Celtica Tours Information

Celtica offers one tour per year, but the family has been conducting tours for a decade. The relaxed atmosphere of the tour was evident from the first day. At Shannon Airport, we gathered to wait for another planeload of people before we got on our bus. Robbie and Alice met us there, handing out luggage tags and name tags and making introductions. There were 27 of us altogether, of which five were from our family. After waiting a bit, we made our way to our bus, met our driver, Joe, loaded up luggage and began our Irish adventure. The itinerary was well planned, thought out to the smallest details to insure everyone's comfort and to make sure we saw as much as we could. Each day included two or three activities, and each night we would get together after supper for a music session. Robbie, Alice and Sean (her husband, who accompanied us on the tour and was an invaluable contributor to it) are accomplished musicians, and they share a passion for traditional Irish music. I knew nothing at all about Irish music, which I now realize is shameful, but I'm working to remedy the situation. These sessions were a joy because not only did we listen to the music, we became participants in making it. Robbie, Sean and Alice willingly shared the traditions of the music, the structure, the way the musicians communicate, and the history of the songs, and as a group we began to feel like "insiders" after a few evenings. We enjoyed music all day on the bus as well, introduced via CD to many other wonderful Irish musicians who are keeping traditional music alive. The itinerary included Waterford, of course, and the Jameson Distillery, Caher Castle (a wonderfully preserved fortified Norman castle), the Swiss Cottage (where the lord and lady of Caher Castle would dress as and pretend to be peasants), the Avoca Handweavers store at Moll's Gap, the Cliffs of Moher, the Aran Islands, as well as several other very touristy stops, all of which were great fun. But it was some of the other places we visited that made us feel like we were ...