MICHAEL: Hello and welcome to Ireland with Michael.

I'm Michael Londra and in this show, I get to tell you everything I love about my home country the best way I know how, through music.

Today, we're on the coast of Connemara, and behind me are some of the more than 500 islands that surround Ireland.

Most of the islands are pristine as ever because they're uninhabited.

The views into the silver sea are galánta - that means gorgeous - and hikers tell me even more amazing if you climb the twelve mountain peaks here, or, as we call them, the Twelve Bens.

But, as you'll see, even at sea level, when you make your way onto an island and look back, it is glè mhath - that means really good.

♪ ANNOUNCER: Ireland with Michael is made possible by- ♪ ANNOUNCER: The music, the folklore, and the hospitality.

It's all in Ireland.

ANNOUNCER: Since 1932, CIE Tours has welcomed travelers to discover Ireland's rolling green landscapes, cherished traditions, and Irish hospitality, creating memories that last a lifetime.

CIE Tours, where every journey becomes a story.

♪ MICHAEL: There are so many castles to see in Ireland, but not too many where you can spend the night.

This is Abbeyglen Castle.

Built in 1832 for a wealthy landowner, it later was purchased by a church to use as an orphanage.

But, when the church could no longer pay the upkeep, the Abbeyglen was abandoned.

It became derelict.

Sheep and cattle wandered the ruins.

But, in the 1960s, it was lovingly restored by the Hughes family, and today, the Abbeyglen is a hotel with a history.

(water splashing) ♪ ♪ Brian, we're in season six of Ireland with Michael now.

I'm not sure that I've met a man who had a castle all to himself.

How does it feel?

BRIAN: Well, I actually work for the bank, Michael, yeah.

MICHAEL: Oh, (laughs) so the bank owns it.

I guess I can guess the joys of- of having this beautiful building.

What are the difficulties of- of the upkeep of a castle?

BRIAN: Well, it's never, ever boring because there's always, you know, I always say the hotel only ever leaks when it's raining, for example, you know.

And there's always a leak everywhere.

It's either the- in a bathroom or in a ceiling or on a roof or floor.

So it's always ongoing.

MICHAEL: So, you're in the heart of Connemara.

How- if I stay here, what can I do?

Aside from enjoy the castle.

BRIAN: You know, the magic thing about Abbeyglen, where we are now, you can walk into town in five or ten minutes.

MICHAEL: I love that.

BRIAN: And when you get there, leave your car there, you can walk around the village.

There's an abundance of beautiful cafés, galleries, restaurants, bars.

But things to do?

Go up our drive and turn left, you're on the Sky Road.

And that road does exactly what it says on the tin, it goes into the sky.

When you get to the very top of that road, you come to this amazing elevated platform.

We've got a bird's-eye spectacular view advantage of our Wild Atlantic coastline.

You can see our local lighthouse, which is called Slyne Head.

But, on a really good day like today, if you do look hard enough, you know, when the Sun is shining and the skies are blue, you can actually see the very top of the Statue of Liberty.

So it's better worth going up there for a quick look.

MICHAEL: By any chance, are you Irish?

BRIAN: (laughs) No.

I don't know.

MICHAEL: All right, Brian, now I get to be the guy who's led around by the owner of the castle.

I want to see this beautiful building.

BRIAN: Well, I would be honored and delighted to show it to you.

MICHAEL: Well, I look forward to it, sir.

BRIAN: Amazing.

Let's go for it.

♪ MICHAEL: Brian, there are not too many hotel rooms in Ireland that have an actual turret leading from them to give you the most spectacular view that you will ever see.

I mean, this view alone is worth the stay in the castle, right?

BRIAN: Absolutely.

And this is the classic view of Clifton.

Whenever you see a postcard of Clifton or Connemara, they'll always have that picture.

It's the image.

I call it the alpine-like village of Connemara.

♪ MICHAEL: So, Brian, this is your great, fantastic, and quite historic Hall of Fame.

Tell us about it.

BRIAN: Well, a wall like this kind of pre-dates Facebook and Instagram.

We used to actually print pictures and stick them on the wall there.

But, over the years, you'd see people like Ed Harris, Christopher Plummer, Peter O'Toole, Bill Clinton.

Yeah, there's the great Bill Murray.

I always remember coming home one morning to my mother for breakfast and I said to her, you know, "Did you know Prince Rainier died last night?"

And she says, "I remember himself and Grace Kelly staying in Abbeyglen in 1971."

And I said to her, "Where are the pictures?"

"Oh, we didn't have a camera back then.

It was a different era."

♪ MICHAEL: The overwhelming smell of turf, a peat fire, there is nothing like it.

It makes me think of my childhood, but it also makes me feel warm and wanting to stay here, mostly wanting to be sitting by that fire, drinking multiple whiskies and talking about absolute nothing for hours.

BRIAN: (laughs) Yes, we have no shortage of fireplaces.

And it's the smell of the turf, it just fills the hotel and the room full of atmosphere, you know.

I don't know if you know this, but when Marconi came here in 1902, he had endless supply of this brown stuff called turf.

So he had a free source of energy out here.

And he was burning up to like 200 tonnes of turf a day.

And, for that reason, with great generosity and kindness, he supplied all of Connemara and Clifton with electric light in a wholesale manner.

So this was the first town in Ireland to have electric light on that scale.

MICHAEL: A fair exchange.

BRIAN: Yeah, absolutely.

MICHAEL: I guess, when you come here, you just want to forget about all the nonsense outside.

What can you do in the castle?

Like, is it okay to wander around and learn about the history?

BRIAN: Absolutely.

There's a snooker room down there.

There's a tennis court outside the door.

There's a lovely walk from the hotel.

So- and- and- and- there's a black thing inside there called a piano.

And I call that the 'Abbeyglen Leisure Centre' because, every night, we got these spontaneous musical evenings every evening.

And it's very special, where Irish people love to come up and sing a song and tell a story.

And the lovely atmosphere.

MICHAEL: No piano this time, but definitely proof that us Irish love to sing.

Here's Leah Barniville with Ewan Cowley on guitar.

♪ I wish I was on yonder hill ♪ ♪ 'Tis there I'd sit and cry my fill ♪ ♪ 'Til every tear would turn a mill ♪ ♪ Is go dté tú, mo mhúirnín slán ♪ ♪ Siúil, siúil, siúil a rúin ♪ ♪ Siúil go sochair agus siúil go ciúin ♪ ♪ Siúil go doras agus éalaigh liom ♪ ♪ Is go dté tú, mo mhúirnín slán ♪ ♪ I'll sell my rod, I'll sell my reel ♪ ♪ I'll sell my only spinning wheel ♪ ♪ To buy my love a sword of steel ♪ ♪ Is go dté tu, mo mhúirnín slán ♪ ♪ Siúil, siúil, siúil a rúin ♪ ♪ Siúil go sochair agus siúil go ciúin ♪ ♪ Siúil go doras agus éalaigh liom ♪ ♪ Is go dté tú, mo mhúirnín slán ♪ ♪ Siúil, siúil, siúil a rúin ♪ ♪ Siúil go sochair agus siúil go ciúin ♪ ♪ Siúil go doras agus éalaigh liom ♪ ♪ Is go dté tú, mo mhúirnín slán ♪ ♪ MICHAEL: You've seen me in a kayak before, but rather than a river today, we're here on the Wild Atlantic Way in County Galway, and that means ocean tides.

The difference from low tide to high tide here is just shy of a remarkable 15 feet.

Low tide, as we have now, exposes the lovely sand, fun to squish your toes in.

But be forewarned, on the warmest of all days, the ocean temperatures hit only 55 degrees.

So, please, don't let me tip my kayak over.

If I do, I've got a plan.

I'm going to warm myself back up with a wee nip of Irish whiskey.

Yeah, when you say lovely now, we- we... I have been on boats many, many times in rivers and lakes all over Ireland.

However, I have never taken a kayak out into the Wild Atlantic.

And, today, God help you, you're going to teach me how to do it.

DANNY: Well, Michael, so, there is some similarities between going on the rivers and on different kinds of boats, but, in the sea, it is a little bit different.

So, it's quite a dynamic environment.

We're dealing with waves, wind, massive tides here in Ireland, as well.

So, when we're out there, we are going to be encountering some different factors.

Bit of wind when we go out there, we're going to have the wind in our face as we paddle out.

Then, when we're tired and we're coming back, we're going to have the wind with us, making our life a little bit easier.

MICHAEL: Are you telling me that I'm going to be tired before I even get out there?

DANNY: I am telling you.

You are going to be a little bit tired before you get out there, absolutely.

MICHAEL: Tell me where we are.

Look, obviously, you're looking back behind here.

In- in- there is a world where you could think you're on the Mediterranean, with the color of the sand and the color of the water.

It's a little cooler than the Mediterranean.

Where exactly are we on the Connemara coastline?

DANNY: Yes, so, we are on a really amazing stretch of coastline here in Connemara.

So, this is called Mannin Bay.

And so, Mannin Bay, it stretches from here all the way across to the other side of the bay and all the way up until a headland known as Slyne Head.

Yeah, so it encompasses a huge variety of different kind of landscapes.

So there's some cliffs, loads of amazing beaches.

MICHAEL: Nice.

DANNY: There's a really important, unique landscape here, as well, called machair.

And so, machair is like a grassy land that forms off the back of sand dunes.

And it's really unique to the west coast of Ireland and the northwest coast of Scotland.

You don't get it anywhere else in the world.

So, yeah, as we go out there, we'll see bits of that as well.

MICHAEL: Great.

So if I, you know, if anybody from North America wants to come along, anyone can do this, right?

Do you take all sorts of abilities and age groups?

Obviously, you're taking old fellas like me.

DANNY: Absolutely.

So, we- our age range is from 8 to 88, is what we say, okay?

MICHAEL: Okay.

DANNY: So we take a variety of people.

MICHAEL: So, how do I book this?

Where do I book this session with you?

DANNY: So, to book this session, you can visit our website at www.realadventures.ie/connemara MICHAEL: All right, Danny, it's time for you to take me out into the wilds of the Wild Atlantic.

Let's have a go.

DANNY: Let's do it.

Maintain the same grip.

Okay, then get your feet over.

Good.

MICHAEL: Oh, man, Danny, this is great.

It's a great feeling, like.

(gulls calling) That beach ahead of us is crazy beautiful.

Oh!

(gulls calling) ♪ Inisbofin is a hidden gem.

At five-and-a- half square miles, the population on the island is about 150.

And that's the point of traveling here.

Life is unrushed.

Nature and history take center stage.

This is the perfect retreat for adventurers and dreamers alike.

An island that invites you to look at ruins and then close your eyes to imagine bygone times that date back to the Bronze Age.

♪ Andrew, I'm on the island about two hours now, and I'm already starting to breathe a little slower.

Is that the case for everyone?

ANDREW: Absolutely, yeah.

It's the- it's the difference between life on the mainland and life on a- an island.

You park up your car on the mainland, you step on the ferry, suddenly you're in somebody else's hands, you're doing 10 miles an hour on the ferry, and that's preparing you for the slowdown transition from the mainland to the island.

It's exactly what you just described.

And I see people walking up the pier to me daily.

I'm going to collect the guests off the pier when the ferry arrives in.

(takes a deep breath) And that's literally what they do.

They breathe.

MICHAEL: So, they arrive in your hotel, right?

Let's say they're spending a couple of days here.

Like, what- what- how do you fill your days here?

Or do you have to fill your days here?

ANDREW: You arrive, you check in, you go out for a walk, you decide, do you know what?

I think I feel like going- pop in for a snack somewhere or a drink.

And then you decide, oh, maybe I'll go for a swim, or maybe I won't.

Maybe I'll just sit and read my book or I'll listen to the seagulls.

MICHAEL: Or listen to the lull of those waves.

I have to tell you, Andrew, you're losing me to the waves.

(Andrew laughs) (waves crash) If we translate the island name Inisbofin from Gaelic, it literally means Island of the White Cow.

The legend goes, two fishermen were lost in the fog and mist.

Confused, they ended up beaching their boat here.

Cold and wet, they lit a fire.

Magically, that broke the bad weather.

As the fog lifted, they spied an old woman driving a white cow down the beach.

Intrigued, they fixed their gaze as she inexplicably raised her hand and struck the cow.

And, as the story goes, both she and the cow instantly turned to stone.

The two becoming lasting beacons for all other fishermen who were ever to get lost as they neared, you've got this now, Inisbofin.

♪ Andrew, everywhere that you've taken us around the island looks a little bit different.

And it's all accessible.

So if I want to hike this island, I'm going to see something different around every corner.

Here we've got a lake that looks something like a lagoon.

Right ahead of us is the Atlantic Ocean.

There's hills, there's valleys.

ANDREW: This lake is famous for its swans.

So, right now, there are a few over there.

But, later in the autumn, there could be 70 or 80 swans on this lake.

It's stunning because all around the lake are various types of birds.

Some of them rare, some of them come in from America in a storm and they hang out here for a little while and then they move on.

It's like an inland lake, but it's on an island.

So you have the ocean there, and the ocean is the other side of it, as well.

Around the corner there you have what we call the mountains, but they're not really mountains, more like moors.

Lots of heather and loads of little nooks and crannies and, literally every corner you turn, every hill you walk around, another vista opens up.

MICHAEL: I saw on the boat earlier that a lot of people were ready for hiking.

They had their hiking boots and the walking sticks.

You get a lot of them, I suppose?

ANDREW: Absolutely, yeah.

It's one of the big things that people love to do out here because you're out in the fresh air.

I mean- when I mean fresh air... (takes a deep breath) It's as fresh as- MICHAEL: Yeah, I mean, you've got 4,000 miles of freshness coming at you here.

ANDREW: One- hundred percent, and there's an energy in it.

There's a clarity to the air.

And there's- you can feel the energy coming off the ocean and in the air and in the breeze.

There's always a little breeze.

There's always some little breeze reminding you that you're- you're on the edge.

I mean, on the edge of the- of the Atlantic.

And, like, there's nothing between us and America.

Just wide-open ocean.

♪ MICHAEL: The story of how a monastery wound up here on the remote island of Inisbofin begins with emotions that are still part of our everyday world.

A combination of ego and bullying.

Religious leaders could not agree on a fixed date to celebrate Easter.

The contentious debate was loud, ugly, and, eventually, an impasse.

That's when a group of Irish monks and thirty Englishmen announced they'd had enough.

They moved here, built a monastery, and celebrated Easter when they wanted: March 26th, rather than a floating date, which was the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox.

They had traded complications for simplicity, which still defines life on Inisbofin.

(indistinct chatter) ♪ Andrew, we have about 100 mutual friends.

I think 100 of those friends have told me to come to Inisbofin.

ANDREW: It is a place that musicians love to come to.

It's a bit like a busman's holiday for a lot of them.

♪ Whatever it is about the energy of the island and of the islanders, it draws people in.

And, first and foremost, it draws in the musicians, and they love it.

MICHAEL: It seems to me that right behind us is the hub, and that's your hub.

That's your hotel.

Tell us about it.

ANDREW: Well, it's where I was born and reared, so was my dad and my grandfather.

Not in the hotel, because, in those days, it was just an old house.

And my great- grandfather built it.

MICHAEL: It's- as well as a hotel, it is that infamous musical hub.

Why did that happen?

ANDREW: I have a history, I suppose you'd call it, in the music business.

I was involved with a few different bands.

They just like the idea of coming to- to visit me and say hello.

And, sure, while they're here, they're going to play a few tunes, and that's what happened.

And then they tell other people about it, and so on.

It's suddenly become a place where we have music seven nights a week in the middle of the summer.

From all of July and August, it's every single night.

MICHAEL: It's hopping.

ANDREW: All the time.

MICHAEL: Andrew is being a little more than modest here.

He actively promotes Irish musicians by bringing them out to the island and offering much welcome rehearsal space.

Here is the fantastic new Irish band CLADA perfecting their set.

♪ ♪ ♪ We are a world away from the mainland on the island of Inisbofin in Murray's Yard.

I have been stalking ye as a band for the past year.

I think you're fantastic.

Tell me, how did CLADA start?

SAM: I wanted to put a band together for a long time.

And, to be honest, these are four of my best friends, so why not be in a band with your best friends?

MICHAEL: Cool.

Is everyone from the same place, or how did it happen?

SAM: We have three Galway, one Tipperary, and one Sligo.

MICHAEL: Great.

And now ye- ye decided to leave the man- mainland and come out here to the wilds of Inisbofin.

SAM: That's right.

MICHAEL: Why- why would you do that?

SAM: For a bit of peace and quiet, put together a nice setlist for the summer.

MICHAEL: Oh, very good.

So, is this a place that you come out to just to kind of switch off?

SAM: Switch off and take some time to ourselves and really lock in on the music.

♪ ♪ ♪ MICHAEL: Tell me about the music because the reason that I'm drawn into ye is that ye take trad - traditional music - and ye elevate it.

I mean, really elevate it.

You've taken it to another place, and I am so excited that you're taking tradition and moving it forward while still nodding back to where it came from.

SAM: Yeah, that's kind of the aim with CLADA.

We want to keep the old Irish roots, bring a bit of youth to it.

Have you ever heard of EDM?

MICHAEL: I mean, I have, because I'm cool and hip for an old geezer, (all laugh) but EDM, electronic dance music.

SAM: Yeah, so we coined the term Irish dance music.

MICHAEL: IDM.

SAM: IDM.

MICHAEL: So what's the idea here, that you just take like jigs, reels and elevate it with what?

SAM: With what?

A bass guitar and a drum kit.

MICHAEL: Wow, and some- some kind of trancey- trancey vibes underneath it?

SAM: Oh yeah.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ MICHAEL: Thanks for joining me on my travels around coastal Connemara.

I'm Michael Londra and I hope to see you next time on Ireland with Michael.

But, for now, cheers.

Sláinte.

ANNOUNCER: Want to continue your travels to Ireland?

Your choice of the Ireland with Michael DVD, Seasons 1 and 2 or Seasons 3 and 4, with bonus concert footage is available for $30.

Ireland with Michael, a musical journey CD with songs from Michael and his guest artists, is available for $20.

The Ireland with Michael companion travel book, featuring places to visit as seen in all seasons, is also available for $30.

This offer is made by Wexford House.

Shipping and handling is not included.

MICHAEL: To learn more about everything you've seen in this episode, go to IrelandWithMichael.com.

ANNOUNCER: Ireland with Michael was made possible by- ♪ ANNOUNCER: The music, the folklore, and the hospitality.

It's all in Ireland.

ANNOUNCER: Since 1932, CIE Tours has welcomed travelers to discover Ireland's rolling green landscapes, cherished traditions, and Irish hospitality, creating memories that last a lifetime.

CIE Tours, where every journey becomes a story.

MICHAEL: Okay, put your hands up in the air!

Come on, let's get a-wavin'!

♪ In my heart, its rightful queen ♪ ♪ Ever loving ♪ Ever tender That's it!

♪ Ever true ♪ Like the Sun, your smile has shone ♪ Go on, Wexford!

♪ Gladdening all it glowed upon ♪ ♪ ♪