Flug er orðið of ódýrt. Við fljúgum án tilefnis. Til að eyða hálfum öðrum sólarhring í Prag. Sumir fara í erindisleysu mánaðarlega til útlanda. Aðrir reka erindi, þótt léttara sé að nota myndfundasíma. Til dæmis hjá ríkinu. Við getum ekki lengi hagað okkur svona. Allt þetta flug framleiðir mikinn koltvísýring og flýtir fyrir ragnarökum. Betra er að hægja á þessu með því að leggja grænan skatt á flug. Til dæmis tíuþúsundkall á miðann innan álfu, tuttuguþúsund krónur í milliálfuflugi, hundraðþúsund á hvert einkaflug. Bezt væri að gera þetta sameiginlega, til dæmis á vegum Evrópusambandsins.

Miðja Berlínar er hornið á Unter den Linden og Friðriksstræti. Þaðan sker eins km radíusinn Brandenborgarhliðið, Potsdamer Platz, Safnaeyju og bakka árinnar Spree. Ekki er nauðsynlegt að búa á Adlon fyrir € 330 til að geta farið fótgangandi um hverfi 10117. Það er heiti hverfis 101 í Berlín. Enn nær borgarmiðju er Jolly Hotel Vivaldi á € 149 og Hotel Berlin Mitte á € 137. Hvort tveggja er í Michelin-klassa. Ódýrara hótel á svæðinu er Mercure Checkpoint Charlie á € 129. Fær fín meðmæli í TripAdvisor og 4,5 stig af 5 mögulegum. Frambærileg hótel fást ekki á lægra verði þar fremur en hér.

Margar stórborgir Evrópu eru einn km í radíus um borgarmiðju, Vínarborg, Bruxelles, Kaupmannahöfn, Amsterdam, Madrid. Oft voru þær áður umluktar borgarmúr, sem var um sex km að lengd. Utar húktu varnarlaus Breiðholt og Grafarvogar. Reykjavík er ein af þessum borgum. Ef eins kílómetra hringur er dreginn kringum Lækjartorg, er jaðar hringsins við Snorrabraut, Ánanaust og Hringbraut. Þetta er auðvitað hverfi númer 101, nafli heimsins í flestum stórborgum. Aðeins fáar borgir eru stærri, París og New York. Menningarsaga okkar hefur verið háð innan hinna þröngu hringja. Auðvitað í hverfum 101.

Væri ég ferðamaður, vildi ég búa sem næst borgarmiðjunni Lækjartorgi. Þar er fjöldi hótela á næsta leiti. Í Pósthússtræti eru Hótel Borg, þar sem meðalverðið hefur undanfarið numið $ 306. Og Hótel 1919, þar sem það hefur verið $ 294, hvort tveggja samkvæmt TripAdvisor. Ódýrari herbergi eru á Hótel Centrum í Aðalstræti, á $ 220. Svipað verð er á Castle House við Skálholtsstíg, $ 211. Öll þessi hótel fá fjögur gæðastig, sem er það hæsta í bænum. Þau fá vinsamleg ummæli hótelgesta. Annars er algengt að hótel í miðborginni kosti um og yfir $ 400. Viðbrögð notenda þar eru lakari.

Helmingur morgunverðargesta voru viðgerðamenn tækjasala áleiðis í útköll. Þeir voru í strigaskóm og gallabuxum. Helmingur afgangsins voru sölumenn sömu fyrirtækja. Þeir voru í blankskóm, ljósbláum skyrtum og bleiserjökkum. Fimmtándi hver var kona. Dæmigerður morgunverður á hótelinu við Stansted-flugstöðina. Þetta er eins og fyrir mörgum áratugum, þegar ég tók þátt í að kaupa prenttækni. Ég kannaðist við týpurnar og hef meiri samúð með viðgerðarmönnunum. Flugvallarhótel er skrítinn samkomustaður fólks, sem á ekkert sameiginlegt, er að koma og fara. Enginn gistir meira en eina nótt.

Radisson-hótelið á Stansted flugvelli er við hlið flugstöðvarinnar, vel í sveit sett. Það er svo alþjóðlegt, að þú veizt ekki hvar þú ert í heiminum, þegar þú vaknar. Sumt er gott við slíkt hótel. Þau vita vel, hvað gestir vilja. Þar þarf ég ekki að fara í móttökuna til að nota tölvu. Þráðlaust netsamband er í öllum herbergjum. Þar er buxnapressa í hverju herbergi, svo og straujárn. Líka kaffivél og peningaskápur. Svo er gaman að stjóranum, sem hefur á stefnuskrá sinni, að kúnninn hafi alltaf rétt fyrir sér. Alþjóðavæðingin hefur sína kosti, sem koma í ljós á Radisson við Stansted.

Ég er búinn að ferðast dálítið um nágrenni Lissabon. Hvar sem ég hef gist á hóteli, hef ég fengið aðgang að heitum reit, þráðlausu netsambandi. Alls staðar hefur aðgangurinn verið ókeypis, enda tilkostnaður enginn. Fortaleza Guincho var með annað kerfi, samkrull með Og Vodafone um að plokka gesti. Þar þurfti sambandið að fara um hendur símaokrara, sem tók stóran pening fyrir. Ef þið pantið pláss á erlendu hóteli, spyrjið endilega um þetta. Hvort þráðlaust netsamband sé ókeypis eða kosti formúu. Hafnið hótelum, sem hleypa að símaokri. Ýtið okrurunum þannig út af markaði hótelgistinga.

Þráðlaust vefsamband er orðið algengt á erlendum hótelum. Áður varð að nota rándýran gemsa til að ná GPRS-sambandi eða berjast við framandi lyklaborð á hóteltölvum. Okrarar í símaþjónustu voru raunar búin að prísa GPRS út af markaði. Og lyklaborðin eru skrítin í Portúgal, annar hver lykill á óvæntum stað. Núna koma menn með eigin tölvur, hafa öll innbyggð þægindi þeirra og þurfa ekki að borga neitt. Svona á það að vera. Gallinn er, að tollurinn í Leifsstöð telur, að menn séu að smygla tölvum, sem duttu úr framleiðslu fyrir tveimur árum. Tollurinn á að hætta þessu tölvu-smyglrugli sínu.

Á TripAdvisor er skelfileg lýsing á hótelum á Íslandi, einnig utan borgar. Sögufrægt KEA á Akureyri fær þar á baukinn, herbergi sögð lítil og sóðaleg. Álitsgjafar TripAdvisor hafa líka slæma reynslu af Icelandair Flughotel í Keflavík. Fosshótel Laugar í Reykjavík er sagt vera verra en vítishola, gestirnir grétu sig í svefn. Fosshótel Húsavík er sagt vera þreytt. Hótel Látrabjarg í Örlygshöfn fær niðrandi ummæli fyrir okur og lélegan aðbúnað. Ferðamálaráð þarf að hafa frumkvæði í að koma slíkum upplýsingum áfram til viðkomandi aðila. Ófært er, að tugur hótela varpi skugga á landið allt.

Hótel Loftleiðir fær lága einkunn á TripAdvisor. Herbergin sögð gömul og léleg, maturinn í veitingasalnum óætur. Verri umsögn fá sum lítil hótel. Eigandi Hotel Atlantis á Grensásvegi sagður ruddalegur í orðbragði og umgengni, húsnæði í lamasessi, skelfileg lífsreynsla segir einn. Næstverst var sagt gistiheimilið Adam á Skólavörðustíg. Eigandinn sagður hræðilegur, með gistingu í útikofa, hafi aðeins áhuga á að hrifsa peninga. Einn sagði það versta hótel ævi sinnar. Turninn TopCityLine Grand í Sigtúni fékk langversta einkunn, skelfilega lýsingu á framkvæmdum, sóðaskap og vanhæfni.

Abbey Tavern

Howth. All major cards.

The best ballad pub for tourists is in a steep street leading up from the harbor in the northern suburb of Howth, where the city railway ends at the seashore. The program is performed in a big dining room behind the pub. Busloads of tourists sit there at a candlelight dinner before the memorable performance starts.

The musicians and singers cover a broad spectrum of Irish folk ballads, from several epochs, ancient and new. They play mainly fiddles and guitars. The music is historically correct and gets directly to the heart. This is first class and no make-believe.

Admission is £3, with dinner it is £28.

Baggot Inn

Lower Baggot Street. (B2).

The pub of rock n’ roll is a clean place in the street of music pubs.

It is rather delicate and bright by Irish standards, shaped in a U. There are mirrors on columns and low partitions at the walls, hung with paintings and photos of rock singers.

People come here to listen to the newest rock bands who have concerts on the 1st floor.

Bailey

4 Duke Street. (B2).

One of three historical pubs in a small street leading off Grafton Street. This one boasts of the door to 7 Eccles Street, where Leopold Bloom lived, the main character in Ulysses by James Joyce.

It is a refined pub with carpets on the floor and good furniture, including comfortable sofas and easy-chairs. Mirrors abound. The pub is bright and almost modern. There are large windows to the street, sitting areas in front and in back and a restaurant on the 1st floor.

Tourists and affluent shoppers make up the bulk of the clientele. Formerly it was a meeting place for writers and artists, journalists and students. The food is popular.

Brazen Head

20 Lower Bridge Street. (A1).

The oldest pub is inconspicuous down by the river Liffey where Lower Bridge Street runs down to it, about 500 meters from Christ Church. The license is from 1666. A pub has probably been in this place since the 13th C. It is best known for Robert Emmet organizing there the abortive uprising against the British in 1803.

The pub is in two sections with various corridors leading off a paved courtyard. The ceiling is low and the lighting is dim.

The clients are less noisy than in many other pubs, but still as convivial as other Irishmen. Poetry recitals and Irish music are held in honor here.

Davy Byrne’s

21 Duke Street. (B2).

The fashionable pub of the up and going young set in Dublin and one of three historical pubs in a small street leading off Grafton Street, well known for the Gorgonzola cheese and Burgundy wine that Leopold Bloom got here in the novel of Ulysses by James Joyce.

The furnishings are partly in a pre-war style, with paintings of known writers that lived at the start of the 20th C. A more modern section is at the back, resembling a cocktail area.

The clientele consists of well-dressed young people on their way up in business, along with similar types from the travelers’ brigade.

Doheny & Nesbitt

5 Lower Baggot Street. (B2).

A traditional and rather worn drinking pub of professionals in politics, in the middle of the music pubs of this street, leading off St Stephen’s Green, one of the famous pubs of Dublin.

It is small and dingy, with an ugly linoleum floor, and with torn advertising posters, advertising mirrors and large pottery on the walls. Mirrored partitions at the bar counter make the pub look even more crowded.

The clientele comes from the parliament and government buildings round the corner, politicians, journalists and officials.

Duke

9 Duke Street. (B2).

A fine Victorian pub in a small street of old pubs leading off Grafton Street, spacious and bright, with murals and less wood than usual.

A nice floor carpet at the entrance gives a tone of affluence. The bar chairs are upholstered, standing on a parquet floor. There is stained glass behind the bar. Sofas are on platforms at the walls and high bar-stools on the floor beneath the platforms.

Here are many suburbanites on a shopping trip, having a beer and a bite between walks. The price is relatively good, considering the quality and the cleanliness of the place.

Foley’s

Merrion Row. (B2).

A singing pub cum restaurant on the main street of music pubs.

It is spacious and bright, with a carpet on the floor and an exhibition of paintings on the walls, also busts of venerable gentlemen.

This is a nice place, with Irish ballads in the night and at Sunday noon. There is jazz on Sunday nights.

Horseshoe Bar

The Shelbourne Hotel, St Stephen’s Green. (B2).

The most famous hotel bar in Dublin, at the eastern end of the ground floor of the Shelbourne, very small and tightly packed.

Leather sofas line the walls. In front of them are circular tables with edge fillets. The horseshoe-shaped bar is in the center, surrounded with good stools. The ceiling is high and decorations are scant, but there is a lot of mirrors.

Affluent travelers come here, mainly Americans, as the bartenders know how to make cocktails. Also jeweled people who arrive in Jaguars and Mercedeses.

Keogh’s

McDaid’s

Harry Street. (B2).

The literary pub in the center, in a short street leading off Grafton Street, almost under the eaves of Westbury Hotel. Brendan Behan and other well-known writers sat here.

The decorations are beautiful, outside and inside. Very high street windows are partly stained. Decorative porcelain tiles are beneath pictures of Samuel Becket and other writers.

There is still some literary atmosphere here, as university teachers and students congregate here to follow the tradition.

Mulligan’s

8 Poolbeg Street. (B1).

The worn-out pub of journalists near the river docks, the offices of the daily papers and the Trinity University is one of the oldest in town, from 1782 and looks every year its age. It is mentioned in Dubliners by James Joyce.

The pub forms an U around a double bar and has a small room by the window at the opening of the U. The ceiling is low, the air is heavy and the visibility is scant. The furnishings are as worn as they can possibly be. There are two rooms behind the bar area, both of them quite inhospitable. The furniture is accidental, destitute and devoid of taste.

Many guests are deep in their drinks, having the excuse that they are getting the best beer in town. It flows in torrents here from morning into the night. Journalists come here, dock workers and students. The clientele combines with the furnishings to make quite an unforgettable atmosphere.

Neary’s

1 Chatham Street. (B2).

The theater pub is of course just behind the Gaiety theater. The main entrance of the theater and the back door of the pub are opposite each other, but he main entrance of the pub is on a side street of Grafton Street.

The pub is in two parts, rather small, with large mirrors. Quaint gas-lamps of wrought iron are on a pink bar counter of marble. A fine carpet is on the floor and thick cushions are on the chairs, as this is not a place for the riff-raff.

Some actors and musicians are in the otherwise mainly tourist clientele. Peter O’Toole is said to hold court here when he is in Dublin.

O’Donoghue’s

15 Merrion Row. (B2).

One of the most famous music pubs of Ireland, rather shady, specializing in ballads. It has been in the forefront of the revival of Irish ballads. The Dubliners started here.

It is small and dingy, with red and green neon lights on the bar wall above money notes from several continents. The walls are hung with old advertising mirrors.

Guests bring their guitars, as the music is not organized, but rather emanates from the grass-roots.

O’Neill’s

2 Suffolk Street. (B1).

Opposite St Andrews, convenient for Trinity College students, just 100 meters from its main entrance at College Green.

The emblem of the pub is a large clock over one of its Suffolk Street entrance. This is a large pub, clean, well furnished, with few decorations, but lots of seats.

The pub is popular, both with students and burghers. The attraction is not only the beer, but also the grub.

Old Stand

Exchequer Street. (A1).

The main sportsmen’s pub in the center, in a side street 100 meters from the Powerscourt shopping center.

It is rather bright and unusually spacious, clean and simple, with furnishings that have not yet become worn, except for the floor.

Sport enthusiasts congregate here, talking about racing or Irish football. Many of them have something to eat here.

Palace

21 Fleet Street. (B1).

A typical smoke-filled pub in a continuation of Temple Bar in the direction of Westmoreland Street, a neighbor of hotel Temple Bar.

Wood partitions with mirrors form compartments at the heavy counter, opposite the dignified bar furniture behind the counter. Behind the bar there is a sitting room with sofas and round coffee-tables.

There is a lot of drinking and still more of smoking. The place is frequented by workers and media people.

Stag’s Head

1 Dame Court. (A1).

The best pub grub in town is to be had at a beautiful old pub, which is difficult to find in an alley running parallel with Dame Street. Probably the most beautiful pub in the city center, it was restored to its present state at the end of the 19th C. Its life was recently saved by protection activists.

The style is Victorian, with large mirrors and an arcade over the bar, an old ceiling of wood, an impressive venison head above the central bar, mahogany tables with marble tops, stained windows and deeply green sofas. The cooking is simple and the food is tasty, boiled bacon and cauliflower, Irish stew, sandwiches and hamburgers with chips.

There is generally a crowd of well-dressed people, including lawyers.

Toner’s

139 Lower Baggot Street. (B2).

The main artists’ pub, 200 years old, more or less with the original furnishings and looking its age.

At the mahogany bar counter there are narrow, mirrored partitions. The bar wall has countless drawers from the time that the pub doubled as a grocery. Old books are above the drawers. A dominating tile decoration is at the end of the pub. Opposite the counter there is a glass cupboard with memorabilia.

Among the clientele are some convivial writers and people who like convivial writers.

Gaelic football

The most popular team sport in Ireland, a rough sport somewhere between rugby and soccer. When the final game is played in Croke Park in Dublin the home districts of the competitors are almost deserted.

Hurling is another popular sport, where the ball is hit by a club, played on the same fields as football.

Horse races are at Phoenix Park and there are good golf courses all over Ireland.

Market Arcade

(A1).

Tower

1996

© Jónas Kristjánsson

Ainhoa

Bárbara de Braganza 12. Phone: 308 6698. Hours: Closed Sunday. Price: Pts.11000 ($88) for two. All major cards. (C1).

One of many Basque places, a modern and simple restaurant with classic cooking, situated in the north-eastern part of the center, near Paseo de Recoletos.

The dining room is partioned in two by a wooden grill and covered with mirrors on one side.

• Marmitako = pea soup with turnip, potato and tuna.

• Revuelto de pisto = scrambled eggs with chopped olives.

• Merluza a la parilla = grilled hake.

• Rape a la koskera = turbot with green bean sauce.

• Tarta et truffa almondes = almond cake.

• Idiázabal = Basque cheese.

Al Mounia

Recoletos 5. Phone: 435 0828. Hours: Closed Sunday & Monday. Price: Pts.9700 ($78) for two. All major cards. (C2).

The best Moorish restaurant in Spain is in central Madrid, near Paseo de Recoletos, combining cooking and atmosphere.

It is divided into a few rooms decorated from top to bottom in Moorish style, evoking memories from Alhambra in Granada and Mezquita in Córdoba. Guests sit in sofas at low sofa-tables and enjoy especially good service.

• Al Mounia panache = pancakes of the house.

• Brochette khefta = skewered meat balls.

• Chicken with almonds and meat fumé.

• Grilled lamb.

• Cordero mechoui = oven-braised lamb.

• Taginé = minced chicken.

• Alcuzcuz = Maghreb hash.

• Almond sweets.

• Mint tea.

Asador de Aranda

Preciados 44. Phone: 547 2156. Hours: Closed Monday dinner. Price: Pts.7600 ($61) for two. All major cards. (A2).

Castilian restaurant in a pedestrian area around the main department stores in the center. (Shortlisted for evaluation and inclusion)

Bajamar

Gran Vía 78. Phone: 548 4818. Fax: 559 1326. Price: Pts.15000 ($120) for two. All major cards. (A1).

The best-known seafood restaurant in town, receiving airborne fish every day, popular with tourists and businessmen, in a basement on the corner of Plaza de España and Gran Vía.

An aquarium with lobsters awaits customers when the have descended the staircase. The dining room is rather cool, sheathed in bright wood Scandinavian style, like a Norwegian hotel from 1965.

• Steamed lobster.

• Dublin Bay prawns in garlic oil.

• Baked apple.

• Torrija de la casa = rice pudding with cinnamon.

Botín

Cuchilleros 17. Phone: 366 4217. Fax: 366 8494. Price: Pts.9800 ($78) for two. All major cards. (A2).

Down the steps from the southwestern corner of Plaza Mayor, 100 meters down the street on the left side, Antigua Casa Sobrino de Botín, founded in 1725, one of the very oldest restaurants in the world. This was the venue of the final chapter of Hemingway’s rising sun, not surprisingly since he was a regular here. The place is also mentioned in his story on an afternoon death.

It was originally only on the ground floor but has been expanded into two upper floors. It is not only popular with tourists but also with locals. The tavern has old and quaint furnishings, including porcelain tiles on the walls and marble in the floors. The kitchen oven has been in use since the start of the restaurant.

• Black sausages Burgos.

• Ham on melon.

• Cordero asado = braised lamb.

• Cochinillo asado = braised baby pork.

• Cheese cake with raspberries.

Buey II

Plaza de la Marina Española 1. Phone: 541 3041. Price: Pts.7000 ($56) for two. All major cards. (A2).

Near the royal palace and the Sabatine gardens. (Shortlisted for evaluation and inclusion)

Café de Oriente

Plaza de Oriente 2. Phone: 541 3974. Fax: 547 7707. Price: Pts.13000 ($104) for two. All major cards. (A2).

One of the very best restaurants in central Madrid, a Basque one, run by Chef Bernardo Santos, influenced by Nouvelle Cuisine. It is opposite the Royal Palace, really two places in one as you have to enter an alley to get into the better one on the left side.

The solemn dining room is wealthy and homey at the same time. Service is excellent.

• Lobster salad.

• Asparagus mousse with sea lamprey and seaweed.

• Pigeon breast.

• Sliced beef fillet.

• Nougat ice-cream flambé with timbale.

• Black-currant sorbet with blackberry sauce.

Casa Gallega

Plaza San Miguel 8. Phone: 547 3055. Price: Pts.8000 ($64) for two. All major cards. (A2).

Galician cooking a few steps from Plaza Major and Plaza de la Villa. (Shortlisted for evaluation and inclusion)

Casa Lucio

Cava Baja 35. Phone: 365 3252. Fax: 366 4866. Hours: Closed Saturday lunch. Price: Pts.10200 ($82) for two. All major cards. (A3).

Near the far end of the restaurant mile leading off Plaza Mayor into Cuchilleros and Cava Baja, frequented by politicians and artists, bullfighters and television people.

Its two storeys are always full to the brim. Service is good for the regulars, less so for the others.

• Melón con jamón = ham on melon.

• Jamón de Jabugó = Jabugó ham.

• Shells.

• Revuelto de patatas con huevo = omelet with chips.

• Lenguado de la casa = sole.

• Solemillo = beef steak.

• Perdices = partridge marinated in vinaigrette.

• Arroz con leche = Milky rice pudding with caramel crust.

Casa Marta

Santa Clara 10. Phone: 548 2825. Hours: Closed Sunday. Price: Pts.6000 ($48) for two. All major cards. (A2).

A few steps from the opera and Plaza de Orientes. (Shortlisted for evaluation and inclusion)

Casa Paco

Puerta Cerrada 11. Phone: 366 3166. Hours: Closed Sunday. Price: Pts.9200 ($74) for two. No cards. (A2).

On the restaurant mile leading off Plaza Mayor along Cuchilleros and Cava Baja, a celebrity eatery with extremely simple furnishings.

The main decoration are the endless pictures covering a good part of the walls of many small dining rooms. Theater personalities frequent this place for beef and salad. Coffee is not served.

• Jamón serrano = ham.

• Cochinillo asado = braised pork.

• Solomillo de buey = beef filet.

• Flan = fruit flan.

• Tarta Santiago = tart of the house.

Club 31

Alcalá 58. Phone: 531 0092. Price: Pts.14000 ($112) for two. All major cards. (C2).

One of the best restaurants in Madrid, a kind of a ladies’ club at dinner and a gentlemen’s club at lunch, is near the corner of Alcalá and Plaza de la Independencia. Ángel Paracuellos practices classic cuisine.

It is a large, dark brown room that would be bare if it were not full of noisy people all the time. The furnishings are unusual. A large carpet is on one wall, another is of cork and the third of wood. Lots of waiters keep milling around.
• Souffle de rodaballo con bacon a las finas herbas = turbot mousse.

• Cacaroles de borgona con foie en nido de patata asado = snails with goose liver on a baked potato.

• Rodaballo al horno con setas = turbot with mushroom.

• Pata azulón a la naranja y compota de membrillo = duck in orange.

• Perdiz asada en hoja de vid = partridge with baked potato.

• Venado estilo australio, ciruelas, parsas y pinones = venison Australian style, with prunes and raisins.

• Crepes de manzana al calvados con sorbete al cava = flambéed pancakes with apple filling.

• Nuestra tarta milhojas = puff pastry.

Comedor

Montalbán 9. Phone: 531 6968. Fax: 531 6191. Hours: Closed Saturday lunch & Sunday. Price: Pts.9600 ($77) for two. All major cards. (C2).

BetweenPlaza de Cibeles and Parque del Buen Retiro. (Shortlisted for evaluation and inclusion)

Cuevas de Luis Candelas

Cuchilleros 1. Phone: 366 5428. Fax: 366 1880. Price: Pts.9500 ($76) for two. All major cards. (A2).

Restaurant in old Madrid style with musicians, on the steps leading down from Plaza Mayor. (Shortlisted for evaluation and inclusion)

Don Pelayo

Alcalá 33. Phone: 531 0031. Hours: Closed Sunday. Price: Pts.9000 ($72) for two. All major cards. (B2).

On the main street leading to Plaza Puerta del Sol. (Shortlisted for evaluation and inclusion)

Errota Zar

Jovellanos 3. Phone: 531 2564. Fax: 531 2564. Hours: Closed Sunday. Price: Pts.9500 ($76) for two. All major cards. (B2).

One of the best of many good Basque restaurants in Madrid is on the short walk between the parliament building and hotel Suecia. The cooking is in traditional Basque style.

It is in a long, green room where guests sit in noble chairs at tables clothed in green linen.

• Gratinado de ostras sobre roseta de tomate a la muselina de aromáticos = gratinated oysters with tomato.

• Milhofas de paloma y foie a la gelatina de frambuesa = warm pigeon liver and duck liver in gelatine.

• Solomillo con foie-gras a las uvas = beef filet with goose liver.

• Ragout de cievres = venison in thick prune sauce.

• Bacalao al pil-pil = salt-cod.

• Suprema de perdiz en lecho de col fresada = partridge breast.

• Pudding de arroz con leche a la crema de cirulas farsas = rice pudding with plum puré.

• Charlota de peras con caramelo al Williams = pear tart with caramel sauce.

• Idiázabal = Basque cheese.

Espejo

Paseo de Recoletos 31. Phone: 308 2347. Fax: 593 2223. Price: Pts.9000 ($72) for two. All major cards. (C1).

Directly on Paseo de Recoletos, one of the most beautiful restaurants in Madrid, a lively place in turn-of-the-century Art Nouveau style.

Lots of mirrors, porcelain tiles and leaded lampshades are the main attraction. The service is also very good. The cooking hails from Navarra and the Basque country.

• Espárragos Navarra = asparagus marinated in oil.

• Ensalade de langosta, melón y salmón ahumado = a salad of shrimp, melon, smoked salmon and small tomatoes.

• Escalopines de cordero = slices of leg of lamb.

• Pato e la laranja = duck in orange.

• Profiteroles de nata con chocolate = puff pastry with cream and hot chocolate.

• Flan al caramelo = caramel pudding.

Esteban

Cava Baja 36. Phone: 365 9091. Fax: 366 9391. Hours: Closed Sunday. Price: Pts.9000 ($72) for two. All major cards. (A3).

Near the far end of the restaurant mile leading off Plaza Mayor into Cuchilleros and Cava Baja, frequented by journalists, media people and theater people.

Everybody seems to know each other. People amble between tables exchanging greetings just as at a party. The furnishings are old and dark and amusingly accidental. Old beams are much in evidence. The cooking is very old-fashioned.

• Alcachofas con almejas = artichokes with shells in a soup.

• Pimientos rellenos de bacalao = salt cod in paprika.

• Solomillo de corzo = venison filet.

• Rabo de toro estofado = ox tail dressing.

• Cordero asada = braised lamb.

• Torrijas de leche frita = rice pudding.

Grillade

Jardines 3. Phone: 521 2217. Fax: 531 3127. Price: Pts.8000 ($64) for two. All major cards. (B2).

In a short street between Gran Vía and Plaza Puerta del Sol. (Shortlisted for evaluation and inclusion)

Gure-Etxea

Plaza de la Paja 12. Phone: 365 6149. Hours: Closed Sunday. Price: Pts.10000 ($80) for two. All major cards. (A3).

A Basque dining room situated in a half-timbered house on a small church square just west off the Cava Baja restaurant street.

The quality furnishings fit the excellent service and the premium cooking.

• Piperrada vaxca = omelet, green peppers and ham.

• Shrimp in crab soup.

• Besugo al estilo de Beneo = whole sea bream in oil.

• Merluza al horno = baked hake.

• Leche frita = pan-fried milk pudding.

• Flan de la casa = caramel pudding.

Ingenio

Leganitos 10. Phone: 541 9133. Fax: 547 3534. Hours: Closed Sunday dinner. Price: Pts.6100 ($49) for two. All major cards. (A2).

Between Gran Vía and the royal palace. (Shortlisted for evaluation and inclusion)

Julián de Tolosa

Cava Baja 18. Phone: 365 8210. Hours: Closed Sunday. Price: Pts.13000 ($104) for two. All major cards. (A3).

On the main restaurant street in the old center. (Shortlisted for evaluation and inclusion)

Mentidero de la Villa

Santo Tomé 6. Phone: 308 1285. Hours: Closed Saturday lunch & Sunday. Price: Pts.9000 ($72) for two. All major cards. (C1).

Restaurant with old furnishings near Museo Arquelógico Nacional and Paseo de Recoletos. (Shortlisted for evaluation and inclusion)

Mesón Gregorio III

Bordadores 5. Phone: 542 5956. Hours: Closed Wednesday. Price: Pts.8200 ($66) for two. All major cards. (A2).

Between the opera and Plaza Puerta del Sol. (Shortlisted for evaluation and inclusion)

Mi Pueblo

Costanilla de Santiago 2. Phone: 548 2073. Hours: Closed Sunday dinner & Monday. Price: Pts.6300 ($50) for two. All major cards. (A2).

Near Plaza Mayor. (Shortlisted for evaluation and inclusion)

Ópera de Madrid

Amnistía 5. Phone: 559 5092. Hours: Closed Sunday. Price: Pts.7600 ($61) for two. All major cards. (A2).

Near the opera and Plaza de Orientes. (Shortlisted for evaluation and inclusion)

Paradis Madrid

Marqués de Cubas 14. Phone: 429 7303. Fax: 429 3295. Hours: Closed Saturday lunch & Sunday. Price: Pts.10000 ($80) for two. All major cards. (B2).

A few steps from Plaza Canovás del Castillo and Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza. (Shortlisted for evaluation and inclusion)

Platerías

Plaza Santa Ana 11. Phone: 429 7048. Hours: Closed Saturday lunch & Sunday. Price: Pts.9000 ($72) for two. All major cards. (B2).

On a main square in old Madrid. (Shortlisted for evaluation and inclusion)

Posada de la Villa

Cava Baja 9. Phone: 366 1880. Fax: 366 1880. Price: Pts.9800 ($78) for two. All major cards. (A3).

Antique restaurant in Castilian style on the main restaurant street in the old center. (Shortlisted for evaluation and inclusion)

Rasputín

Yeseros 2. Phone: 366 3962. Hours: Closed Tuesday. Price: Pts.6400 ($51) for two. All major cards. (A3).

Russian restaurant near the royal palace. (Shortlisted for evaluation and inclusion)

Robata

Reina 31. Phone: 521 8528. Fax: 531 3063. Hours: Closed Tuesday. Price: Pts.7000 ($56) for two. All major cards. (B2).

A Japanese restaurant near Gran Vía. (Shortlisted for evaluation and inclusion)

Schotis

Cava Baja 11. Phone: 365 3230. Hours: Closed Sunday evening. Price: Pts.7800 ($62) for two. All major cards. (A3).

On the restaurant mile leading off Plaza Mayor into Cuchilleros and Cava Baja, specializing in beef steaks served on sizzling bricks.

It is long and narrow, with large paintings covering the walls, filled with local customers.

• Revuelto de trigueros = scrambled egg with green peas.

• Tomato salad.

• Merluza = hake.

• Solomillo = beef steak on brick.

• Flan de huevo = egg pudding.

• Two ice-creams with pineapple and whipped cream.

Sixto Gran Mesón

Cervantes 28. Phone: 429 2255. Fax: 523 3174. Hours: Closed Sunday dinner. Price: Pts.9000 ($72) for two. All major cards. (B2).

Castilian restaurant near Plaza Canovás del Castillo. (Shortlisted for evaluation and inclusion)

Taberna del Alabardero

Felipe V 6. Phone: 547 2577. Fax: 547 7707. Price: Pts.10300 ($82) for two. All major cards. (A2).

Opposite the royal palace, a restaurant in 19th C. style, probably too elegant to be called a tavern. It has spawned descendants abroad.

The best atmosphere is in the innermost room, furnished with antiques. The cooking is a combination of Modern French and Basque, offering some imaginative courses.

• Tomatoes with crab filling and egg sauce.

• Paprika with wild mushroom and spinach filling and tomato sauce.

• Bacalao “Club Ranero” = salt-cod.

• Corazón de solomillo de toro = beef filet.

• Grouse with potato chips.

• Duck slices in orange sauce.

• Rice pudding.

• Melone and cream soup with raspberries.

Toja

Siete de Julio 3. Phone: 366 4664. Fax: 366 5230. Price: Pts.10000 ($80) for two. All major cards. (A2).

On the northwestern corner of Plaza Mayor, a popular and lively tavern offering Galician food.

The simple and large dining place is equally popular with locals and foreigners.

• King prawns in egg sauce.

• Crab.

• Shellfish.

• Merluza gallega = grilled hake with white potatoes.

• Grilled lamb shoulder.

• Tarta Toya = Napoleon pastry.

• Strawberries with cream.

Valle

Humilladero 4. Phone: 366 9025. Hours: Closed Monday dinner & Sunday. Price: Pts.7000 ($56) for two. All major cards. (A3).

A few steps from Descalzas Reales. (Shortlisted for evaluation and inclusion)

Viridiana

Juan de Mena 14. Phone: 523 4478. Fax: 532 4274. Hours: Closed Sunday. Price: Pts.13000 ($104) for two. All major cards. (C2).

Exceptional cooking at a relatively economical restaurant between Plaza de la Lealtad and Parque del Buen Retiro. (Shortlisted for evaluation and inclusion)

Zalachaín

Álvarez de Baena 4. Phone: 561 4840. Fax: 561 4732. Hours: Closed Saturday lunch, Sunday. Price: Pts.19000 ($152) for two. All major cards

We include Zalachaín even if it is not in the city center, near the corner of Paseo de la Castellana and Maria de Molina. It is the best restaurant in Madrid and one of the top three in Spain, a Basque restaurant as the other two. It combines content with form, cuisine with ambience and service. A tie for gentlemen is obligatory.

The dining area is in a few venerable rooms of hardwood, a few tables in each, loaded with exquisite crystal and porcelain. The service matches the dignified atmosphere. The cooking of Chef Benjamín Urdáin is in a Basque version of French Nouvelle Cuisine.

• Ensalada de gambas con maíz dulce al sorbete de tomates = shrimp salad with sweet maize on tomato sorbet.

• Raviolis rellenos de setas, rufas y foie gras = mushrooms and goose liver in ravioli.

• Bacalao Tellagorri = salted cod.

• Pato azulón al chartreuse verde = duck in liqueur.

• Ragoût de bogavante con alcachofas = lobster ragout with artichokes.

• Escalopes de lubina con salsa de almejas = sea bass fillets with shellfish sauce.

• Biscuit glacé con chocolate fundido = coffee ice with chocolate sauce.

• Frutas del tiempo con sorbete = season’s berries with sorbet.

1996

© Jónas Kristjánsson

Agata e Romeo

Via Carlo Alberto 45. Phone: 733 298 & 446 5842. Hours: Closed Sunday. Price: L.140000 ($88) for two. All major cards. (E3).

Classy restaurant 200 meters from the Santa Maria Maggiore church, near the main railway station. Agata Paricella is in charge of the kitchen and Romeo Caraccia directs casually in the dining rooms, hands in pockets (his own).

The restaurant is small and refined with good and dignified service. The guests sit in wicket chairs at well spaced tables in nooks between arches under vaults. A good wine list. Specialises in Roman cooking, such as innards.

• Zuppa di scarola e borlotti = salad and bean soup.

• Rigatoni alla pagliata = pasta tubes with tomato sauce, parmesan and kidneys.

• Merluzzo con zabaione = poached cod in red wine sauce.

• Agnello di Abruzzo = rack of lamb with potatoes and mushrooms.

• Mousse de ricotta con salsa di canelle = cheese soufflé with cinnamon.

Innards:

• Animelle = sweetbreads.

• Cervella = brains.

• Coratella = lamb lungs.

• Fegato = liver.

• Pagliata = kidneys.

• Rognoni = kidneys.

• Trippa = tripe.

Ai Tre Scalini

Via di Santissimi Quattro 30. Phone: 70 96 309 & 70 02 835. Hours: Closed Monday. Price: L.160000 ($101) for two. All major cards. (D4).

Small and distinguished top-class restaurant, 200 meters from Colosseum. It combines traditional cooking with innovations. The owner-chef is a construction engineer, Rosanna Dupré, designing a new menu each day.

Unassuming on the outside, comfortable on the inside, with a big cupboard for glassware, somber paintings, parquet floors and an old chandelier. Ms. Dupré experiments with marinated fish, such as Spigola al sale.

• Spigola al sale = lightly salted, raw, delicate slices of sea bass.

• Ravioli al radiccho = radishes in pasta envelopes.

• Filetto di manzo en crusta = spiced veal with broccoli in crust.

• Piccioni farciti = stuffed duck.

• Spume de melone = melon cake with marzipan cream.

Alberto Ciarla

Piazza di San Cosimato 40. Phone: 58 18 668 & 68 84 377. Hours: Closed Sunday. Price: L.250000 ($158) for two. All major cards. (B4).

One of the main gourmet paradises in the city, heavily decorated in an eclectic style, at the Piazza San Cosimato in the upwards mobile district of Trastevere on the left bank of the river Tevere. It carries the name of the chef-owner.

The room is high and dark, in blue shades. Mirrors at both ends make the place unreal and a few aquariums make it lika a luxury submarine. Reality is closer in framed currency bills and certificates on the walls. Three-armed candle-stands decorate each table. It specialises in gastronomic menus, such as an Etruscan menu.

• Insalata di gamberi = lemon marinated shrimp with mushrooms.

• Bomolotti allo sparacreddo = giant pasta tubes with a strong broccoli & seafood sauce.

• Zuppa di pasta e fagioli ai frutti di mare = pasta soup with shellfish and red beans.

• Filetto di pesce alle erbe = sea trout with herbs.

• Frutti di sottobosco = blueberries with ice cream.

Andrea

Via Sardegna 28. Phone: 48 21 891 & 47 40 557. Hours: Closed Sunday & lunch Monday. Price: L.180000 ($114) for two. All major cards. (D2).

One of the top culinary addresses in Rome, in the splendid Ludovisi district of established wealth, just 100 meters from the Borghese gardens and just off the Via Veneto.

A Spartan place with greenish walls, pictures of carriages, big mirrors, marble floor, bamboo chairs and big chandeliers. Offers excellent cheeses.

• Tagliolini con porcini = pasta ribbons with boletus mushrooms.

• Linguine al nero di seppie = pasta threads with black octopus sauce.

• Rombo griglia = grilled brill.

• Scampi alla griglia = grilled prawns.

• Formaggi = cheese from the trolley.

• Fragoline di bosco con panna liquida = wild strawberries with cream.

Italian cheese:

• Bel paese = mild and soft cheese.

• Gorgonzola = rather soft and strong blue cheese.

• Grana = very hard cooking cheese.

• Mozzarella = rubbery young cheese.

• Parmiggiano = parmesan cheese, a type of grana.

• Pecorino = hard and strong Roman ewe cheese.

• Provolone = strong cheese.

• Ricotta = fresh ewe cheese.

• Taleggio = mild & creamy cheese.

Buco

Via Sant’Ignazio 8. Phone: 679 3298. Hours: Closed Monday. Price: L.90000 ($57) for two. All major cards. (C3).

Near the Pantheon. (Shortlisted for evaluation and inclusion)

Campana

Vicolo della Campana 18. Phone: 686 7820 & 687 5273. Hours: Closed Monday. Price: L.95000 ($60) for two. All major cards. (C2).

An inexpensive restaurant in the old center, 400 meters from the north end of Piazza Navona, with refreshingly well made Roman everyday food.

This is a simple and neutral place , bright and clean, with close tables and attentive waiters in perfect Italian style.

• Penne con carciofi = big pasta tubes with artichokes.

• Pappardelle in salsa lepre = broad pasta reams with hare sauce.

• Involtini di manzo con puré = skewered veal slices with mashed potatoes.

• Filetto di tacchino = turkey with mushrooms and two types of cream sauce.

• Fragole di bosco con panna = wild strawberries with cream.

Roman cuisine:

• Abbacchio = baby lamb.

• Alla romana = (usually) with tomato and sometimes red wine.

• Asparagus.

• Mint.

• Pecorino cheese.

• Ricotta cheese.

• Stracciatella = egg and cheese soup.

• Trippa = veal tripe.

Camponeschi

Piazza Farnese 50. Phone: 687 4927. Fax: 686 5244. Hours: Closed lunch & Sunday. Price: L.175000 ($110) for two. All major cards. (B3).

Directly in front of Palazzo Farnese. (Shortlisted for evaluation and inclusion)

Cannavota

Piazza San Giovanni in Laterano 20. Phone: 775 007. Hours: Closed Wednesday. Price: L.65000 ($41) for two. All major cards. (E4).

A good restaurant with low prices, beautifully designed, on the square in front of the cathedral San Giovanni in Laterano. It is the best known seafood restaurant in Rome, offering traditional cooking.

The interior resembles a mountain hotel. Massive wooden columns and beams and panels, high chairs, lots of paintings and pictures.

• Fritto misto di mare = deep fried seafood with lemon.

• Linguine alla reviglio = spaghetti with tomato shrimp sauce.

• Risotto alla Cannavota = rice with tomato, cream and lobster.

• Filetto di tacchino = turkey breast under a roof of mushrooms and cheese.

• Scaloppe alla verbena = veal slices under a roof of mushrooms and cheese.

• Insalata mista = mixed salad.

• Macedonia di frutta = marinated mixed fruit.

Roman seafood:

• Antipasto di mare = cold seafood platter.

• Fritto misto di mare = deep fried seafood with lemon.

• Insalata di mare = seafood salad.

• Risotto di frutti di mare = fried rice with seafood.

• Zuppa di pesce alla romana = shellfish soup.

Cesare

Via Crescenzio 13. Phone: 686 1227 & 686 1912. Hours: Closed Sunday evening and Monday. Price: L.110000 ($69) for two. All major cards. (B2).

Behind the Palace of Justice and the Mausoleum of Hadrian, a very Roman restaurant, convenient for visitors to St Peter’s and the Vatican museums.

A long row of a few rooms connected with arches and exaggerated in length by a mirror at the end. Wooden panelling and bright walls. A noisy and a happy place frequented by regulars.

• Breasola = dry salt meat with grana cheese with oil and lemon, similar to prosciutto.

• Penne al’arrabiata = short pasta tubes with tomato, lobster and pepper sauce.

• Saltimbocca alla romana = thin veal and ham slices, fried in butter and then cooked in Marsala wine.

• Fragolini con panna = wild strawberries with cream.

Cesarina

Via Piemonte 109. Phone: 488 0828 & 460 828. Hours: Closed Sunday. Price: L.140000 ($88) for two. All major cards. (D1).

Big and popular in country style with Bologna cuisine, in the refined Ludovisi district to the west of Via Veneto, 200 meters from the Borghese gardens and 500 meters from Via Veneto.

Brick arches divide the restaurant in sections. Lots of paintings decorate the walls. Clients talk business loudly, Italian style.

• Mortadella = unsalted pork sausages Bologna style, cooked in white wine.

• Carpaccio = thin slices of raw beef with oil, lemon and parmesan cheese.

• Tagliatelle bolognese = egg pasta with Bologna sauce, made of ground beef and pork, mushrooms, tomato, vegetables, spices and garlic.

• Filetto di bue Toscana = steak with lemon.

• Semifreddo Cesarina = ice cream with pudding and chocolate sauce.

Checchino dal 1887

Via Monte Testaccio 30. Phone: 574 6318. Fax: 574 3816. Hours: Closed Sunday dinner & Monday. Price: L.155000 ($98) for two. All major cards. (C5).

One of the few real gourmet restaurants in Rome, between the Tevere river and Stazione Ostia. (Shortlisted for evaluation and inclusion)

Convivio

Via dell’Orso 44. Phone: 686 9432. Fax: 686 9432. Hours: Closed Sunday. Price: L.160000 ($101) for two. All major cards. (C2).

Between Piazza Navona and the Tevere river. (Shortlisted for evaluation and inclusion)

Costanza

Piazza del Paradiso 65. Phone: 686 1717 & 654 1002. Hours: Closed Sunday. Price: L.100000 ($63) for two. All major cards. (C3).

Steak and seafood restaurant with traditional, solid Italian cooking in an alley just 100 meters from the Campo de’Fiori square in the old city center.

Unassuming as it is on the outside it is as exciting on the inside. The main room is a romantic cave with vaulted ceiling and antiques in niches, such as amphorae and column stumps. Illumination is indirect and stylish. On the side there is a panelled room with a fireplace.

• Crepes funghi e tartufi = very hot pancakes with mushrooms and the expensive white truffles grown in Northern Italy.

• Entrecote griglia = grilled beef.

• Asparagi = fresh asparagus in oil.

• Tiramisu = Venetian chocolate pudding with coffee chocolate.

Tartufi: The Italian type of tuber, the underground mushrooms dug up with the help of trained dogs and pigs. This type is white and almost as expensive as the French black ones. They have a pungent aroma and are always used uncooked, usually in small amounts with some other food. Tartufi is one of the things essentially Italian.

Crisciotti

Via del Boschetto 30. Phone: 474 4770. Hours: Closed Saturday. Price: L.100000 ($63) for two. No cards. (D3).

Typical, busy and devoid of tourists, in a side street 100 meters from Via Nazionale and 600 meters from Fori Imperiali. The food is simple, typical Roman fare, based on vegetable soups, mixed salads and fresh fruits of the season.

Local regulars sit in three small rooms under rustic decorations, where brown paintings hang on red-painted walls above heavy stone masonry. Fish are on view in a big refrigerator of glass.

• Zuppa did verdura = a filling soup of colorful vegetables.

• Agnello = lamb straight, with nothing on the side.

• Insalata mista = mixed salad.

• Frutta de stagione = fresh fruits of the season.

Galeassi

Piazza Santa Maria in Trastevere 3. Phone: 580 3775 & 580 9898. Hours: Closed Monday. Price: L.95000 ($60) for two. All major cards. (B4).

On the main square in the fashionable Trastevere district, not as expensive as neighbouring Sabatini, but also specialising in seafood.

This is a clean and cosy place with dark panelling and dark wooden ceiling, but otherwise bright. The smaller streetside room is the better one.

• Fettucini con funghi porcini = Broad pasta reams with boletus mushrooms.

• Risotto creme di scampi = rice with scampi chunks.

• Mazzancolle al forno = king prawns oven-fried in the shell.

• Saltimbocca alla romana con funghi = veal and ham slices with sage and mushrooms.

• Ananas = fresh pineapple.

• Macedonia di frutta = fresh fruit salad.

Shrimp: There are several Italian types of shrimp:

• Gamberi.

• Scampi.

• Gamberoni (big).

• Mazzancolle (very big).

Galeone

Piazza San Cosimato 27. Phone: 580 9009. Hours: Closed Wednesday. Price: L.160000 ($101) for two. All major cards. (B4).

Interestingly decorated seafood restaurant on the San Cosimato market square in the Trastevere district, which is the part of the city center on the other side of Tevere river.

It has a high wicket ceiling. The guests sit in carved chairs on a stone floor under leaded window panes and wooden columns and beams.

• Linguine alle vongole = pasta threads with small shells.

• Tagliolini all’aragosta = pasta reams with crab chunks and tomato sauce.

• Spigola alla griglia = freshly grilled sea bass with lemon.

• Misto di frutti di bosco = fresh wild berries, including wild strawberries.

Italian fish:

• Bonito = tuna.

• Merlano = whiting.

• Merluzzo = cod.

• Rombo = turbot and brill.

• Rospo = monkfish.

• Sogliola = sole.

• Spada = swordfish.

• Spigola = sea bass.

Giarrosto Toscano

Via Campania 29. Phone: 482 1899 & 482 3835. Hours: Closed Wednesday. Price: L.140000 ($88) for two. All major cards. (D2).
An agreeable place beautifully designed in a basement opposite the Borghese gardens, about 100 meters from the upper end of Via Veneto. It offers Tuscany cooking from the Florence area.

Arches and vaults divide the restaurant into several parts. The walls are brightly panelled all the way up to the arches. Where panel and arches meet there are rows of bottles. mainly with Tuscany wine such as Chianti.

• Grand’antipasto = a collection of starters, including devilled egg with potato chunks, filled pumpkins and artichokes, meat dumplings with tomato sauce, white ricotta cheese dumplings, sausages and ham, raw prosciutto ham, smoked salmon and melon.

• Bistecca alla Fiorentina = coal grilled and salted beefsteak with spinach.

• Frutta con gelato = fresh fruit with ice cream.

Ricotta: Soft, unsalted cheese, reminiscent of Greek feta cheese, eaten fresh. Usually it is put into pasta envelopes or used in sweet bakery, but here it is served in wet and soft dumplings.

Girone VI

Vicolo Sinibaldi 2. Phone: 6880 22831. Hours: Closed lunch & Sunday. Price: L.135000 ($85) for two. All major cards. (C3).

A few steps from Corso Vittorio Emanuele II. (Shortlisted for evaluation and inclusion)

Mario

Via delle Vite 55. Phone: 678 3818. Hours: Closed Sunday. Price: L.80000 ($51) for two. All major cards. (C2).

Very lively and rather inexpensive place with Tuscany cooking in the district of fashion shops beneath the Spanish Steps, about 400 meters from the steps and 200 meters from the traffic artery of Corso.

The decorations are simple. Small paintings and photos are tightly hung on the walls above the panelling. Most of the photos show Mario with thick brows in the company of famous and beautiful people. The restaurant is divided by arcades into three rooms with tightly set tables. Chianti in 1,5 liter bottles are put on the tables and drunk out of water glasses. The waiters are very busy and effective.

• Risotto con funghi = rice with mushrooms.

• Ribollita = vegetable soup.

• Ravioli verde = small pasta envelopes with spinach, cheese, egg and parmesan cheese.

• Due quaglie arrosto = two soft quails.

• Castagnaccio = hot and soft chestnut cake with whole nuts.

Tuscany cuisine: Generally considered the top of Italian cooking. The Queens of France were often brought from Florence, bringing with them their chefs, starting what is now called classical French cuisine. The best pasta in Italy comes from Tuscany: ravioli and gnochi. And Tuscany is one of the best wine regions in Italy.

Montevecchio

Piazza Montevecchio 22a. Phone: 686 1319. Hours: Closed Monday. Price: L.130000 ($82) for two. All major cards. (B3).

Tiny gourmet temple of 28 seats on a tine square in the densest and most inaccesible part of the old city, 100 meters to the west from the north end of Piazza Navona. Its speciality is game.

Earlier it was known as the restaurant Pino et Dino. Master chef Antonio Civello has changed it into a gourmet temple of the French type. The front door is locked and reservations are obligatory. The ceiling is high, the wine rack cupboard is huge, the single wall painting is huge and the wrought iron chandelier is huge.

• Strudel di funghi = Mushroom dumpling.

• Crepes al gorgonzola e noci = pancakes filled with gorgonzola cheese and almonds.

• Anitra alle noci = duck with almonds.

• Capretto d’Abruzzo al forno = oven-baked venison.

• Tiramisu = Venetian chocolate pudding with coffee chocolate.

• Creme brulée = caramel crusty pudding.

Italian game:

• Allodole = lark.

• Beccaccia = woodcock.

• Capretto = kid.

• Capriolo = roebuck.

• Cervo = venison.

• Chinghiale = wild boar.

• Lepre = hare.

• Quaglie = quail.

• Starna = partridge.

• Uccelletti = small birds, such as sparrows.

Moro

Vicolo delle Bollette 13. Phone: 68 40 736 & 67 83 495. Hours: Closed Sunday. Price: L.120000 ($76) for two. All major cards. (C3).

Hidden in a side street about 100 meters from the Trevi fountain and other 100 meters from the main traffic artery Corso, you find this essential Roman restaurant offering true Roman food. It is mainly patronised by elderly local people even if travelers are also welcomed.

The furnishings are old-fashioned but not antique. Wooden panels cover the lower walls and above them there are discordant paintings. There are two dining rooms, the front one is better. Specialises in everything alla Romana = in the Roman way, which in fact can mean anything; and in antipasti assortiti = small and sundry appetisers.

• Spaghetti alle vongole = spaghetti with small shellfish in the shell.

• Ricotta = soft cheese.

• Abbacchio alla romana = a slice of lamb leg with pan-fried potatoes.

• Vitello cacciatora = veal with mushrooms and tomatoes.

• Insalata mista = mixed salad with oil and vinegar.

• Fragoline di bosco = wild strawberries.

Alla Romana:

• Abbachio alla romana = lamb cooked in egg, lemon and white wine sauce.

• Gnochi alla romana = mashed potato dumplings with tomato sauce and cheese.

• Pizza alla romana = pizza with mozzarella cheese, parmesan cheese and basil.

• Piselli alla romana = beans fried with onion, ham and butter.

• Pollo alla romana = chicken pieces fried in oil and butter with onion, ham, pepper and tomato.

• Saltimbocca alla romana = thin veal covered in ham.

• Trippa alla romana = tripe in tomato mint sauce, accompanied with pecorino-cheese.

• Zuppa alla romana = shellfish soup.

Nerone

Via delle Terme di Tito 96. Phone: 474 5207. Hours: Closed Sunday. Price: L.65000 ($41) for two. All major cards. (D4).

Unpretentious and inexpensive, very Roman, about 200 meters north of the Colosseum. Its speciality is beef and French fried, so it is frequented by many foreign visitors. Many Italian places have inferior steaks for tourists, so seek out places which are used by local regulars, like this one.

This is a lively place with happy locals mixed with curious travelers, sitting in two rooms on comfortable wood chairs under vaulted ceilings and high panels, big and small paintings. The kitchen is in plain view.

• Anitpasto misti = a cold buffet of 34 items.

• Antipasto di mare = a choice of seafood from the cold buffet.

• Filetto de bue ai feri con patate fritta = thin and wide beef steak from the pan, with French fried.

• Gelati misti = three types of ice cream.

• Frutta di stagione = fresh fruit of the season.

Orso ’80

Via dell’Orso 33. Phone: 686 4904 & 686 1710. Hours: Closed Monday. Price: L.95000 ($60) for two. All major cards. (C2).

Strangely resembling a skiing hut in the old city center, 300 meters from Piazza Navona. An inexpensive restaurant with cuisine from Abruzzi, the mountainous region east of Rome.

An arch divides the restaurant in two parts. The front room is panelled with light pine in Nordic skiing style with inlaid cupboards of wrought iron. Many kinds of incidental paintings decorate the walls.

• Zuppa pavese = egg, bread and cheese soup.

• Risotto alla pescadora = rice with tomato and squid.

• Spaghetti alle vongole = spaghetti with shellfish in the shell.

• Filetto di bue alla griglia = grilled beef filet.

• Polla toscana arrosto = oven baked chicken.

• Frutta mista = mixed fruit.

• Creme caramel = caramel pudding.

Italian soups:

• Brodo = clear soups.

• Minestrone = clear soups with pasta.

• Minestre = thick soups with rice or pasta.

• Egg soups such as zuppa pavese and stracciatella.

Pancrazio

Piazza del Biscione 92. Phone: 686 1246. Fax: 686 1246. Hours: Closed Wednesday. Price: L.120000 ($76) for two. All major cards. (C3).

Build from the ruins of Teatro di Pompeo, a few steps from Campo de’Fiori. (Shortlisted for evaluation and inclusion)

Papà Giovanni

Via dei Sediari 4. Phone: 868 5308. Hours: Closed Sunday. Price: L.165000 ($104) for two. All major cards. (C3).

Old family friend, amusingly tastelessly decorated restaurant with a locked front door, excellent cuisine and an ever-changing menu. It is 150 meters south of the Senate in Palazzo Madama and 50 meters north of Corso Vittorio Emanuele II.

It is divided into long corridors with sofas and low tables on one side and bottle racks on the other. Naked bulbs hang from the old ceiling of carved wood. The walls show the varied brickwork. The wine bottles have not been dusted for decades.

• Misticanza con neretti = sea-urchin salad.

• Farfalla di spigola = marinated sea bass.

• Tagliolini alla cardinale = pasta reams with mushrooms.

• Vermicella pomodoro verde = green spaghetti with cheese.

• Portafoglio con funghi = broccoli and Brussels sprouts enclosed in veal slices.

• Granatina di filetto = veal dumplings with small tomatoes on salad.

• Creme brulée allo zenzero = crispy caramel pudding.

• Pastiera di castagne = chestnut paté with whipped cream.

Paris

Piazza San Callisto 7a. Phone: 581 5378. Hours: Closed Sunday dinner & Monday. Price: L.130000 ($82) for two. All major cards. (B4).

A few steps from Santa Maria in Trastevere. (Shortlisted for evaluation and inclusion)

Passetto

Via Zanardelli 14. Phone: 654 0569. Hours: Closed Monday lunch and Sunday. Price: L.140000 ($88) for two. All major cards. (B2).

A solid piece of the old block. Real Italian waiters of the old school serve food from plates as in the days before World War II. It is in the old city, 100 meters from Piazza Navona.

A long front room with a high ceiling, big mirrors on one wall and strange paintings on the other. Cork floor and panelling. A more conventional back room.

• Pasta e fagioli ai frutti di mare = pancake with chopped fish, baked with cheese and tomato sauce.

• Zuppa di cozze = mussel soup with the shells.

• Filetto al pepe verde = pepper steak with asparagus.

• Creme brulée = caramel pudding.

Zuppa di cozze: Oil, onion and tomatoes are heated in a pan, water is added and finally the mussels are added, opening on the way to the table.

Pianeta Terra

Via dell’Arco del Monte 95. Phone: 686 9893. Hours: Closed Monday. Price: L.300000 ($189) for two. All major cards. (B3).

One of the main cuisine temples in Rome, behind locked doors which are difficult to find in a pedestrian alley 200 meters away from the Campo de’Fiori square. The name means: The Planet Earth. Roberto Minetti cooks and Patrizia Minetti directs the service.

There is a bar and a sitting room downstairs. A dark dining room is upstairs, with different dark shades in the panelling. The ceiling is vaulted. There are special menus, taste menu, seafood menu, Roman menu and a conventional menu. The meal starts with four different breads.

• Criole al oeli di pomodoro e basilico = eel in basil and tomato sauce.

• Paté de foie gras in salsa di Recioto = goose liver in white wine sauce with redcurrant berries, wild strawberries and raspberries.

• Zuppe di lenticchie con gamberi = lentil soup with big prawns.

• Vermicelli alle mezzancolle = pasta with big giant prawn chunks in strong tomat sauce.

• Risotto au zuchine e zafferano = fried rice with zucchini, saffron and grana cheese.

• Pesce con cicoriette fritte = turbot with chicory.

• Insalate di carne = marinated beef slices with apple slices.

• Dolche di Patrizie e Roberto = fine desserts of the house.

Piccola Roma

Via Uffici del Vicario 36. Phone: 679 8606. Hours: Closed Sunday. Price: L.80000 ($51) for two. All major cards. (C2).

Always busy, full of parliamentarians and pressure specialists, journalists and bureaucrats in a hurry, with their overcoats ready on the big pegs at the tables. Near the parliament, 200 meters from Corso.

As many exemplary restaurants in Rome this one tries not to be obvious on the outside. When inside it is rather big, in a few rooms on the first floor. The walls have brick up to the middle. Above that there are strange and accidental paintings and posters. A wine shelf goes through the restaurant.

• Prosciutto di San Daniele = lots of smoked ham, thinly sliced like Parma ham, only better, served with figs.

• Risotto pescatore = rice with squid and mussels.

• Abbachio forno = lamb, well done, with grilled potatoes.

• Gelato, three types of ice cream, with chocolate mint, vanilla and mocha.

Prosciutto is typically Italian. The best internationally known smoked ham comes from Parma. In Italy the one from San Danieli is considered at least equal to the one from Parma. The ham is always cut in very thin slices. Out of Italy it is usually accompanied with melon, but Italians like figs better.

Piperno

Via Monte de’Censi 9. Phone: 654 0629 & 654 2772. Hours: Closed Sunday dinner & Monday. Price: L.110000 ($69) for two. All major cards. (C3).

In a shady alley in the Jewish ghetto, beautiful and comfortable, with very good food, just under the walls of the Censi palace, about 50 meters from the Tevere river bank.

This is a big dining room with a circular buffet in the middle. There is wood everywhere, in the floor, in the panelling and in the ceiling. The furniture is of good quality. Enormous paintings of ancient ruins decorate the walls. There is also a simpler back room.

• Carciofi alla giudia = artichokes fried in oil in Jewish style.

• Filetti di baccalà = deep fried salt-cod.

• Le palle de nonno fritte = deep fried ricotta cheese with chocolate in butter pastry.

Carciofi alla giudia: The artichokes are opened and flattened, cut in pieces and deep fried in an oil mixture of secret ingredients. After cooking they are golden and look like flowers. This is a speciality of the Jewish ghetto.

Preistorici

Vicollo Orbitelli 13. Phone: 689 2796. Hours: Closed Sunday. Price: L.120000 ($76) for two. No cards. (B3).

In the west end of the renaissance center of the city, in a pedestrian alley leading off Via Giulia near its northern end. A cosy restaurant with a locked door and a small doorbell sign and no other identification. It is run by one of the most adventurous chefs of the city, Luigi Frizziero.

The restaurant is in a few small rooms with vaulted ceilings. It is heavily panelled and decorated with big paintings. There is no menu.

• Prosciutto = thin slices of raw veal.

• Risotto di mare = rice with giant prawns.

• Filetto al pepe = pepper steak.

• Filetto griglia = grilled steak.

• Creme brulée = caramel pudding.

• Fragole = strawberries.

Risotto: A rice dish from the Po valley, generally connected with Milan and Venice. The rice is first fried in oil or butter, often with onions, and then cooked in a small amount of liquid, wine or the juice of the food, which then is mixed into the rice when it is served. Often butter and grana cheese are added.

Quinci Gabrieli

Via della Coppelle 6. Phone: 687 9389. Fax: 687 4940. Hours: Closed lunch & Sunday. Price: L.200000 ($126) for two. All major cards. (C3).

About 100 meters from the Pantheon. (Shortlisted for evaluation and inclusion)

Romolo nel Giardino

Via di Porta Settimiana 8. Phone: 581 8284. Fax: 580 0079. Hours: Closed Monday. Price: L.100000 ($63) for two. All major cards. (B3).

Enchanting garden restaurant in Trastevere, near the river. (Shortlisted for evaluation and inclusion)

Rosetta

Via della Rosetta 8-9. Phone: 686 1002 & 654 8841. Hours: Closed Saturday & Sunday. Price: L.180000 ($114) for two. All major cards. (C3).

The best seafood restaurant in Rome and one of its gourmet temples, in the old city, 100 meters north of Pantheon. You have to sound the bell to get in. From humble beginnings this Sicilian restaurant of the brothers Riccioli has gradually evolved into the refined place it is today. When we discovered it a decade ago it was much more basic than it is now.

The furnishings are elegant, with a big buffet overflowing with flowers, fruit and wine bottles. On the inner wall of the room there is a fish artwork in mosaic. The only discordant note is the piped music, which is happily absent in most Roman restaurants.

• Cappesante ai carciofi = scallops with artichokes.

• Spigola macinata al arancia = marinated sea bass in orange and lemon juice.

• Scampi insalata = prawn salad with grana cheese.

• Rombo griglia = grilled brill.

• Polipa griglia = grilled octopus.

• Macedonia di frutta = mixed fresh fruit.

• Sorbetto = lemon sorbet.

Shellfish:

• Arselle and vongole = small shells.

• Cappe and cappesante = scallops.

• Cozze and muscoli = mussels.

Sabatini

Vicolo Santa Maria in Trastevere. Phone: 581 8307. Hours: Closed Tuesday. Price: L.130000 ($82) for two. All major cards. (B4).

A popular place with travellers, but good in spite of that. In a pedestrian alley leading off Piazza Santa Maria in Trastevere, about 10 meters from the square. The district is a former slum that is changing into a fashionable one. There is a sister establishment with the same name on the square itself, equally good. Both have atmosphere and good seafood cuisine.

The center of the restaurant is the grill oven and buffet which we pass when we are shown to our tables in one of the side rooms. In the middle there is a traffic congestion of hurrying waiters and cooks. The side rooms are more quiet, with old, painted ceilings with wooden beams. This restaurant has been used as a location in a Fellini movie.

• Trippa alla romana = pan-fried tripe in tomato sauce with mint and pecorino cheese.

• Crespolini = pancakes with spinach, cheese, egg and liver.

• Costata di bue = steak.

• Tiramisú = chocolate dessert.

• Trippa: Can be soft and tasty when it is correctly cooked. It is a national dish all the way from Rome to Florence.

• Pecorino: A hard ewe cheese reminiscent of grana or parmesan.
•
Sans Souchi•
Via Sicilia 20/24. Phone: 482 1814. Fax: 482b 1771. Hours: Closed lunch & Monday. Price: L.220000 ($139) for two. All major cards. (D2).

A quality restaurant a few steps from Via Veneto. (Shortlisted for evaluation and inclusion)

Taverna

Via Massimo d’Azeglio 3f. Phone: 474 4305. Hours: Closed Saturday. Price: L.90000 ($57) for two.,. All major cards. (E3).

Comfortable and unassuming, with quick and solid service in a cellar, about 100 meters from the square in front of the central railway terminal. It offers solid cooking in the Roman style.

There are two rooms, with high panels alternating with light walls and coat-hangers. Above the panelling there are rows of wine bottles.

• Prosciutto di Parma = raw ham with melon.

• Filetto di bue con carciofi = beef filet with artichokes.

• Torta al ciocolato = chocolate tart.

Taverna Giulia

Vicolo dell’Oro. Phone: 686 9768 & 656 4089. Hours: Closed Sunday. Price: L.95000 ($60) for two. All major cards. (B3).

A cosy place with Ligurian cuisine at the west end of the old city center, near the bridges to the Vatican and St Peter’s.

Several small rooms and low panelling beneath rustic walls. Wrought iron rails are in arches between the rooms. Guests sit in comfortable wicket chairs.

• Trenette al pesto = flat pasta with Ligurian sauce.

• Lasagnette ai funghi porcini = small pasta plates with boletus mushrooms.

• Ravioli genovese = pasta envelopes with lamb and calf innards.

• Tagliatelle al gorgonzola = pasta strings with blue cheese.

• Vitello straccotto alla Genovese = broad and thin veal slices cooked in white wine with onion sauce.

• Faraoni di Giomnes all’arancio = guinea hen with a thin orange sauce and pan fried celery.

• Pacciugo = fresh fruit and berries with sorbet.

Pesto: A famous, strong sauce from Liguria, generally greenish, made of basil, nuts, garlic and lots of grana cheese. Liguria is the name of the coastal area around Genua.

Toulà

Via della Lupa 29b. Phone: 687 3498 & 687 3750. Hours: Closed Sunday & lunch Saturday. Price: L.190000 ($120) for two. All major cards. (C2).

In the old center, about 300 meters from the corner of Corso and Via Condotti, the refined and glamorous restaurant of international business gives good service to busy clients talking into pocket phones. In spite of that it is one of the best restaurants in the city, mainly because of chef Danaiele Repette, who cooks in Venetian style.

The place looks airy and spacious. From the entrance there are some steps down to the restaurant level, which is divided by arches into several sections with well-spaced tables. Waiters abound. At the end of the meal all guests get candy drops and a very hard frigolotta bisquit which has to be smothered with an hammer.

• Carpaccio di’vitello con pate di olive mere e pinoli = thin slices of raw veal with olive paté, grana cheese, lemon juice and oil.

• Medaglioni d’astice con insalata novelle e punte d’asparagi = freshwater crab salad with asparagus tips.

• Ventaglio di petto d’anitra alle nerue aroccasti = duck breast.

• Cotelette di’capriolo a la ginepro con polenta = venison cutlets in ginger with mashed corn.

• Budino di nocciole con mousse di cioccolato = nut putting coated with chocolate.

Vecchia Roma

Piazza di Campitelli 18, Via della Tribuna. Phone: 686 4604. Hours: Closed Wednesday. Price: L.130000 ($82) for two. All major cards. (C3).

Corn is the speciality of this well-known restaurant in the middle of the Jewish ghetto, 300 meters from the steps up to Capitolum. There are many places with this name, but this is the real one.

The restaurant is in several small rooms with bright wooden panelling, big paintings from the history of Rome, iron bars in the windows and table candlesticks of wrought iron.

• Calamaretti affogati all’uvetta = a few whole octopuses fried in oil, with tomato.

• Polenta ghiottona = corn porridge looking like mashed potatoes, corny and salty, made in the Jewish way.

• Polenta boscaiola = corn porridge with boletus mushrooms.

Polenta: Corn porridge made by boiling maize in water until it becomes thick and chunky. Then it is cooled and cut in slices which are usually fried, baked or grilled. The porridge form in Vecchia Roma is rather unusual.

Teatro dell’Opera

Via Firenze 62. (D3).

The venue of great popular operas. In summer it operates in the Baths of Caracalla.

1996

© Jónas Kristjánsson

Hótel í Feneyjum eru yfirleitt hrein og vel við haldið, þar á meðal pípulagnir, ef þau hafa þrjár stjörnur eða fleiri. En tveggja stjörnu hótel geta líka verið mjög góð, þótt þau hafi ef til vill ekki sjónvarpstæki á herbergjum. Einka baðherbergi er talið sjálfsagt. Sum hótel hafa verið innréttuð í frægum höllum, sem eru enn innréttaðar í gömlum stíl.

Dýrara er að gista í Feneyjum en annars staðar á Ítalíu. Þú getur þess vegna gist uppi í landi og farið á morgnana með lest eða bíl í bæinn, en það kostar auðvitað bæði tíma og peninga.

Morgunverður á ítölskum hótelum er yfirleitt nauðaómerkilegur, svipað og á frönskum hótelum. Betra er að fá sér ferskt pressaðan safa, nýbakað brauð og kaffi úti á horni.

Agli Alboretti

(Rio Terra Sant’Agnese, Dorsoduro 884. Sími: 523 0058. Fax: 521 0158. Verð: L.182000 (7698 kr) með morgunverði. Öll helztu greiðslukort. 20 herbergi. B2)

Skemmtilegt, lítið hótel í gömlu og brakandi húsi við hlið aðalsafnsins í Feneyjum, Accademia. Frá bátastöðinni framan við safnið er farið hliðargötuna vinstra megin við það. Hótelið er við þá götu, um 100 metra frá stöðinni.

Gestamóttaka er lítil og skemmtilega gamaldags og lyfta er ekki í húsinu. Herbergin snúa ýmist að fremur breiðri götunni milli hótels og Accademia eða að óvenjulega stórum bakgarði.

Herbergi 3 er fremur lítið og einfalt, með glugga út að garði, afar hreinlegt og milt í litum, með síma og hárþurrku, en engu sjónvarpi. Húsbúnaður er gamaldags, nánast forn. Baðherbergið er með minnsta móti, en vel búið og fullflísað. Sturtan tekur þriðjung af plássinu.

Danieli

(Riva degli Schiavoni, Castello 4196. Sími: 522 6480. Fax: 520 0208. Verð: L.770000 (32569 kr) með morgunverði. Öll helztu greiðslukort. 221 herbergi. C2)

Frábært glæsihótel í fagurri, gotneskri miðaldahöll á breiðbakkanum við lónið, nánast við hlið hertogahallarinnar, fyrrum heimkynni Dandolo-ættar. Hótelið er í þremur samhliða höllum og hægt er að gista þar fyrir tvo þriðju hluta verðsins, sem hér er gefið upp, en beztu hertogaherbergin í elztu höllinni eru þau, sem fólk sækist eftir, ef það gistir á stað sem þessum.

Opinberir salir hótelsins eru með því glæsilegasta sem sést, allt lagt marmara og dýrasta viði. Þrjár hæðir eru til lofts í móttökunni og tvær í víðáttumikilli setustofu til hliðar. Þjónar eru misjafnir, sumir eru góðir, en aðrir þyrftu að komast niður á jörðina. Lifandi tónlist er í setustofunni á brezkum tedrykkjutíma og síðan tónlist með söng á kvöldin.

Herbergi 33 er frábært, stórt og ríkmannlegt, með glugga út að lóninu, klaustureyjunni San Giorgio Maggiore og iðandi mannlífi bakkans. Það er í mildum, grænum litum í mjúkum veggdúk, gluggatjöldum, rúmábreiðum og vínskáp. Vandað parkett er á brakandi gólfi. Baðherbergið er sérstaklega glæsilegt, lagt fegursta marmara og einstaklega vel búið, þar á meðal baðsloppum.

Do Pozzi

(Calle larga 22. Marzo, San Marco 2373. Sími: 520 7855. Fax: 522 9413. Verð: L.160000 (6768 kr) með morgunverði. Öll helztu greiðslukort. 29 herbergi. B2)

Uppáhaldshótelið okkar, lítið og notalegt, við aðalgötu um 400 metra frá Markúsartorgi, hefur bezt hlutfall verðs og gæða í borginni. Frá suðvesturhorni torgsins er gengin Salizzada San Moisè og áfram yfir brú á Calle larga 22. Marzo, þar sem mörg sund liggja til vinstri að Canal Grande. Hótelið er við enda vestasta sundsins, greinilega merkt við aðalgötuna.

Frá lítilli og þægilegri gestamóttöku er innangengt í Rafaele veitingahúsið í sömu eigu. Langir og mjóir gangar eru skreyttir teikningum og málverkum. Þjónusta er afar lipur.

Herbergi 75 er notalegt, fremur lítið og bjart, snýr glugga að Calle larga 22. Marzo og brakar þægilega, þegar gengið er um gólf. Fornlegur húsbúnaður er léttur og vandaður, í mildum sumarlitum. Þar er sjónvarp, sími og vínskápur. Fullflísað baðherbergi hefur líka glugga og er vel búið, til dæmis stóru baðkeri og hárþurrku.

Europa e Regina

(Calle larga 22. Marzo, San Marco 2159. Sími: 520 0477. Fax: 523 1533. Verð: L.565000 (23898 kr) með morgunverði. Öll helztu greiðslukort. 192 herbergi. B2)

Eitt glæsihótelanna við Canal Grande snýr breiðri hlið að skurðinum, svo að tiltölulega auðvelt er að fá herbergi með útsýni yfir umferðina á skurðinum til Salute kirkjunnar á hinum bakkanum. Það er við aðalgötuna Calle larga 22. Marzo, um 300 metra frá suðvesturhorni Markúsartorgs. Farin er Salizzada San Moisè, yfir brúna og til vinstri ómerkta leið framhjá gondólaræðurunum.

Móttakan er í þeim hluta, sem áður var hótelið Europa, en beztu herbergin eru í Regina hlutanum. Niðri eru miklir salir, þar á meðal veitingastaðurinn Tiepolo, sem einnig er morgunverðarstofa hótelsins. Þjónusta er afar góð, svo sem hæfir stíl og verði staðarins.

Herbergi 456 er stórt og myndarlegt, vandað og virðulegt að öllum búnaði. Ljósgrænir veggir kalla á stærri málverk. Um tvær dyr er gengið út á stórar einkasvalir með einstæðu útsýni yfir Canal Grande. Húsbúnaður er forn og fagur. Öll þægindi eru á fullflísuðu baði. Þetta er lúxus-herbergi.

Fenice et des Artistes

(Campiello de la Fenice, San Marco 1936. Sími: 523 2333. Fax: 520 3721. Verð: L.250000 (10574 kr) með morgunverði. Öll helztu greiðslukort. 65 herbergi. B2)

Vel þekkt, samnefnt óperuhúsi borgarinnar, sem er við hliðina, um 500 metra frá Markúsartorgi. Frá suðvesturhorni torgsins er farin Salizzada San Moisè og áfram Calle larga 22. Marzo, þaðan sem beygt er til hægri eftir sundinu Calle delle Veste inn á Campo San Fantin framan við leikhúsið. Farið er hægra megin við leikhúsið til annars torgs, þar sem hótelið er.

Móttakan er í eins konar garðhúsi milli tveggja húsa hótelsins. Ekki er lyfta í eldra húsinu, en stigi og gangar eru teppalagðir og skreyttir gömlum munum. Starfsfólki er frekar ókunnugt um gang mála úti í bæ.

Herbergi 312 er meðalstórt og hlýlegt, snyrtilega innréttað fornum húsbúnaði, sjónvarpi og síma, og grænum litum í veggfóðri, ofnum, teppi og lofti. Glugginn snýr að smágarði. Fullflísað baðherbergi er vel búið og rúmgott, með setubaðkeri.

Flora

(Calle larga 22. Marzo, San Marco 2283a. Sími: 520 5844. Fax: 522 8217. Verð: L.210000 (8883 kr) með morgunverði. Öll helztu greiðslukort. 44 herbergi. B2)

Gamalfínt hótel og ekki dýrt, vel í sveit sett við aðalgötu í nágrenni Markúsartorgs, um 400 metra frá suðvesturhorni torgsins. Farin er Salizzada San Moisè, yfir brú og áfram eftir Calle larga 22. Marzo, þar sem beygt er til vinstri inn í hliðarsund, sem er hið þriðja í röðinni frá hinum enda götunnar. Hótelið er greinilega merkt við innganginn í sundið.

Bak við Art Nouveau inngang er allt í leðri og eðalviði. Virðulegur hótelstigi liggur upp á efri hæðir, skreyttur speglum og veggtjöldum, sem einkenna hótelið. Starfslið kann vel til verka og er einkar þægilegt og kurteist. Allir, sem ekki eru ávarpaðir “professore”, eru ávarpaðir “dottore”.

Herbergi 2 er gamalt og lúið, hreint og gott, búið fornum húsgögnum, sjónvarpi, síma og hárþurrku. Gluggar snúa út að nostursömum garði að baki anddyris. Fullflísað og nýtízkulegt baðherbergi er afar vel búið.

Marconi

(Riva del Vin, San Polo 729. Sími: 522 2068. Fax: 522 9700. Verð: L.283000 (11970 kr) með morgunverði. Öll helztu greiðslukort. 26 herbergi. B1)

Skemmtilegt og vel staðsett á bakka Canal Grande, nokkrum skrefum frá Rialto-brú. Frá Rialto bátastöð er farið yfir brúna og beygt til vinstri eftir bakkanum Riva del Vin.

Að baki inngangs er lítil og snyrtileg móttaka með hæfu starfsliði. Flóknir stigar liggja upp á hæðirnar, langir gangar og síðan aftur stigi niður í morgunverðarsal með hlaðborði að norður-evrópskum hætti.

Herbergi 11 er stórt og vel búið fornum húsgögnum, sjónvarpi og síma, hárþurrku og vínskáp, gólfteppi á terrazzo-gólfi og sérkennilega ljótum glerljósakrónum í svifstíl á veggjum. Burðarbitar sjást í lofti. Útsýni er aðeins út í næsta vegg. Fullflísað baðherbergi er stórt og nýtízkulegt, með hitagrind fyrir handklæði.

Monaco e Grand Canal

(Calle Vallaresso, San Marco 1325. Sími: 520 0211. Fax: 520 0501. Verð: L.360000 (15227 kr) með morgunverði. Öll helztu greiðslukort. 70 herbergi. B2)

Öndvegishótel með breiðri framhlið og frábæru útsýni yfir Canal Grande að Santa Maria della Salute, óvenjulega vel í sveit sett um 100 metra frá Markúsartorgi. Frá suðvesturhorni torgsins eru farin nokkur skref eftir Salizzada San Moisè og beygt til vinstri inn í Calle Vallaresso, þar sem hótelið er hægra megin sundsins úti á skurðbakka.

Hótelið hefur þann kost umfram flest önnur, að meirihluti herbergjanna snýr út að breiðum og fjölförnum skurðinum. Starfsfólk er einkar þægilegt.

Herbergi 306 er afar vel búið vönduðum og fornlegum húsgögnum úr renndum eðalviði, handmáluðum fataskáp og virðulegu skrifpúlti, sjónvarpi og síma. Fullflísað baðherbergi er nýtízkulegt og vel búið. Glugginn snýr beint að Canal Grande.

Paganelli

(Riva degli Schiavoni, Castello 4182. Sími: 522 4324. Fax: 523 9267. Verð: L.160000 (6768 kr) með morgunverði. Öll helztu greiðslukort. 22 herbergi. B2)

Afar hagstætt hótel á breiða gönguferðabakkanum andspænis lóninu um 300 metra frá hertogahöllinni. Bátastöðin San Zaccaria er beint framan við hótelið, sem er í tveimur aðskildum hlutum. Annar er á sjálfum bakkanum og hinn í sundi þar við hliðina. Móttakan er í fyrrnefnda hlutanum, þar sem herbergin eru heldur dýrari og morgunverðarstofan í hinum síðarnefnda.

Hótelið er afar lítið og þröngt, hreinlegt og þægilegt, án lyftu, rekið af þægilegu starfsfólki, sem reynir ekki að breiða yfir mistök. Morgunmatur er fremur góður, því að ávextir eru á boðstólum.

Herbergi 23 er í hliðarálmunni, afar lítið, búið fornum og samræmdum húsgögnum, þar á meðal handmáluðu skrifpúlti. Beinn sími er á herberginu, en ekki sjónvarp. Fornir burðarbitar í lofti fegra staðinn. Fullflísað baðherbergið er nýtízkulegt og vel búið, þar á meðal hitagrind fyrir handklæði, sem eru óvenju stór.

Sturion

(Calle Sturion, San Polo 679. Sími: 523 6243. Fax: 522 8378. Verð: L.180000 (7614 kr) með morgunverði. Öll helztu greiðslukort. 11 herbergi. B1)

Sérkennilegt hótel og skemmtilegt, aðeins 100 metra frá Rialto brú. Frá Rialto bátastöðinni er farið yfir brúna og beygt til vinstri eftir bakkanum Riva del Vin og síðan beygt til hægri inn í portið Calle Sturion, þar sem hótelið er vinstra megin. Þaðan liggur svo ógnarlangur og beinn stigi upp á fimmtu hæð.

Hótel með þessu nafni var rekið í húsinu í fimm aldir, frá lokum 13. aldar til loka 18. aldar, þekkt af málverkum og fornum skjölum. Eftir tveggja alda hlé var síðan opnað hótel aftur, en aðeins á tveimur efstu hæðum hússins. Það er notalegt fjölskyldufyrirtæki með góðri morgunverðarstofu, sem býður útsýni yfir Canal Grande. Tvö herbergjanna snúa þangað líka.

Herbergi 10 er afar sérkennilegt, myndar langan gang, þar sem lítið baðherbergi er fremst, síðan forstofa og gangur með vaski og loks svefnálma í innsta enda. Úr litlum glugga er útsýni yfir húsþök San Polo hverfis. Húsbúnaður er gamaldags, en hreinlegur. Þarna er sjónvarp og sími, vínskápur og hárþurrka.

uýmist að fremur breiðri götunni milli hótels og Accademia eða að óvenjulega stórum bakgarði.

Herbergi 3 er fremur lítið og einfalt, með glugga út að garði, afar hreinlegt og milt í litum, með síma og hárþurrku.

1996

© Jónas Kristjánsson

Ireland

The Irish get more courteous, sincere and helpful the further we get from Dublin. On the west coast they greet passing drivers with a hearty wave. Everywhere people try to help strangers and involve them in conversations. The best way to get around with freedom of movement is to rent a car. The road network is extensive, and quite good B&B’s are all over the country.

Ireland is mild and green. Most roads are lined with trees and surrounded with pastures for cattle and sheep, horses and goats. Farmhouses and villages, manors and palaces, fit naturally in the pastoral scene. Only at the west and north coasts does nature get harsher and wilder. On this trip we concentrate on nature and on historical monuments which dot the countryside.

Ancient monuments tell a story, especially from the first centuries of Christianity, when Ireland was for a while the center of the new religion. We visit monasteries, where beautiful manuscripts were made and from where monks went on missions over the oceans. We visit castles and palaces and manors, some of whom double as convenient hotels or restaurants for travelers.

We are going to thread all this up on a necklace of jewels, reaching in a circle around the country. We may use a week for the trip as distances are short or we may spend more time. We start and end in Dublin and go counter-clockwise through the country. We drive on N3 north out of Dublin and at Black Bull turn left into R154 to the castle of Trim.

Trim Castle

Trim. (I7).

The Medieval ruins of Trim castle are the most extensive ones in the country, covering nearly an hectare. English occupiers built it in Norman style. The central keep is from 1220-1225 and the outer walls from 1250.

The entrance to the castle is now from the western part of the middle of the town. The keep contained two banquet halls and bedrooms over them. The main part of the castle was on its eastern side where the original entrance was, with two drawbridges, a barbican and a prison. Henry IV was imprisoned there by Richard II, but escaped and went on to win the throne of England.

From Trim we drive on R161 in the direction of Navan and find a road sign to Tara on our right.

Tara

Tara. (I7).

Tara was the holy hill of northwestern Ireland in pagan times. There is now a church and extensive pastures, where can be seen the contours of mounds which are the remains of a Pre-Christian temple, royal palace and a parliament.

From the access of the Nialls to power as High Kings in Ulster in the 6th C. Tara was the political and religious center of Ulster. After the advent of Christianity it continued as a holy shrine until 1022, when it disappeared from the scene, continuing only in stories and tales.

We return to R161, turn right and continue to Navan. From there we take N51 through Slane in the direction of Drogheda, until we arrive at the road sign to Newgrange on the right.

Newgrange

Hours: Open in summer 10-18:30, in spring and fall 10-13 & 14-17, in winter Tuesday-Sunday 10-13 & 14-16:30. (I7).

An impressive burial temple from 3000 B.C., one of the most important in the world of the type. It is a man-made and grass covered stone mound, sheathed in white quartz. It is 80 meters in diameter and 12 meters in height.

It is enclosed in an inner circle of horizontal stones, some of them inscribed with signs, and an outer circle of vertical stones. The building is an engineering feat in an age of primitive technology, bearing witness to intense religious belief and strong political power.

From the concave entrance there is a 20 meters corridor into a burial chamber with three nooks, probably altars. At winter solstice the sun shines almost horizontally through the corridor into the burial chamber and lits it up for a few minutes.

We return to N51 where we turn right, and almost immediately turn left, following a sign to Mellifont Abbey.

Mellifont Abbey

Hours: Open in summer 9:30-18:30, in spring Monday-Saturday 9:30-13 &14-17:30, Sunday 14-17:30. (I7).

Well-preserved ruins of a Cistercian monastery from 1142. The foundations are visible of the church, which was consecrated in 1157. Remaining are mainly a gatehouse to the right, an octagonal lavabo in the middle, both original, and a chapter house from the 14th C. to the left. The monastery was closed down in 1556.

We continue on the road and follow signs to Monasterboice.

Monasterboice

(I7).

A large Round Tower from the Viking period is almost intact in the graveyard. Irish monks built such towers to defend themselves and the treasures of the church against the raiding Vikings. The tower was burned in 1097 and its treasures scattered.

Three High Crosses, monoliths from the 10th C. are also in the graveyard. The largest of them is 7 meters high. These are among the best-preserved and most beautiful High Crosses of Ireland, richly sculptured with scenes from the Bible.

High Crosses with a long leg and an orb in the center were a characteristic feature of Irish Christianity from the 8th to the 10th C., at the Golden Age of Ireland as the world center of Early Christianity. They varied from 2 to 7 meters and were sculptured first with abstract signs and later with episodes from the Holy Scriptures.

From here we go directly to N1 in the direction of Dundalk. We pass the city center in the direction of Belfast, cross a bridge and pass a graveyard on the way out of Dundalk, still on N1, and soon arrive at a signpost to Ballymascanlon hotel to the right.

Ballymascanlon

Dundalk. Phone: 42 71124. Fax: 42 71598. Price: £75 ($117) with breakfast. All major cards. 36 rooms. (I6).

An old manor converted into a cozy hotel with a golf course and a gym.

The dining room has large windows to the grounds. Fly-baiters hang in the chandeliers. Service is good, also the cooking, even if old-fashioned French. Dinner is £40 for two, excluding beverages.

Room no. 30 is small and well equipped, including a coffee machine and a trouser press.

We continue on N1 over the border to Northern Ireland, where the road continues as A1 all the way into Belfast center. From King Street we drive into a car parking house adjoining the Castlecourt shopping center. From there we walk 600 meters on King Street and then left on Wellington Place to City Hall.

Belfast

(J6).

Belfast started as an English castle in 1177, when John de Courcy invaded Ulster. The castle was destroyed by Edward Bruce in 1315 and the area was then held by the Niall High Kings until 1603.

This is mainly an industrial city, built up in the Victorian period, and has stagnated in the 20th C., partly because of its position as a battleground between Protestant Unionists and Catholic Republicans.

City Hall is the main landmark of Belfast. We are standing in front of it.

City Hall

Donegal Square, Belfast. Phone: (232) 320 202. Hours: Open 10:30, book in advance. (J6).

The most impressive building in the city, a white palace at the intersection of the main streets. It was built in 1898-1906 in a Neo-Classic wedding-cake style with a large copper dome over the middle. It is open to the public.

Donegal Square in front of City Hall is the main square of the center and its bus center. Opposite City Hall on the other side of the square there is a pedestrian shopping district.

We walk the same way back, through Wellington Place and King Street. If we take a detour to the left into Fisherwick Street instead of turning right into King Street, we will after 200 meters arrive at the most famous hotel and the most famous pub in town, in Great Victoria Street.

Crown Liquor

Great Victoria Street, Belfast. (J6).

A Victorian pub, richly decorated on the inside and outside, with porcelain tiles on the outside, stained windows, gas lights, semi-closed compartments for groups of guests, and carved wood in pillars and ceiling.

This haven of tired travelers is possibly the most remarkable monument in Belfast. We would not dwell for long in this city, were it not for the Crown Liquor.

Opposite Crown Liquor there is Hotel Europe, recently renovated and sparkling at present.

We drive out of Belfast, first on M2, then M5 and finally A2 a short way to Carrickfergus by the sea. We stop in a car park between the boat harbor and Carrickfergus Castle.

Carrickfergus Castle

Carrickfergus. Hours: Open in summer Monday-Saturday 10-18, Sunday 14-18, in winter Monday-Saturday 10-16, Sunday 14-16. (J6).

The castle dominates the main street in town, standing on ocean cliffs, originally separated from the mainland. It is a Norman castle from 1180, one of the largest and best-preserved castles in Ireland. The castle is now a museum, showing the history of itself.

It defended the entrance to Belfast harbor and was for a long time the main English fortress against Irish rebels. In spite of its apparent invulnerability it was taken three times, once by Scots in 1315, by Protestants in 1689, and by the French in 1760.

The oldest part is the keep, surrounded with two outer and younger walls. The castle is a very good example of the defense engineering technology of the French-Nordic Normans in the Middle Ages.

We cross the main street to the old hotel pub in town.

Dobbin’s Inn

6-8 High Street, Carrickfergus. Phone: 9603 51905. Price: £60 ($94) with breakfast. All major cards. (J6).
A typical Irish hotel in an old building, famous for Maud the ghost, who haunts the hotel. From the hotel there is a subterranean corridor to the castle across the street.

We can stay here or have a lunch or a pint at the pub before continuing. Lunch is £10 for two, excluding beverages.

The road is straight on A2 and we next stop at Ballygally castle hotel.

Ballygally Castle

Ballygally. Phone: 574 83212. Price: £60 ($94) with breakfast. All major cards. (J5).

Built in 1625 in Scottish style, with a view to Scotland on a good day. It has been preserved in the original condition. The hotel itself is mainly in an adjoining building.

You should book a room in the old castle. The rooms have modern conveniences, such as a hair-dryer and a trouser-press. And the plumbing is not original, for certain.

We continue on A2 to Glenariff, where we have two choices. We can turn left for a detour on A43 through Glenariff wood and past Glenariff falls and then on B14 to Cushendun. Or we can go directly on the B92 coast road to Cushendall and on to Cushendun.

Cushendun

(J5).

Cushendall and Cushendun are romantic coastal towns. The latter is as a whole protected as a national heritage. White and peaceful houses nest between large trees and broad streets.

From Cushendum we drive on to A2 and continue on that road to Ballycastle, where we turn right on B15. We soon come to a car park at the beginning of the half an hour path to the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge.

Carrick-a-Rede

(I5).

A robe bridge with a span of 20 meters, 25 meters above the sea, connecting the mainland with a rock, where fishermen catch salmon in summer.

The bridge sways under steps of passers-by. The walk over the bridge is not for the faint-hearted. But there are no documented accidents in the whole 200 years history of the bridge.

We continue on B15 to A2 and soon come to a tourist center, from which small busses drive people down to the coast to the hexagonal basalt columns of Giant’s Causeway.

Giant’s Causeway

Bushmill. (I5).

An extensive formation of groups of basaltic lava columns, created in the aftermath of volcanic eruptions sixty million years ago. Such columns are created when lava cools very slowly, making it possible for the stone to crystallize into multi-sided, often octagonal columns. There are about 40,000 such columns at Giant’s Causeway.

We continue on A2 a short way to Bushmill. When we enter the town we arrive at Bushmill’s Inn to our right.

Bushmill’s Inn

Bushmill. Phone: 2657 32339. Fax: 2657 32048. Price: £74 ($116) with breakfast. All major cards. 11 rooms. (I5).
A cozy, old lodge from the beginning of the 19th. C. in good condition.

There is an open fire in the lobby. Narrow stairs, corridors and steps are all over the house. A quaint library is above the lobby. The restaurant is partitioned by unpolished furnishings. The cooking is unusually good. Dinner is £27 or £35 for two, excluding beverages.

Room no. 24 is rather big and well equipped, with flowery wallpaper, rough furnishings of wood, creaking and carpeted floor and a parquet in the bathroom.

From Bushmill we drive on A2 and soon arrive at Dunluce Castle on the coast.

Dunluce Castle

(I5).

An enigmatic castle with a haunted look, perched on an outcrop on the coast. The oldest parts, the eastern towers and the southern wall, are from the 14th C. and the rest mainly from the 16th C. In 1639 the kitchen collapsed into the ocean with the people inside and the castle was abandoned for good.

We continue on A2 to Derry or Londonderry and drive into the old center inside the city walls.

Derry

Derry. (I5).

The city wall from 1613-1618 is the main attraction of Derry, originally with four gates but now with seven gates. It is the best Irish example of city wall so well preserved that it is possible to walk on it in a full circle around the city center.

The area inside the wall is 500 meters and 250 meters in diameter. In the middle is the main square, Diagonal. From it Bishop’s Street leads south to the Gothic St Columb’s Cathedral from 1628-1634, the first cathedral to be built after the Reformation, Gothic in style. The shopping Shipquay Street leads steeply down and north from Diagonal.

We can go straight from Derry on A2 and then N13 to a side-road on our left to Grianan of Aileach. We can also take a 160 km detour around the mountains of the Inishowen peninsula, leaving Derry on R238 through Moville, Carndonagh and Malin head, and back on the same road through Carndonagh, Ballyliffin and Buncrana to turn right into N13 to the north of Grianan of Aileach.

Malin Head

(I5).

Between Moville and Carndonagh is a side-road to the left to two High Crosses and a Cross Slab at Carrowmore. A little farther on there is a side-road to the right to the ruins of the Clonca church and a High Cross.

Malin Head is a small fishing village nestling under ocean cliffs.

On the road back is an 8th C. High Cross a little farther than Carndonagh and a Cross Slab in the graveyard of Fahan. Cross Slabs are from the 7th to the 12th C., flat and irregular stones, with hewn crosses, other religious signs and inscriptions in Latin, put over graves.

We arrive at N13 and turn right on N13 and then left on a side-road up the hill to Grianan of Aileach on the hilltop.

Grianan of Aileach

(I5).

A complete restoration from 1870 of a circular fortress originally built in the 5th C., at the beginning of Irish Christianity. It was the royal residence of the Nialls from that time to the 12th C. and was destroyed in local wars of Irish kings in 1101.

The circular hilltop fortress is 23 meters in diameter, 5 meters high and 4 meters thick. On the inside there are steps in walls to facilitate the movement of the defending forces. There is a good view from the walls, including Derry.

We go back the side-road and continue on N13 to Letterkenny, where we change to N56 and can continue until we come to a side-road to the left to Glenveagh Castle. We can also take a detour from Letterkenny on first R245 and then R247 to Rathmullan, if we want to dine and stay at Rathmullan House before we go to Glenveagh Castle.

Rathmullan House

Rathmullan. Phone: 74 58188. Fax: 74 58200. Price: £121 ($189) with breakfast. All major cards. 23 rooms. (I5).
A beautiful and remote country manor in Georgian style from the beginning of the 19th C., with comfortable antique furniture, a library, open fire, a swimming pool, a sauna and peaceful gardens.

Dinner is served in the garden pavilion of the manor. The starters’ trolley is one of the best in the whole country and the cooking is generally superior. So many people dine here that it is advisable to book a table in advance. Dinner is £60 for two, excluding beverages.

Some of the rooms have a view over beautiful gardens to the Swilly bay.

We leave on R247 and then R249 until we arrive at N56 where we turn right. Then we turn left on a side-road to Glenveagh Castle.

Glenveagh Castle

Hours: Park open all year, castle in summer 10:30-18:30. (H5).

The Glenveagh National Park covers nearly 10,000 hectares of woodland and bogs around a fake castle in Walt Disney style, built at Beagh Lake in 1870 to create a romantic atmosphere for the lord of the castle and his guests.

This is a conventional country manor disguised as a castle. It is now a museum with the rich furnishings of the former owner.

We are here in the Donegal hills.

Donegal hills

(H5).

This is the most remote part of Ireland, a narrow part of the Republic to the west and north of Northern Ireland. This is Gaelic country as we can see from many signs. The landscape is rough and rather naked.

Formerly this district was called Triconnaill, now Donegal, which comes from the Gaelic: “Dún na nGall”, meaning the Fortress of Foreigners, that is Vikings.

The best beer of Ireland, Poitin, is brewed in the Donegal hills.

We return on the side-road to N56, where we turn left and then turn right at a sign to Doe Castle, just before we come to Creeslough.

Doe Castle

(H5).

The ruins are relatively well preserved, standing on a promontory on the ocean. The age is unknown and the buildings are from several periods. The castle has obviously been damaged in several attacks over time. Many famous generals are connected with its history, either in defense or attack. At the end of the 18th C. it got more or less its present appearance.

We return on the side-road and turn right into N56 to Bunbeg.

Bunbeg

(H5).

As in many other Irish seaside villages the dwellings face inward to the country, not outside to the ocean. The harbor is lonely, quite a distance from the scattered inland dwellings. It gives the impression that people were afraid, either of pirates or of the natural powers of the ocean and wanted to live out of sight.

The harbor is peaceful and almost romantic and does not witness to much fishing nowadays.

We continue on N56 through the bogs of Rosses.

Rosses

(H5).

The Rosses means the promontories. There are few habitations and few trees, but lots of bogs and small lakes.

Peat is made here in abundance and used for heating and in electric plants. The topsoil is cut and put again in place when several shovel-layers of bog underneath have been removed for drying. Long lines of cuttings are an attribute of peat bogs country.

We continue on N56 past Dungloe and Gwebarra. When we have just passed Ardara we turn right at a sign to Glengesh Pass. From the pass we have a good view back to the valley we were coming from. We continue all the way to Glencolumbkille.

Glencolumbkille

(H5).

The landscape surrounding Glencolumbkille is wild and majestic and mainly incidental, just like it has been thrown around by the gods.

Saint Columba or Columbkille is said to have settled down here in his advanced years, far away from the commotion of the world. There are also remains of a Pre-Historic habitation.

To the south of the river outside the town the Glencolumbkille Folk Village is in a few simple houses in the farmhouse styles of 1720, 1820 and 1920, showing old tools and utensils, furnishings and furniture from those years.

We drive to Carrick and there turn left to Teelin and follow a sign to Bunglass, where an extremely narrow one-lane road clutches the steep mountain slopes and cliffs, reaching an end at an observation point from where we can see The Cliffs of Bunglass.

Cliffs of Bunglass

(H5).

Steep cliffs of 600 meters on the southern slopes of Slieve League Mountain, an impressive sight in bad weather and sparkling with colors in good weather, as there are several varieties of rock in the cliffs.

We return from Bunglass to Teelin and Carrick and continue to Killybegs.

Killybegs

(H5).

A lived-in and active fishing town with modern fishing vessels in the lively harbor. The town is on slopes above the harbor. The Killybegs hand-made carpets are made here and have been famous since the middle of the 19th C. The Irish wool industry has its center in this area.

We continue onwards from Killybegs and soon reach N56 which we follow all the way to Donegal city. We try to park in the center, near the main square, Diagonal.

Donegal center

(H5).

Founded by the Vikings and carries a name that means the Fortress of Foreigners. It is the center of the tweed-wool garment industry in Ireland.

The triangular main square was laid out in 1610. An obelisk in memory of four Irish artists and scientists is in its center.

We walk to the nearby Donegal Castle.

Donegal Castle

(H5).

Partly an old castle and partly a manor from the first half of the 17th C., as is the gate house, which is nearest to the central square.

From Donegal we take N15 in the direction of Bundoran and turn right to the Rossnowlagh strand where we come directly to Sand House.

Sand House

Rossnowlagh. Phone: 72 51777. Fax: 72 52100. Price: £80 ($125) with breakfast. All major cards. 40 rooms. (H6).
Standing alone on the beach, a bright, modern house with a crenellated roof. It has solemn furnishings and quality furniture. An open fire is in the lobby.

The service is excellent, even by Irish standards. The restaurant is top class. It offers several choices from a menu of a fixed price, £40 for two, excluding beverages.

Room no. 33 faces the ocean and listens to the comfortable lullabies of the ocean waves, when the windows are open. The quality furnishings are very beautiful.

We return to N15 and turn right, continuing south, through Bundoran and Sligo. Having passed Sligo we turn right on N59 to Ballina. We can continue on the same road to Castlebar or first make a detour to the right on R314 to a side-road to the right to Rosserk Abbey.

Rosserk Abbey

(G6).

Ruins of a Franciscan abbey from the middle of the 15th C, relatively well preserved, even if it was burned down in the 16th C. when the English drove the monks away.

Some original decorations are sill visible on the western door, in the eastern window and the southern transept.
This remote part of Ireland is Mayo, known for extensive bogs and scant habitation inland and sand beaches and rocky promontories at the seaside.

We return to Ballina and from there on N59 and then N5 to Castlebar. From there we can drive directly to Newport on R311 or take a detour from Castlebar to the left on N60 in the direction of Claremorris. On this road we soon come to Breaffy House.

Breaffy House

Castlebar. Phone: 94 22033. Fax: 94 22033. Price: £76 ($119) with breakfast. All major cards. (G6).

A quaint mixture of old and new. A modern building of concrete and glass with regular contours has been added to an old and an irregular palace. The hotel is in beautiful gardens, offering fishing, hunting and riding.

The public rooms are imposing, except the rather common dining room.

The guest rooms are modern, well furnished, including coffee machines and bathrobes.

We return the same way to Castlebar and can continue from there to Newport on R311 or make another detour, this time to the left on N84 to Ballintubber Abbey.

Ballintubber Abbey

Ballintubber. Hours: Open 9-24. (G6).

Mass has been sung daily in the Gothic abbey church for almost eight centuries since the Augustine abbey was built in 1216. Even in times of trouble not a single day was missed. The church was partly rebuilt after a fire in 1265. In 1653 Cromwell vandalized the abbey and burned the roof of the church. A new roof was added in the original style in 1966.

Inside the church there are some items from the 13th C., including an altar.

We return on N84 to Castlebar and go from there on R311 to Newport.

Newport

(G6).

A nice little resort, popular with anglers, dominated by a disused railway viaduct, converted into a pedestrian bridge.

In the town center we cross the motorists bridge and immediately turn left through a gate into the grounds of Newport House.

Newport House

Newport. Phone: 98 41222. Fax: 98 41613. Price: £87 ($136) with breakfast & dinner. All major cards. 18 rooms. (G6).
A Georgian country manor, beautifully sheathed in red creeper, almost covering the windows.

The interior is grand, especially the staircase in the hall. The dining room is superior and the food is mediocre. Coffee and confectionery are served in the drawing room after dinner. Service is outstanding. Dinner is included in the room price.

Room no. 1 is large, furnished with antiques. The bathroom is also large. There is a good view over the grounds to the river.

We can leave from here on N59 to the south to Westport. We can also drive north on N59 for a detour to Achill Island. In that case we soon turn left at a signpost to Burrishoole Friary.

Burrishoole Friary

(G6).

A Dominican friary, founded in 1486, converted into a fortress in 1486. The remains consist of a broad and squat tower, nave, chancel, south transept and parts of the friary.

We return to N59, turn left and continue a short distance to another signpost on the left to Carrigahowley or Rockfleet Castle.

Carrigahowley Castle

(G6).

A four-storeyed tower house from the 15th C, similar to several others in the country, this one especially well preserved.

Edward VI of England subsidized the building of such towers to strengthen the rule of his vassals over the unruly Irish. The ground floor housed stores and the top floor the living quarters of the masters of the tower.

We can return from here to Newport if we have little time. Otherwise we turn left on N59 and continue to Mulrany, where we turn left on R319 to the towns of Keel and Dooagh on Achill Island.

Dooagh

Dooagh. (G6).

The island of Achill is connected by a bridge to the mainland. The landscape is bare and weathered. The coast is suitable for sunbathing and the sea is suitable for surfing and fishing. Sand beached and rocky outcrops dot the coastline. Treeless villages, painted in white, rest on the beaches.

We return all the way back, first R319 and then N59 to Newport and continue on N59 south to Westport.

Westport

Westport. (G6).

A friendly tourist town, planned and built in 1780. It has a well-known manor, Westport House.

The best part of town is the Quay, where old houses have been converted into hotels and seafood restaurants. The Quay offers a good view to Croach Patrick mountain.

We take R395 out of town and drive on the coastline past Croach Patrick.

Croagh Patrick

(G6).

The 763 meters mountain on our left side has been a holy mountain since heathen times.

The story goes that Saint Patrick killed all snakes in Ireland by tolling his bell. Since then there have been no snakes in the country.

Last Sunday in July, tens of thousands of pilgrims climb the mountain, some of them bare-footed, to sing a mass at the chapel on the top. The western side of the mountain has become visually polluted because of that yearly attack.

We continue on R395 until it reaches N59, where we turn right and drive through Leenane to the fairy palace of Kylemore Abbey.

Kylemore Abbey

Hours: Open 9:30-18, closed in winter. (G7).

The abbey with all its crenellated towers rises suddenly from the wood on the far side of a lake, just as a dream or a prop in an animated Disney film. In fact the building is not especially old. It is a Neo-Gothic castle from the 19th C., a convent school of the Benedictine order. Parts of the castle are open to the public.

We continue on N59 a short way and turn left at a signpost to the Connemara National Park.

Connemara Park

Hours: Visitors center open in summer 10-18:30. (G7).

More than 200 hectares of heath, bog and wood, the home of the red Irish deer and the Connemara pony. The peak of Diamond Hill, 445 meters, dominates the view from the visitors center. The peak offers a good view over Connemara.

Connemara is a desolated and varied country with countless lakes and ridges, brooks and bogs, outcrops and sand beaches. Population is sparse in this barren country and people still speak Gaelic. The district is sometimes called Gaeltacht, the Country of the Celts.

We continue on N59. Soon we come to Letterfrack, where we have some choices. We can press on to Abbeyglen or we can turn right on a side-road to Tullycross and Renvyle. We drive to Currath Castle on the Renvyle coast.

Currath Castle

(G7).

One of many tower houses in Ireland. This one is special, as the ocean waves have broken one of its corners so that we can see the interior from the outside, including the staircase of stone.

We return the same way up to N59 and turn right. Soon we arrive at Rosleague Manor to the right.

Rosleague Manor

Letterfrack. Phone: 95 41101. Fax: 95 41168. Price: £90 ($141) with breakfast. All major cards. 20 rooms. (G7).

A country manor on a small hill in a large garden near Letterfrack, loaded with antiques and art.

Service is exceptionally friendly. The grand and beautiful dining room is one of the better ones in Ireland. Dinner is £40 for two, excluding beverages.

The guest rooms are generally large and well equipped.

We continue on N59 to Clifden center, and find the main road up the valley to Abbeyglen Castle on the slopes of the hill on the other side of town.

Abbeyglen Castle

Clifden. Phone: 95 21201. Fax: 95 21797. Price: £99 ($155) with breakfast. All major cards. (G7).

The hotel is designed as a mock castle with pointed windows, corner towers and a crenellated roof. There are large gardens near the hotels and woods farther on.

Service is very good.

The rooms are rather large and well equipped and most have good views. The best rooms are in the main building.

We continue on this side-road up the slope. We are on the Sky Road which covers the peninsula out of Clifden town.

Clifden Bay

(F7).

This road offers good views to peninsulas, islands and the ocean. This is the beautiful country of Connemara.

After the Sky Road circle we are back on N59 and drive again through Clifden. Next we turn right either on R341 or R340 and follow signs to Cashel Bay.

Cashel Bay

(G7).

Typical Connemara coastline with lots of peninsulas and islands.

We continue on the road to either Zetland House or Cashel House for an overnight.

Cashel House

Cashel Bay. Phone: 95 31001. Fax: 95 31077. Price: £127 ($198) with breakfast. All major cards. 32 rooms. (G7).
A unique hotel, most famous for being a retreat of President de Gaulle. It is a beautiful, old building in a garden, that is almost botanical, with horse stables in the back.

The lay-out of the hotel is old and accidental and mainly warm and personal. It has several nooks on the way to the bar. Drawing rooms, libraries and retreats alternate with narrow corridors. The dining room is in an adjoining garden house of glass. The cooking is first class, but the boring waiter spoke French up his nose, with an Oxford intonation. Dinner is £64 for two.

Room no. 18 is stylish, rather small, but recently and well furnished, with a good view to the garden. It has a thick carpet on the floor.

From Cashel we drive on R341 and then turn left on R340 and then turn right on N59 all the way to Maam Cross.

Maam Cross

Maam Cross. (G7).

A popular angling village in a district of extensive peat bogs, with the typical peat piles dotting the roadside.

Arriving in Maam Cross we turn left on R336 to Maam and from there to the right on R345 to Cong, where we quickly find Ashford Castle.

Ashford Castle

Cong. Phone: 92 46003. Fax: 92 46260. Price: £256 ($400) with breakfast. All major cards. 83 rooms. (G7).

This is a chapter on its own. The stone gray hotel of dreams is a quaint combination of a 13th C. castle, an old manor in the French Renaissance Chateau style and new buildings in mock-castle Neo-Gothic style. All this makes an irreal pile in spacious gardens with the hotel’s own golf course. As a hotel this pile is also a gem of quality and service and gastronomy.

Inside there is a perfect atmosphere of richness and grandeur. The wooden furnishings are heavy and the antiques numerous. There are good conference facilities for the mandarins of the European Union. The cooking is among the very best in Ireland. The smaller and more royal and expensive Connaught Room is in the manor, with large windows and tons of wood. Dinner is £80 for two.

The rooms are very spacious, offering good views in any direction and every imaginable luxury as can be understood from the price.

Before we leave Cong, we can make a detour and continue on R345 to Cross and then to the right on R334 a short way to Ross Abbey.

Ross Abbey

Ross. (G7).

The best preserved Franciscan abbey in Ireland, built in 1351, enlarged and restored in the 15th C. It was an cloister until 1753. From the church tower of 1498 there is a good view over the abbey buildings and the neighboring country.

Frescos and 15th C. windows are in the church. Parts of the cloister have been preserved, including a sacristy, lavatorium, refectory and a scriptorium.

We return on R334 and R345 to Cong, then continue on R345 to Maam and R336 to Maam Cross, where we turn left on N56 to Oughterard. Soon after entering the town we see Sweeney’s Oughterard House on our left.

Sweeney’s Oughterard House

Oughterard. Phone: 91 82207. Fax: 91 82161. Price: £70 ($109) with breakfast. All major cards. 21 rooms. (G7).

A 200 years old house covered with creepers, with a guest-rooms extension to the back.

Antique collector items are tastefully arranged in the public rooms and some of the guest rooms. The atmosphere is very comfortable. Dinner is included in the room price.

The guest rooms are simple and well appointed.

We continue to the center of Oughterard, where there is as side-road to the left with a signpost to Currarevagh House. We take that detour through woods on the banks of Lake Corrib.

Currarevagh House

Oughterard. Phone: 91 82313. Fax: 91 82731. Price: £90 ($141) with breakfast. No cards. 15 rooms. (G7).

An old country manor peacefully nested in a private wood. It does not resemble an hotel, rather a country manor. It is mainly frequented by anglers, which is evident from some of the furnishings.

Guests all dine at the same time. The host serves the main course and chats with the guests. After dinner the guests congregate in the drawing room for coffee and conversation. This is very manor-like and pleasant. People go early to bed and rise late. Breakfast is served at nine o’clock. Dinner is £38 for two, excluding beverages.

Room no. 1 is an excellent corner room with big windows with a good view to Lake Corrib. The ceiling is high and the room is spacious, the furnishings old-fashioned. The floor is covered with a carpet all the way to the bathtub. All the amenities are there, excluding a TV set and a phone, as guests are expected to be trying to forget the outside world.

We return on the side-road to the center of Oughterard, again passing the shores of Lake Corrib.

Loch Corrib

(G7).

The second largest lake in Ireland, 58 km long has several islands. It is a famous angling resort. The road between Currarevagh and Oughterard gives us a glimpse of the charm of this lake.

We continue on the side-road to the center of Oughterard, and turn left on N59. Soon we take another detour on the left, signposted for Aughnanure Castle.

Aughnanure Castle

Hours: Open in summer 9:30-18:30. (G7).

A well conserved and tower house with outer walls and the ruins of a banqueting hall. The tower has six storeys with a staircase of 73 steps. On the two topmost floors are bedrooms and a sitting hall with a fireplace. From the top there is a good view to Lake Corrib.

We return to N59, turn left and drive to Galway. We cross the bridge and drive from the roundabout to the center and find a parking place.

Galway

Galway. (G7).

The largest city on the western coast and the linguistic center of the Gaelic language. The old center with narrow streets and low-rise houses is the main attraction for tourists.

Shop Street is the main shopping street of the center and could be made more convenient by excluding cars and making it pedestrian.

Lynch’s Castle is midway along Shop Street.

Lynch’s Castle

Galway. (G7).

A tower house from the 16th C., with decorations on the outside. It is still functioning, nowadays as a bank office.

A little further on, at the same side of the street, we come to St Nicholas’ Church.

St Nicholas’

Hours: Open in summer 9-18, in winter 9-17:30. (G7).

Built in 1320 and enlarged in the 15th and 16th C., a simple and powerful church.

We leave town, first on N6, then on N18 and finally on N67, where we soon arrive at Dunguaire Castle on the coast.

Dunguaire Castle

Kinwara. Hours: Feasts start at 17:45 and 21. (G7).

A tower house of four storeys, with an outer defense wall, built in 1520 and renovated in the 20th C.

The ground and first floors are now used as a venue for banquets for tourists twice a day. These amusing feasts include a medley of short plays, witty limericks, sentimental ballads, ribald dances, all very well-done, accompanied with a food that is supposed to be as it was in the olden time.

We continue on N67 and turn left on R480 where we arrive at the Aillwee cave.

Aillwee Cave

(G7).

A long and narrow cave of 1034 meters, found in 1940 in a porous limestone mountain, the remains of a subterranean river. It has many small stalactites and stalagmites and even a small waterfall.

The atmosphere is enhanced by intelligent floodlighting.

In this area a whole system of caves and subterranean streams were found in 1987.

R480 continues up to The Burren.

Burren

(G7).

A naked, arid and stony limestone highland of 260 square km., that is being declared a National Park.

Near the road, mainly on our left side, are several megalithic tombs from the Stone Age, 4000-2000 B.C. Large and heavy, flat stones have been raised on edge and other flat stones put on top as a roof.

We continue on R480 and turn left into R476 at Leamaneh Castle.

Leamaneh Castle

(G7).

An impressive building of four storeys with large windows from the 17th C., adjoining an older tower house with small windows from the 15th C. There are 88 steps to the top.

We drive on and keep to R476 to Kilfenora. In the center there are ruins of an abbey.

Kilfenora Crosses

Kilfenora. (G7).

The cloister ruins are partly from Early Christianity in the 6th C. Three high crosses from the 12th C. are in the graveyard. The church is mainly from 1190, but renovated in the 15th C. It is mainly intact and is used for mass. This was formerly a bishopric.

We continue on R476 to Lisdoonvarna, where we turn left on L54 (R478) to the Cliffs of Moher.

Cliffs of Moher

(G7).

Dark sandstone cliffs, 182 meters high, almost vertical, stretching for 8 km.

An easy pedestrian path leads up to O’Brien’s Tower with a good view to the cliffs. The tower was built in 1853.

A tourist information center is at the start of the path, giving information on walks in the area.

We drive on, first on L54 (R478) to Lahinch and from there on N67 to Ennistymon with quaint, old shop-fronts at the main street, and from Ennistymon on N85 to Ennis. We stop in the center at Ennis Friary.

Ennis Friary

(G8).

Once a powerful Franciscan friary. 350 monks and 600 students were there in the 14th C. The friary was recently acquired again by the Franciscans.

The church is from the 13th C., except the southern transept and the central tower from the 15th C. It has no roof but is otherwise relatively intact. Its main attribute are high and narrow windows in the chancel.

We take the R469 from Ennis to Clare, Quin, Knappogue and Craggaunoven and soon come to our first stop at Clare, where we stop at the right turn in front of the railway station to inspect Clare Abbey.

Clare Abbey

(G8).

Extensive ruins of an Augustine cloister from 1189. The nave of the church is still standing, its central tower and parts of the cloister.

We continue on R469 to our next stop at Quin Friary to our left.

Quin Friary

(G8).

Extensive ruins of an imposing Franciscan friary from 1430. The cloister is mainly standing, including the central tower and the southern transept of the church.

The friary was built on the ruins of a Norman castle that again was built on the ruins of an earlier cloister.

We continue on R469 and turn right to Knappogue Castle.

Knappogue Castle

Price: £60 ($94) for two. (G8).

Built in 1467 to defend against Norman invaders and has since then been lived-in for most of the time. It really is a beautifully designed palace, built around a castle.

Now Medieval banquets for tourists are held in the grand banqueting hall twice every day, at 17:45 and 21. The food and table service are in Medieval style. Included is a program of ballads and poetry, plays and dance, which give a vivid picture of the history of Ireland and its music.

Again we return to R469 and stop at the Craggaunoven Centre.

Craggaunoven

Hours: Open in summer 10-18, in winter 9:30-17, -16 on Friday. (G8).

A kind of a museum on Irish prehistory. It is housed in a tower house from the 16th C.

The ox-hide boat or “curragh”, Brendan, is on show, a replica of the boats that Irish monks used to roam the North Atlantic from the 6th C. up to the Viking period in the 9th C. and onwards. It was built to sail to America in 1976-1977 to prove that it would have been possible for Saint Brendan to reach America in the 6th C. as has been speculated.

Below the tower is a replica of a Bronze Age village of round huts or “crannóg”, on an islet in a small lake, connected by a bridge to the mainland. The style of the huts is similar to those we see in Africa.

We return on R469 to Ennis and from there we drive on N18 to Newmarket-on-Fergus where we arrive at Dromoland Castle.

Dromoland Castle

Newmarket-on-Fergus. Phone: 61 368144. Fax: 61 363355. Price: £252 ($394) with breakfast. All major cards. 73 rooms. (G8).

The majestic castle from 1570 was owned by one of the main royal families in Ireland, the Brians, until it was converted into the primary luxury hotel in Ireland. Its main attribute is the round corner tower. The castle sits in an extensive private parkland with a famous golf course.

Inside the hotel is very cozy and comfortable, with open fire in fireplaces, lots of antiques and works of art. The library bar is a perfect venue for a drink or two. The Thomond Room restaurant is one of the best in Ireland. Dinner is £90 for two, excluding beverages.

The rooms are variable, but all are beautifully designed.

We continue on N18 almost all the way to Limerick and stop at Bunratty Castle.

Bunratty Castle

Limerick. (G8).

An unusually large and majestic tower house from 1460, recently renovated into its 16th C. form. It houses a museum of furniture and carpets from the 14th to the 17th C.

Alongside the castle is Bunratty Folk Park, exhibiting old houses and replicas of old houses, which together make a convincing village street with a 19th C. atmosphere.

Adjoining the castle is also a banquet hall, where tourists congregate twice a day, at 17:45 and 21 to have a Medieval dinner and enjoy an historic program of song and dance.

There is a short way from Bunratty Castle on N18 to Limerick. Just before we enter the town we arrive at the Limerick Inn hotel, clearly signposted.

Limerick Inn

Limerick. Phone: 61 326666. Fax: 61 326281. Price: £73 ($114) with breakfast. All major cards. 153 rooms. (G8).

A low-rise modern hotel in standard hotel style, comfortable though. It is a busy airport and convention hotel.

The food is better than can be expected at such hotels. The menu is extensive and varied. Dinner is £50 for two, excluding beverages.

Room no. 404 is large and well equipped, including a hair dryer and a trouser press. The bathroom is excellent.

We continue on N18 into Limerick, turn left, when we come to the river, and drive on the river bank to cross the river at the next bridge. On the other side of the river we arrive at King John’s Castle.

Limerick

Limerick. (G8).

Limerick is the main city of the Middle West, situated near the formerly important Shannon airport. It was founded in 922 as a Danish Viking town, its name derived from a Viking name meaning Rich Land. It was repeatedly attacked by Irish kings and finally captured by the Viking-French Normans in 1194. Little remains from this turbulent history.

A part of central Limerick has mainly an English character, including King John’s Castle and St Mary’s Cathedral, the oldest building in town.

Another part is more Irish in character, including the area around St John’s Cathedral and Limerick Museum.

We are in front of King John’s Castle.

King John’s Castle

Limerick. Hours: Open in summer 10-17. (G8).

An extremely well conserved Norman castle from 1200, majestic and powerful. It has repeatedly played a role in Irish history and is now fittingly an historical museum.

Next to the castle on Nicholas Street in the direction of the city center we come to St Mary’s Cathedral.

St Mary’s

Limerick. Hours: Open in summer 9:30-12:45 & 14:15-17:30. (G8).

The oldest building in town, from 1168, Gothic in style and crenellated.

We continue on Nicolas Street and Mary Street, cross a bridge, and continue on John Street to St John’s Cathedral.

St John’s

Hours: Open Monday-Friday 9-18:30, Saturday 9-20:30, Sunday 8-20:30. (G8).

A Neo-Gothic cathedral from 1861, with the highest church spire in Ireland, 85 meters.

John Square is in front of the church. Limerick Museum, a museum of city history, is in a 18th C. house on the square.

We leave Limerick on N20 and then N21 to Adare.

Adare Manor

Adare. Phone: 61 396566. Fax: 61 396124. Price: £220 ($344) with breakfast. All major cards. 64 rooms. (G8).

A Neo-Gothic country manor with several small towers in a large garden at the river Maigue. The hotel is beautifully furnished in an old style.

Dinner is £65 for two, excluding beverages.

The guest rooms in the main building are especially desirable.

We continue on N21 until we are near Castleisland, where there is a side-road to the left, leading to Crag Cave.

Crag Cave

(G8).

A limestone cave more than million years old, found by accident in 1983. It is almost 4 km, of which 350 m are accessible to the public. There are untouched stalagmites and stalactites, most beautiful in the floodlit Crystal Gallery.

We drive back to N21, turn left and continue through Castleisland to Tralee, where we change over to R559 to Blennerville, where we stop at a windmill on the other side of a long bridge.

Blennerville Windmill

Hours: Open in summer 9-18. (G8).

A windmill for grinding floor, 18 meters and 5 storeys, built in 1800 and still going strong. A museum on the grounds shows the history of windmills and floor-grinding and the history of Irish settlers in America.

Here is also a railway station for a narrow-gauged train with three wagons from the 19th C., all original, used for tourists today. It goes between Tralee and Blennerville.

We continue on R559 and then R560 in the direction of Connor Pass. Finally we turn into a side-road signposted to Connor Pass.

Connor Pass

(F8).

The highest road pass in Ireland, 456 meters above sea level. The road cuts through steep cliffs into a narrow slit in the mountain edge.

There is a car park at the top. From there we have good views in both directions. The landscape is naked and majestic.

We drive down the winding road on the other side, leading down to Dingle.

Dingle
Dingle. (F8).

A mixture of a fishing town and a tourist town. The outer and inner harbors shelter the ships against the fury of the Atlantic Ocean.

Every other house in the center is either a pub or a restaurant.

In the center we find Doyle’s Seafood Bar.

Doyle’s

4 John Street, Dingle. Phone: 66 51174. Fax: 66 51816. Price: £48 ($75) for two. All major cards. 8 rooms. (F8).

Situated in an house from 1830. The guest rooms are furnished with antiques and beautiful bathrooms.

Doyle’s is primarily a seafood restaurant, the best one on the west coast. The daily changing menu offers the fresh catch of each day. Dinner is £40 for two, excluding beverages.

This is the perfect place for a dinner and overnight.

We drive west out of town on a road signposted as Slea Head Drive. We go through Ventry, stopping at a sign for Dunbeg Fort. There is a footpath leading down to a Pre-Historic seaside fortress. A little further on we start to see signs to Fahan huts. We stop at the first one.

Fahan beehive huts

(F8).

There is a short walk from the road up to the first of over 400 Fahan stone huts on the slopes of Mountain Eagle.

These beehive huts or “clochans” are Pre-Historic, all built up of stones in the form of half a sphere, without any gluing or binding material, many of them in perfect condition. They are in small groups all over the mountain slopes. Most of them are from the 6th to the 10th C.

We continue on this scenic route around the peninsula and look for a sign to Gallarus Oratory, when we have driven through Ballyferriter.

Gallarus Oratory

(F8).

One of the most important historic monuments in Ireland. It is a stone church from the 8th or 9th C., built from stone slabs all the way up to the ridge, without the use of any glue or binding material.

The structure is very well done, watertight and has been preserved in perfect condition during all these centuries, while other such churches have collapsed under their own weight.

We follow signposts to Dingle. From there we take the R559 to Annaschul, the R561 to Castlemaine, N70 to Milltown and finally R563 almost all the way to Killarney, but look for a signpost to Aghadoe Heights hotel on our right.

Aghadoe Heights

Killarney. Phone: 64 31766. Fax: 64 31345. Price: £145 ($227) with breakfast. All major cards. 60 rooms. (G9).

A modern and excellent hotel on a hill outside Killarney, with a good view to Lake Leane and the mountains around Dunloe Pass.

Service is perfect, combining German efficiency and Irish hospitality. The dining room combines good views with good furnishings, excellent service and excellent food. Dinner is £60 for two, excluding beverages.

Room no. 227 is very large and majestic and mainly stylish, with a good view and all amenities.

We follow signposts to Killarney, find R562, which we drive on to Killorglin, where we change to N70 and drive a scenic route to Glenbeigh, Cahirciveen and finally Waterville.

Waterville

(F9).

A famous summer holiday resort with pleasant, old-fashioned atmosphere. The main street is on the seaside, with hotels and restaurants on the land-side and a well-tended garden on the ocean-side.

We continue on N70 up Coomakista Pass above the town, offering good views in both directions. The grand landscape of Iveragh peninsula is particularly obvious from this observation point. Then we continue on N70 and look for a signpost to Staigue to our left.

Staigue

(F9).

A 2000 years old circular fortress which has mostly withstood the ravages of time. The walls are 5 meters high and 4 meters broad.

The fortress has probably been built as a sanctuary for the local people in raids by pirates. Other fortresses have been discovered in this area, but Staigue is the largest and the best preserved one.

We continue on N70 to Sneem.

Sneem

Sneem. (F9).

A nice little tourist village with two central squares connected with an old bridge.

We continue on N70 almost all the way to Kenmare, but turn right at a signpost to Dromquinna Manor.

Dromquinna Manor

Blackwater Bridge, Kenmare. Phone: 64 41657. Fax: 64 41791. Price: £70 ($109) with breakfast. All major cards. 28 rooms. (G9).

A beautiful old Victorian manor in romantic oceanside surroundings, with its own boat harbor.

The hotel is very cozy, with creaking floors, open fire in the fireplace and several drawing rooms. This is a good place for relaxation. Dinner is £40 for two, excluding beverages.

Room without a number, named Robertson, is very large and very grand, with a royal bed and large windows to the garden. The bathroom is also elegant, with parquet on the floor.

We have a short way on N70 to Kenmare, where we stop at the main square or in its immediate vicinity.

Kenmare

Kenmare. (G9).

A quaint tourist town with an old-fashioned shopping street, Main Street, with several interesting shop-signs.

We drive Market Street which runs parallel to Main Street from the central square up to the Kenmare Stone Circle.

Kenmare Stone Circle

(G9).

Probably laid out and built by Spanish copper miners 4000 years ago. There is a big stone in the middle, surrounded with 15 smaller stones in a circle.

We drive from Kenmare on N71 through beautiful landscapes and through a 726 m mountain tunnel and arrive at the other side of the mountain in Glengariff, where we see the Eccles hotel on our left.

Eccles

Glengariff. (G9).

The best known building in this tourist town, built in 1833. It still has the same featherlight and charming look as it had when Queen Victoria stayed there. Inside as outside the hotel preserves the charm of the 19th C.

We continue on N71 to Ballylickey, where two excellent hotels are side by side to the left of the road, Ballylickey Manor House and Sea View House. We drive to the latter one.

Sea View House

Ballylickey. Phone: 27 50462. Fax: 27 51555. Price: £132 ($206) with breakfast. All major cards. 17 rooms. (G9).

A white summer manor on the hillside, very comfortable, best known for the excellent cooking.

There are antiques all over the building. Dinner is served in several adjoining small rooms. The excellent dinner is £46, excluding beverages. Breakfast includes boxty pancakes made from potatoes, an Irish specialty.

Room no. 4 is of a medium size, tasteful and old-fashioned, with a very small bathroom with a sitting tub and a shower. It has a good view over the garden down to the ocean.

We continue on N71 a short way to the 19th C. town of Bantry. When we have crossed the main square we turn left through a brick gate and drive through formal, Italian gardens to the hotel entrance of Bantry House.

Bantry House

Bantry. All major cards. 10 rooms. (G9).

A palace from 1740, now a hotel and an art museum, showing what the owners have collected through two centuries and a half.

Dinner is £40 for two, excluding beverages.

The museum has a few rooms for travelers.

We continue on N71 to Skibberen. Then we turn right into a side-road to Glandore, a small town at a small harbor. We drive on R597 through the town and look for a signpost to Drombeg Circle.

Drombeg

(G9).

One of the best preserved stone circles in Ireland. Fourteen stone slabs of up to 1.5 m each stand upright in a circle of 9 m in diameter.

The purpose of such stone circles is unknown. Possibly they are religious structures.

We continue to Roscarberry, where we take N71 and drive to Clonakilty, where we change to R600 for Timoleague.

Timoleague Friary

(G9).

The ruins of a Franciscan cloister from 1320, destroyed by Cromwell in 1642. Near it are the ruins of an hospital and the 13th C. Barrymore Castle.

R600 brings us to Kinsale, where we can park at the port.

Kinsale

(G9).

For a long time considered the gastronomic capital of Ireland, a little overstated nowadays. Its restaurants specialize in seafood.

Sailing boats dominate the harbor of this oldest town in Ireland. The streets are narrow, almost undriveable in cars. The white houses are neat and well maintained. This was such an English town that Irish were not allowed to live there until at the end of the 18th C.

We drive through town and follow signs to Charles Fort.

Charles Fort

Kinsale. Hours: Open in summer 9:30-17:30, in spring Tuesday-Saturday 9-17, Sunday 14-17. (G9).

A fortress from 1670 on a promontory to the west of the entrance to Kinsale harbor. It is as extensive as a village, surrounded by a wall. The English built it after Spanish raids and used it up to 1922, when the Irish Republic was founded.

There is a good view from the fortress to the Kinsale harbor.

We continue on R600 to the center of Cork. Before we drive down the slope to the center we stop to have a look at St Fin Barre’s Cathedral.

St Fin Barre’s

Cork. Hours: Open Monday-Friday 10-13 & 14-17:30. (G9).

A Neo-Gothic church from 1865, with a central tower of 73 m. The Elizabeth Fort from 1590 is immediately to the west from the church, offering a good view over the city center, which is on an island in the river Lee.

We continue down the slope and drive into the center of Cork, looking for a parking-house.

Cork

Cork. (G9).

The principal streets of the city center are the broad Grand Parade and the winding St Patrick’s Street. The houses along these streets are low-rise and give a comfortable impression of the city.

From the center we drive along St Patrick’s Street, then straight over the bridge, turn right, not on the river bank, but next street after it, Mac Curtain Street. Then we turn a little to the left up the slope of Summerhill and its continuation in Middle Glanmire Road, where Arbutus Lodge is on our right side.

Arbutus Lodge

Middle Glanmire Road, Cork. Phone: 21 501237. Fax: 21 502893. Price: £53 ($83) for two. All major cards. 20 rooms. (G9).

A city mansion in a beautiful garden on a slope overlooking the city center. It is one of the very best restaurants in Ireland and a comfortable hotel at the same time.

Service is young and friendly. Strawberries and raspberries were included in the breakfast. Dinner is a special occasion, costs £44-£56 for two, excluding beverages. You may start with feta salad, continue with mussels and walnuts in garlic sauce, then rhubarb and ginger sorbet, go on to braised duck with duck-leg dressing and finish with the excellent cheese and dessert trolleys.

Room without a number, called Montenotte, does not have the coveted city view. It is large and quaint, furnished with antiques.

We return down Middle Glanmire Road and Summerhill in the direction of Cork center, but make a sharp left turn into Lower Glanmire Road, which continues as N25 out of town. We then turn right into a road signposted to Cobh, where we park at the harbor.

Cobh harbor & cathedral

Cobh. (H9).

Cobh was the harbor of the British fleet in the independence war of the United States of America, later the embarkment point of hundreds of thousands of Irish emigrants, and finally a port of call for the large Atlantic liners in their heyday.

The harbor is dominated by St Colman’s Cathedral with a giant tower of 47 bells, built 1868-1915 for collection money from emigrants to America.

We return to N25 and drive all the way to the center of Youghal, where we park at Main Street, near the southern side of the city wall.

Clock Gate

Youghal. (H9).

There are some important landmarks in Main Street. Clock Gate is one, a four storeyed house built in 1777 across the street, as a part of the southern side of the city wall.

We walk Main Street to the northern side of the city wall.

Tynte’s Castle

Youghal. (H9).

On our right side, adjoining the city wall, a tower house from the 15th C., Tynte’s Castle.

Opposite, on our left side. is the Red House in Dutch style from the early 18th C.

Farther to the left, also nesting under the city wall, we come to St Mary’s Collegiate Church from the early 13th C.

We turn our attention to the city wall.

Youghal City Wall

Youghal. (H9).

This city wall is the best preserved one in Ireland. It is still intact, in spite of being built in the 13th C.

We leave town on N25 in the direction of Waterford, but soon turn left into R671 which we follow through beautiful landscapes to Clonmel, where we try to park in the central O’Connell Street, near the West Gate.

Clonmel

Clonmel. (H8).

O’Connell Street is the main street in Clonmel. In its west end the West Gate sits across the street, a 14th C. gate on the city wall.

From the gate there is a passage to the north to St Mary’s Church with an octagonal tower. In the graveyard is a well-preserved part of the city wall.

In the west O’Connell Street ends at Main Guard, the old courts building of the city.

We drive N24 to Caher and stop at a car park between the main square and the castle.

Caher

(H8).

A nice little historic town at Suir river. Its central square is on a split level, surrounded with shops in low houses.
Caher Castle is the main attraction in Caher.

Caher Castle

Hours: Open in summer 9:30-19:30, in spring and fall 10-18, in winter Monday-Saturday 10-13 & 14-16:30, Sunday 14-16:30. (H8).

An extensive castle beside the river Suir, built in the 13th C. and renovated in the 15th C. There is a keep in the middle and three ports, surrounded with a wall with three large towers.

The castle is in good condition and is used as a local museum.

We leave town on N8 and drive to Cashel, turn right into the main street and then immediately left through a gate into the grounds of Cashel Palace.

Cashel

Cashel. (H8).

Cashel is a tourist town nested under the Rock of Cashel.

It has two cathedrals linked by a passage.

There is also a Folk Village, a reconstruction of 18th C. rural life in Ireland.

Cashel Palace is our abode tonight.

Cashel Palace

Cashel. Phone: 62 61411. Fax: 62 61521. Price: £100 ($156) with breakfast. All major cards. 20 rooms. (H8).

Built in 1730 in Palladian Renaissance style as a bishopric, now a dignified and a little tired hotel with antiques and an open fire in the lobby. Its main attraction is a beautiful garden leading up o the Rock of Cashel.

Dinner is £46 for two, excluding beverages.

Room 35 is very large and has several windows to the garden, furnished with comfortable furniture and a good bathroom, also with a large window to the garden.

We walk through the garden on the Bishop’s Walk for about 7 minutes to reach the Rock of Cashel.

Rock of Cashel

Cashel. Hours: Open in summer 9-19:30, in winter 9:30-16:30. (H8).

The royal seat of the Munster kings 370-1101, similar to Tara of the Ulster kings, north of Dublin. St Patrick is said to have baptized king Aengus here in 450. The rock became a cathedral site in the 12 th C. and remained so until 1749. An English barbarian, Lord Inchiguin, burned 3000 inhabitants of Cashel inside the church in 1647.

The rock is entered through a museum in a priest’s house from the 15th C., adjoining a dormitory from the same time.

The Gothic cathedral itself rises behind, badly damaged in the fire of 1647. It is mainly from the 13th C. It has a simple crucifix form without aisles, with high lance-windows and a massive central tower. A castle tower from 1450 is at the west end of the church, built as an archbishop seat in violent times. Behind the northern transept is a Round Tower from the 12th C.

Opposite the dormitory is the Cormac’s Chapel.

Cormac’s Chapel

Cashel. (H8).

The oldest part of the monuments on the Rock of Cashel, built in Romanesque style in 1127-1134, a single nave with a chancel and two towers on the sides.

We return on the Bishop’s Walk to Cashel Palace. If we have time before dinner we can visit the Folk Village.

Folk Village

Cashel. Hours: Open in summer Monday-Saturday 10-19:30, Sunday 14-19:30. (H8).

A reconstruction of 18th C. rural life in Ireland. It shows shops and homes with the corresponding utensils.

We leave town on R660 in the direction of Holycross Abbey.

Holycross Abbey

(H8).

Built in 1168 as a Benedictine abbey and soon converted into a Cistercian abbey. It was a cloister until the 17th C. and was considered a holy place.

It has now been renovated as a parish church. It has a nave with aisles, two transepts and a powerful central