. "What sites that exhibit the scientific and engineering capabilities of the Celts should I put on my must see list? Is it possible to visit these sites if I don't have a car?" (Steve in Albany, Oregon)
• "I have heard that the Irish Celts adopted Christianity so enthusiastically because there were so many correlations between pre-Christian Celtic and early Christian religious beliefs." (Jake in Bend, Oregon)

• Eleanor Kane, "Morning Dew," From Galway to Dublin: Early Recordings of Irish Traditional Music (collection) / Rounder
• Scythian, "Donegal Rant," Aidan's Orbit / Birch House Records
• Barry Foy, and unspecified musicians from a Seattle-area Irish music session, "Jig," (custom recording)
• Instrumental intro to John McCormack (Edwin Schneider, piano), "Believe Me, If All Those Enduring Young Charms," Songs of my Heart / EMI Classics
• David Russell, "Whiskey, You're the Devil," The Emerald Isles (collection) / Telarc
• Hen's Tooth Discs, "Cockles and Mussles (Molly Malone)," Authentic Music Box Arrangements, disc 2 / Hens Tooth Discs
• The Spirit of Eden, "Legend of Cuan," Celtic Heartbeat Collection 2 / Celtic Heartbeat
• * Carlos Núñez with The Chieftans, "Dublin In Vigo," The Chieftans:  Santiago / RCA Victor
• Open the Door for Three, "Carrig River," The Joyful Hour / (self-released)
• Enya, "The Celts," The Celts / Reprise
• Rita Connolly, Shaun Davey, "Free and Easy," Granuaile / Tara Music
• RTE Cor na nOg, orchestral intro to "Cead Mile Failte romhat, a Iosa," Faith of our Fathers (soundtrack) / Valley Entertainment
• Edward Meehan, "Bridie Morley's Reels," From Galway to Dublin: Early Recordings of Irish Traditional Music (collection) / Rounder
• Cincinnati Pops, Erich Kunzel cond., Kieran O'Hare, Liz Knowles, Silver Arm Celtic Band, "O'Farrell's Welcome to Limerick," The Emerald Isles (collection)  / Telarc 
• Altan, "An Grianán (Horse with a Heart)," Celtic Tides (collection) / Putumayo
• O'Malley's Folk Music Players, "Lament for Stalker Wallace," Irish & Celtic Folk Classics / Big Eye Music
• * Enya, "Boadicea," Paint the Sky with Stars:  The Best of Enya / Reprise
• Auréole, "The Wind That Shakes The Barley," Celtic Grace: Airs, Dances and Ballads from Ireland / E 1 Music International 
• William J. Mullaly, "The Green Groves of Erin," From Galway to Dublin:  Early Recordings of Irish Traditional Music (collection) / Rounder
• Mago de Oz, "Irish Pub," Belfast / Locomotive Records
• John Doan, "Saint Patrick in the Spirit,"Eire-Isle of the Saints (A Celtic Odyssey) / Hearts of Space
• Cairde na Gael, "The Wind that Shakes the Barley," Cairde na Gael / (self-released)
• Rita Connolly, Shaun Davey, "Death of Richard-An-Iarainn (Intro)," Granuaile / Tara Music
• Gregory Harrington, "The Battle of Kinsale," Reflections / Estile
• Kathryn Mannyng, "The Parting of Friends," Tara's Halls – Harp Music of Ireland / (self-released)
• Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, Leonard Slatkin, cond., "Irish Tune from County Derry (Danny Boy)," The Emerald Isles (collection) / Telarc

* Indicates filler music used during internal breaks on the broadcast 

• All three segments of today's program center on Ireland and Celtic history, but Rick does not mention the Saint Patrick's Day holiday by name during the hour.
• In segment A, Pat recommends tours in Kinsale by Barry Moloney and Don Herlihy, musical and literary pub crawls in Dublin, Tim and Micheal Collins' archeological tour of the Dingle Peninsula.
• Rick adds in tours of the Burren landscapes, and minivan/ponycart tours on the Aran Islands. They also discuss tours of Waterford Crystal, three whiskey distillery tours, taxi driver sectarian neighborhood tours in Northern Ireland, and student-led tours of Trinity College.
• In a reset at 25:19, Rick notes that Graham Robb's "latest work" is "France: An Adventure History."
• In the reset at 45:22, Rick says that Barry has "just written" a book about Kinsale.
• At 58:03 in Sarah McCormic's feature, she refers to "the financial crisis of recent years" as a modern example stimulating emigration away from Ireland. In his introduction to the feature, Rick puts Sarah's closing comments in context, as being a visit "back when an economic recession still cast a shadow."