July 23 With our 25th year looming ahead, and with 229 custom-designed trips under our belt, 2014 looks to be the year that we will most likely fill our calendar completely by the end of 2013, as our repeat clients book their next tour usually while they are on their current one, or soon after. […]
Category Archives: Ireland Tours
Ireland Tours
You mean you actually will custom-design and lead a trip for just two people?
We get this question often at our retail store “European Focus Village” in the heart of Sarasota, Florida. The answer is, “Yes, all of the time!” In fact, more than half of the 10-15 trips we design and lead each season (March through October) are with repeat clients, couples, who have been completely spoiled by […]
Images from Ireland’s Beara Peninsula
(From a recent trip June 17 to 28 which included parts of Ireland, Edinburgh and London) We love Ireland. It’s such a fascinating island, full of beautiful sights, history and best of all, wonderful, warm people who truly like conversing with strangers and not just because their job requires it. Here are some images from […]
Tour Opportunities for October
March 5, 2012 European Focus founder and guide James Derheim is available during the beautiful month of October, a perfect time to explore most of central and southern Europe. October is prime season and is usually booked far in advance. The days are mild and the kids are all back in school with no major […]
When Ireland was south of the equator
We’ve seen many ancient sites in Ireland; monastic beehive huts from the fourth and fifth century, ruins of monasteries from the 14th and 15th centuries and the even older burial site of Newgrange, dating back to about 2,000 to 3,000 years before Christ. But the other day’s discovery on the windswept shores of Valentia Island, […]
Staying on a sheep farm in County Tipperary, Ireland
We love our visits to grand and gracious Dualla House just outside of Cashel, Tipperary, Ireland because it means we get to see working sheep dogs herding the thousand or so sheep which graze on green pastures around the grand Georgian farmhouse where we sleep. Mairead and Martin Power are the most accommodating of hosts. […]
Trinity College Dublin Guided Tours Great Way to Experience History
Downtown Dublin’s Trinity College campus sprawls over more than 44 acres of prime real estate. But, the casual visitor only sees about twenty square feet of this space, and that is what is surrounding the famous “Book of Kells,” kept in the campus library near the main entrance just off of Grafton Street. When entering […]
Welcome new arrivals to Ireland
Jim and Betsy Cooke arrived in Dublin on October 8 to begin their 8-day tour in Ireland with European Focus. This is Jim and Betsy’s second tour with us since their first in the fall of 2008, which took place in Germany. After their early arrival at Dublin’s International Airport, the morning was spent on […]