New Year's Holiday in Dublin

December 28, 2008- January 3, 2009
sponsored by tdf




Join tdf’s New Year’s trip to exciting Dublin. This trip includes round-trip airfare, 5 nights accommodations, 2 theatre performances and a concert, breakfast daily, 2 dinners and 3 lunches including a festive New Year’s Eve.  



Céad Míle Fáilte – A hundred thousand welcomes to Ireland’s capital city, steeped in history and buzzing with vibrant energy.  Enjoy a New Year’s Eve holiday in the Irish capital where medieval, Georgian and modern architecture provide a backdrop to a friendly bustling port.  Both cosmopolitan and charming Dublin has a delightful diversity and the city has evolved in recent years into a thriving and vibrant European cultural center.  It is extremely welcoming, easily navigable on foot, and it richly rewards exploration.  We visit the capital’s many attractions, from the many museums to the famed Irish literary tradition.  We have tickets for performances at the Abbey Theatre and the Gate Theatre plus a New Year’s concert at the National Concert Hall.  On our fast paced five night trip, you’ll experience the hospitality and excitement which makes Dublin a city to remember






1.  Sunday, December 28     
We depart New York/JFK at 7:10pm on Delta Airlines, non-stop flight to Dublin.



2.  Monday, December 29     
We arrive at Dublin airport at 7:05am.  After clearing Irish immigration and customs, we meet our Irish tour guide and driver in the arrivals hall and travel by private motor coach for a panoramic tour of Dublin and lunch, before we check-in at the centrally located O’Callaghan Mont Clare Hotel on Merrion Square, one of the city’s most traditional hotels, once much frequented by the renowned Irish writer James Joyce during his early writing career.  It’s a gem ideally located in the heart of the city, surrounded by Ireland's premier shopping districts, a variety of restaurants and a host of museums, and major Dublin attractions such as Trinity College.  Tonight we enjoy a welcome dinner.  (Breakfast-in flight) (Lunch) (Dinner)



3.  Tuesday, December 30     
After breakfast at our hotel, we meet our guide and our coach for a city tour of Dublin.  Dublin is an elegant European capital, graced with splendid Georgian public buildings and private homes from the 1700s on both sides of the River Liffey.  We tour Dublin Castle and the State Apartments, once the seat of the British Administration in Ireland.  The State Apartments were the seat of the executive and the focus of a fashionable and extravagant social life.  Here the inaugurations of the Presidents of Ireland take place, as do other important State functions including State Banquets for visiting Heads of State.  Our tour also includes a visit to St.  Patrick's Cathedral, which was founded in 1190 and restored circa 1860.  Jonathan Swift was Dean here from 1713-1745.  After lunch (included) we visit The Dublin Writer's Museum which was established to promote interest in Irish literature as a whole and in the lives and works of individual Irish writers.  The writers featured in the Museum are those who have made an important contribution to Irish or international literature or, on a local level, to the literature of Dublin.  Subject to scheduling we tour backstage at the Abbey Theatre.  This evening we enjoy a performance at the Abbey Theatre.  Performance schedule will be announced in September.  (B) (L)



4.  Wednesday, December 31     
We visit The Irish Jewish Museum, located in a former Synagogue, with its original features.  The museum preserves memorabilia relating to Irish Jewry, displaying their important, though small, place in Ireland's cultural and historic heritage.  The collection includes photographs, paintings, certificates, books and artifacts concerning all aspects of Jewish life, covering the last 150 years of professional, commercial, artistic and social activity of the Jewish community.  It was opened in 1985 by Irish-born President of Israel, Chaim Herzog, and the museum also houses memorabilia relating to the Herzog family.    
 
We complete the morning with a visit to the Irish Museum of Modern Art.  The IMMA is Ireland's leading national institution for the collection and presentation of modern and contemporary art.  The Museum presents a wide variety of art in a dynamic program of exhibitions, which regularly includes bodies of work from its own Collection.  The Irish Museum of Modern Art is housed in the Royal Hospital Kilmainham, the finest 17th-century building in Ireland.  The Royal Hospital was founded in 1684 by James Butler, Duke of Ormonde and Viceroy to Charles II, as a home for retired soldiers and continued in that use for almost 250 years.  The style is based on Les Invalides in Paris with a formal facade and a large elegant courtyard.  The afternoon is free.  Tonight we enjoy a gala New Year’s special event.   (B) (D)  
 



5.  thursday, January 1     
After a relaxing morning we visit The National Gallery of Ireland which houses the national collection of Irish art as well as the collection of European master paintings.  It exhibits high quality works from the likes of Titian, Tintoretto, Goya, Monet, Degas and Picasso.  Tonight we have tickets for a concert at the National Concert Hall by the RTÉ (Radio Telefís Éireann) National Symphony Orchestra’s in its annual celebration of the New Year holiday.  (B)



6.  Friday, January 2     
This morning we take a walking tour of Dublin, visiting the renowned and beautiful Georgian squares, the public sculpture, the lovely buildings of Trinity College and the stately Bank of Ireland, originally designed to house the Irish Parliament.  The curving facade with its different orders and sculpture groups - ranks as one of Dublin's finest.  We then move on to the National Museum of Ireland, built in the 1880s to the design of Sir Thomas Deane.  Its domed rotunda features marble pillars and a zodiac mosaic floor.  The Treasury houses priceless items such as the Broighter gold boat.  Other permanent displays include Irish silver and glassware.  Tonight we have our farewell dinner and tickets for a performance at Dublin’s renowned Gate Theatre.  (B) (D)



7.  Saturday, January 3     
After breakfast we check out of our hotel and travel to the Dublin airport for our Delta Airlines non stop flight departing at 9:00am, arriving at Newark at 11:20am.  (B) (Lunch in flight)





This engaging experience includes:

  • Round trip transatlantic airfare on Delta Airlines: JFK-Dublin-JFK
  • 5 nights in the 4-star Mont Clare Hotel
  • Irish breakfast daily, 2 lunches
  • 3 dinners including: Welcome dinner, farewell dinner, New Years Eve special event
  • Gate Theatre and Abbey Theatre performances (subject to availability)
  • Entrances as per itinerary
  • Private motorcoach as per itinerary
  • Local tour escort for tours
  • Porterage of 1 piece of luggage
PROGRAM PRICES  
Per person (double occupancy) from New York: $2999  
Single Supplement: $550  
Air Taxes: $275