♪ -I'm in a destination that is absolutely enchanting.

♪ It's known for its historic castles and charming towns of thatched cottages.

♪ But I'm here to discover what is not known, like how an ancient landscape still reaches out to us today... -Ha!

-...and inspires everything from conservation to more contemporary design.

♪ It's a place known for its passion towards sustainability.

And so I'll be taking you to tucked-away places where it's bottled to roadside taverns where it's deliciously smoked.

-Prepare to die!

-That is, if I can shake this guy.

-[ Laughs ] -I'm in Limerick and County Clare, Ireland.

♪ I'm Samantha Brown, and I've traveled all over this world.

And I'm always looking to find the destinations, the experiences, and, most importantly, the people who make us feel like we're really a part of a place.

That's why I have a love of travel and why these are my places to love.

Samantha Brown's "Places to Love" is made possible by... -Exploring the world for over 150 years.

Guests cruise to nearly 400 ports of call around the globe, exploring over 100 countries.

Live music at sea fills each evening.

Dining venues feature selections from a Culinary Council of chefs.

Offering mid-sized ship experiences with handcrafted itineraries, personal service, and connections to the destinations guests visit.

-The endless deserts, canyons, and stunning vistas between Denver and Moab deserve to be traveled.

Rocky Mountaineer.

Proud sponsor of "Places to Love."

-The world is full of breathtaking destinations and experiences.

AAA wants to help turn vacation dreams into reality.

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Learn more at AAA.com/LIVETV.

♪ ♪ ♪ -Limerick is the third-largest city in Ireland.

It's older than the city of London.

It sits along the famous Shannon River, and that's where you'll find me, at one of its most iconic buildings, King John's Castle, where anyone can learn how to be a little more "on guard."

[ Trumpet fanfare ] ♪ -So, with your left leg forward and your right leg back, make a sort of an L-shape.

So see that?

So it's not directly behind me.

As you extend your hand out to cuff... -Mm-hmm.

-...you're already in line with your opponent's neck.

-So we want to be comfortable before we slice someone in half.

-Exactly.

Your second primary guard, then, is a position called Pflug.

-Pflug.

-Like you're holding a plow.

Have you ever held a plow?

-I have not.

-Me neither.

There's not a lot of farming in Brooklyn, is there?

-No, there's not.

-And then we'll... -I'm learning new moves and new expressions.

-You lean in underneath his legs to slice off his [indistinct] make a jester out of him.

-[ Laughs ] -Maybe that bit will be cut.

-No, no, no.

Well, yeah, actually, yeah, cut -- Not a good word on this one.

-Cut, not a good word, yeah.

Aaaah-ha!

-So the fact that we're standing in a castle right now, and behind it is the third- largest city in all of Ireland behind it means that this castle was successful.

-The fact that the only bit of the castle we lost is the fourth tower wall is very impressive, considering, of the hundreds of castles across Ireland, most of them are in ruin.

The castle has such a rich and dynamic history, and truly one of the most important venues here in Ireland.

So much history, so much to be proud about.

I'm Michael Casey.

I'm the castle historian and the court jester here at King John's Castle.

-This was a very strategic place to put a castle.

-Oh, most definitely.

From the very top tower, you'll see hills and mountains in the distance.

Each hill and mountain is actually in a different county in Munster.

So from one spot, you could see the whole county.

Also, being right here by the river, perfect to dock boats.

So there would have been a lot of trade here in the city -- spices from India, Spain, the likes, fabrics from all across the world, as well.

-The castle has round towers which deflected arrows, and later, square walls were built as they deflected cannonballs better.

So as the weaponry changed, so did the shape of the castle.

-It had to.

It had to in order to survive.

And that's why so many castles across Ireland and Europe in general are in ruin, because they never adapted.

Whereas King John's was all about adapting, was all about constantly upgrading.

And it's actually one of the only castles in the world that has constantly been in use from its building.

Been standing 800 years.

I'm sure it will stand for 800 more, as well.

♪ -I always come to Ireland with an empty suitcase, which I plan on filling here.

[ Door bells jingle ] Made in Limerick is an arts and crafts co-operative featuring the handmade products of local artisans.

-I can put whatever colors I want to put together.

I can decide on the pattern, the stitch technique.

I love the fact that what I create then is very individual to me as a designer.

-And when you say you're the designer, then you're not necessarily the weaver.

-No, I am.

My business is just me, and so I would come up with my ideas from a design, then I program it into a CAD software, and then that's transferred to the knitting machine.

And then the knitting machine does its magic.

-So this is a whole-new way of really visualizing a piece and bringing it forth, because we are so used to seeing the traditional massive weaving machines.

-Initially, when I started out the business, I was working on hand flats, which are a domestic knitting machine, which would have been around since your mom, my mom.

-I do love a good Irish knit sweater, but Linda's knits are made with a wool and cashmere blend.

-It's washed then just to remove the oils and to -- it just fluffs up the fabric and it makes it beautiful to wear.

I like to think that I sort of cross the bridge between something that's sustainable and sort of traditional, but much more contemporary and fun and quirky and that gives people some joy.

-Clair Jones is a ceramicist at Made in Limerick, and her inspiration goes back thousands of years.

-All my designs are inspired by the ancient pottery that was found in Lough Gur, which is where I'm from.

So there's been shards of old pottery found down there with this type of design on it.

So I kind of took inspiration from that.

And I actually -- I loved that idea of ancient peoples probably living in terrible conditions, you know, but it was important to them to sit down and decorate the everyday objects they used.

And that's kind of where I took it with my own work.

-With Lough Gur, what is it like in terms of a landscape?

-I know I'm biased, but it's magical.

But it's just a beautiful horseshoe-shaped lake.

It's surrounded by hills around us.

And there's elements of every era of history out there.

It's just very important place, historically.

♪ -Wherever you look, you're going to see people and the relationship with stone and how they've used stone to build and how to live.

And, I mean, all the rocks and fields, they tend to tell stories, you know?

So, I mean, there's -- there are very few fields here without something going on.

I mean, stone's played a massive role in all our lives around here for millennia, I suppose, you know?

I'm Brian Collopy.

I'm the operations supervisor at Lough Gur Developments.

So, around Lough Gur, the past is ever present.

You can always feel it as you walk through the fields, as you put your hands on stones.

And then, in turn, I get to share that with visitors from near and far, and that truly is a joy.

-There has to be an alignment to something, right?

Is it a line to any sort of celestial happening?

-There is.

Of course, yeah.

So, the alignment that we conclusively know about is if you look directly in front of us, you can see there these stones.

So the setting sun of Halloween, or Samhain in Irish, is captured between the two of those there, and that alignment is still there, again, 4,500, 5,000 years after its initial construction phase.

-I would have packed my Princess Leia costume if I had known that this was a Halloween circle.

That changes everything.

-Would've been first Princess Leia here, I think.

-But one thing that I'm really amazed by is just the space within the circle.

Does that give us a sense of how many people would have been here?

-The number of stones, the weight of the stones suggests that hundreds of people are involved in the construction.

And then, equally, you don't build a space this big for 20 people.

Obviously, a lot of people are coming here.

It's not a burial site, it's not a domestic site, it's not a defensive site, and it's not an agricultural site.

So to me, this looks like an amphitheater.

-And the stones are still revealing their mysteries.

Less than a month before I arrived, there was a major archeological discovery.

-Hitherto, we believed that these stones were put in place about 4,500 years ago.

Yet now we have a stone that seems to have Neolithic markings, which would make it more than 5,000 years old.

So the questions at the moment are, is the stone a Neolithic stone later put into the circle, or is it that the stones themselves are all Neolithic in origin?

-What would it mean?

Do we know?

-We don't.

We're looking at something... A person carved this on this stone 5,000 summers ago, and then we've had 5,000, you know, Irish winters raining on it.

So, it's only the second example of this in the province of Munster.

So it's an incredibly rare find, you know.

-So 5,000 years later, the people are still giving us clues.

-Exactly.

Yeah.

100%, yeah.

♪ -There are a few sports that are absolutely a part of Ireland and its soul, and that's Gaelic football and then hurling.

[ Crowd cheering ] No, not curling -- hurling.

This mash-up of soccer, lacrosse, and hockey actually predates all of them, going back centuries of Irish history.

And I'm getting my first look at it from members of the Limerick Senior Hurling Team, who are the current hurling champions in Ireland.

-I suppose every town, village, city you go to, there's probably a pub, hurling fields, and a post office.

-That's where it fits into the importance.

-Yeah, it's kind of everything you'd like to know.

-Give me the idea of how you play the sport and what the goal is.

-So, just trying to score.

It's the team that gets the most points.

-Okay.

And the way they do that is to hit the ball, which is called a sliotar, with a wooden bat called a hurley and get it up and down the field as fast as they can.

That's right -- 28 players running with sticks.

If I'm passing it to you, Seán, you're my teammate... -If you pass me the ball, I can... -Yeah, yeah.

-...give an example.

-Yeah.

-[ Speaking indistinctly ] -No.

What?

What?!

Oh, my gosh.

-Well, you can do it that way, of course.

-Okay.

Okay.

-He's close enough for it.

-[ Gasps ] You're essentially taking that ball, whacking it in the air past heads, past about 15 other people.

-Yeah.

-Do you wear helmets?

-Yeah.

-We do wear them.

-Okay.

Alright.

-Yeah.

-Not always, did you, though?

-No.

It changed.

♪ -And this is your first time picking up a hurley?

-Yes.

-Okay.

It is the fastest team sport... -Easy, there.

-...in the world, isn't it?

-Unfortunately, for a lot of Americans, this is the first time they're going to be seeing this sport, and I'm going to be slowing it down considerably.

♪ [ Laughter ] -What a catch.

-Each team has a goal.

-Mm-hmm.

-So you have a goalkeeper that'll be in each goal as well, trying to protect the net, I suppose, like hockey.

You get three points for a goal, and if it goes over the crossbar, it's a point then, as well.

-Oh, okay.

Okay.

So you are trying to get into it.

-Yeah.

You're trying to accumulate as many points as you can.

-Oh-ho!

That is straight on.

-That's worth points, right?

-Yeah, yeah, left to right.

-Great coaching.

Great coaching.

You know, you might not want to hit right to the goalie.

Very good.

[ Laughs ] -I'm starting to feel a little under pressure here.

-Yeah.

[ Laughter ] ♪ The village of Adare is one of those places you see once in a photo and commit yourself to seeing in person one day.

Founded in the 13th century, Adare is a true beauty with its main street of thatched-roof cottages, as well as a phenomenal residence, Adare Manor, now a luxury hotel.

It was originally built for the Earl of Dunraven, and it's known as a calendar house.

Why?

Because it has 365 windows, 52 chimneys, 7 stone pillars, and 4 towers for the seasons in a year.

♪ I'm enjoying one of the most luxurious of afternoon teas, with exquisite pastries, and I might have swapped out the tea for a botanical gin and tonic.

This stunning gallery is almost the longest hall in Ireland, second only to Trinity College Dublin, where I'm sure they don't serve anything as good as this.

This hotel has all, well, "manner" of activities and attractions, including a full 18-hole championship golf course, fishing excursions on a beautiful river that flows right through the property.

I never catch anything, but that's okay.

I don't mind.

I think that's sort of the point.

-That's why it's called fishing, not catching.

[ Both laugh ] -But it also features something wilder.

[ Bird caws ] -So this is Cal.

-Cal?

-And Cal is a falcon.

-Okay.

Female?

Male?

Does it matter?

-Oh, he's a male.

-Okay.

[ Gasps ] -And what you're holding here is officially the fastest animal on the planet.

-Is that right?

How fast?

-Absolutely.

The fastest peregrine falcon on record was clocked in at an incredible 242 miles per hour.

-It's a Formula 1 race car.

-Absolutely.

-From the fastest raptor, we go to the cutest.

Oh-ho-ho!

-Come and say hi, then.

-What are you doing to me, Liam?

-It's Tiny.

-What are you doing?

-I know.

Cuteness overload.

-I have a husband.

I have kids.

I can't stay here with this owl for the rest of my life like I want to.

-Absolutely.

-Oh, my gosh.

[ Laughing ] You are the most beautiful thing I've ever seen.

-Her name is Tiny.

-Tiny.

-Tiny is a northern white-faced owl.

And this is a species totally indigenous to Africa.

-Wow!

-As small as she is, it's actually 12 years old.

In the wild, if they are fortunate enough to make it out of the first year -- which, typically, about 75% would not be that fortunate -- average life expectancy typically in the range of about four to six years.

So she's already doing pretty good for herself here.

-Gosh.

So they're quite vulnerable.

-They really are.

And that is our ultimate goal here, to help raise awareness about these animals with regard to their conservation statuses and just also to help people gain a greater understanding of these animals.

[ Bird caws ] Now, this is Amber.

And Amber is a great grey owl.

-Oh, my gosh.

Oh!

-So Amber would be four years of age.

And this is one of the biggest species of owl in the world.

So for owls, their hearing is their primary hunting tool.

Whereas with the rest of the birds here -- the falcons, the hawks, the eagles -- their vision is their primary hunting tool.

-Oh.

-Now an owl's hearing is so good that it is literally like a superpower.

-Mm-hmm.

-From up to 90 meters away, which is a full football field, she'd potentially hear a mouse foraging in high grass looking for food.

-Oh.

[ Laughs ] -And not only can she hear it, she has the ability to pinpoint precisely where it is.

So, auricular feathers are designed to guide the sound towards the outer rim, all the while amplifying it for the bird.

-What you do is actually really important for the understanding and the conservation of these animals.

-Oh, absolutely.

And again, that is one of our primary goals here, just to help raise awareness about conservation with these animals.

You can never know too much about these birds.

-No, you can't.

♪ The Burren is a magical place.

A place that, as a traveler, you don't really arrive at, but descend into, and you come into this space that is magical, and it just feels ancient.

-And it also holds 70% of the diversity -- of Ireland's diversity of flowers, of moths and butterflies, of animals.

So although it looks quite lunar and sort of gray on the outside, if you just walk in it and you see all the little beautiful details and the orchids and the flowers, it's really magical.

-And so your inspiration is to literally stop and smell the flowers in your perfumes.

-All the products that we make, and especially all the perfumes, are very much inspired by -- it might be one plant or it might be several plants, or it might just be the atmosphere in the springtime or in the summer.

I am Sadie Chowen, and I am the owner and the perfumer at the Burren Perfumery.

For me, perfume is like an invisible friend that is with you at all times.

This is my workshop.

This is my area where I'm experimenting and fine-tuning perfumes and coming up with new ideas.

Perfume-making is part science and part art.

-And this might not be it for you, right?

-No, no, no.

No.

-But this will be able -- This is the recipe that you'll go back and like, "Mm, maybe a little more of this."

-This is just one trial -- one direction, if you like.

-Mm-hmm.

-It's a bit like creating music or painting a picture.

You bring different facets to different things, and so you create a harmony from all the different ingredients.

So each of our perfumes would have maybe 40 or 50 different ingredients in it.

-And you are the conductor.

-And I am the conductor, yeah.

-It's hard to overstate how committed they are to the term "handmade on premises."

It's made, bottled, and packaged on site.

This is truly a cottage industry.

-Sustainability is really important to us, so all the packaging is from recycled paper.

Everything that comes on site is recycled, whether it's the glass or the cardboard or the organic waste from the tea rooms.

And we really do our best to have a light footprint, because where we work and live is environmentally very sensitive and a very beautiful area.

We've made a conscious decision over the many years that we've owned and worked here not to let it grow too big, but to concentrate on quality and the warm welcome and the beautiful products that we make just to keep it just as it is, like a little oasis.

-The Burren is close to the Wild Atlantic Way.

I'm stopping off at the Roadside Tavern, quite literally, which has been owned by the Curtin family for 150 years.

I'm joining Birgitta Curtin for a perfect lunch of organic smoked salmon.

And Birgitta doesn't just offer the salmon on the menu, she makes it.

♪ Incredible care goes into the production of food in The Burren.

-All of the salmon is farm raised on the west coast of Ireland, is organically certified.

The organic criteria is stocking densities.

So it has to be 1% fish, 99% water, so the extremely huge space for the salmon to swim around in.

-Even the fish food is a sustainable source of salmon, which means high concentrations of the omega-3s we all want.

-There is the one for the brains, you know, for the skin, for the hair, for the -- you know, for all your sys-- your heart.

-Yeah.

I'm just getting smarter standing by all this salmon.

-Absolutely.

We fillet it and then we salt it for three and a half hours.

So the salting is to kind of open up the cells, allow the smoke to come in.

It's a preservative and it also gives a flavor.

-The salmon is layered to maximize the amount of contact with the salt.

-All the ingredients, as much as we can, needs to be organic.

-And the salt is organic, too.

-The salmon is then put in the dryer for eight hours prior to being smoked.

-Yeah, it's a long, slow process.

It needs to have a dry surface.

And then once you have that dry surface, the smoke will go in and infuse into the salmon.

-In Ireland, when something's boring in these parts, do they say it's like watching salmon drying?

-[ Laughs ] Of course!

How did you know?

-Then it's time to smoke -- in the back room.

-We believe smoking is an art and a craft.

It's not -- This is not a mass production.

-Every 20 minutes for 8 hours, a scoop of oak shavings is added for the real taste.

And is it just one scoop?

-Yeah.

Leave it like that, because I'll do one more, and... ♪ So that's done for the next 20 minutes.

-20 minutes.

Which gave Birgitta and me just enough time for that lovely lunch.

The Shannon is the longest river in all of Ireland.

And while rivers always play an important role in history, the Shannon may have the most unexpected.

It was the runway to land the first transatlantic flights originating from New York City.

Yes, I did say "runway," as those first flights were actually flying boats.

Helen, is this an actual B-314 or a model?

-It's a replica.

Yes, a model.

We got the plans from Boeing.

You see, they only ever made 12 of them.

They're all gone.

There are none left.

And in actual fact, this is the only replica of 314 in the world.

♪ -The full replica of the B-314 Yankee Clipper is the centerpiece of the Foynes Flying Boat & Maritime Museum, which tells the fascinating history of the first passenger flights across the Atlantic.

Can you imagine what this must have been like in 1937?

Oh, my goodness!

I spend almost, like, half my life on a plane, and I recognize none of this.

-This is the dining room.

Linen tablecloths, crystal glassware.

And in this room, we were served a seven-course meal.

-Oh, my goodness.

So when you boarded this flight, you were ready for a luxury experience.

-Oh, certainly, you were, yes.

But it was very expensive, you know.

-How expensive?

-Well, for a one-way ticket, $337, which would be the equivalent of $10,000 for a one-way ticket in today's money.

-There's a tiny kitchen where two stewards would have been cooking and serving from.

-The two little ovens worked by steam from the engines.

-[ Laughs ] The flight would take 18 to 20 hours.

And upstairs was the crew area, where nine people helped fly the plane.

That included four pilots, two engineers, two radio officers, and one navigator.

What really captivates you about being in the Yankee Clipper?

What really speaks to you?

-Oh, it must be the space and the luxury and the seven-course meal and the grandeur of it.

-How comfortable was it?

-Well, maybe not as comfortable as we'd like to think.

They were cold.

They were bumpy.

-Oh, I didn't even think about that.

-You see, they weren't pressurized.

They flew under the weather.

-Oh, my gosh.

-So weather was a big factor.

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

-So they got knocked around?

-Oh, certainly.

-Would you have done this?

-No.

[ Both laugh ] I don't think so.

I know too much about them now.

♪ -The joy of visiting Limerick, I suppose, or visiting Ireland as a whole, is we got very friendly people.

Our food culture has vastly improved in recent years.

In places like Limerick, the entire story of Ireland can be explored within a very small area.

Every age and historical record is firmly attested to in Limerick.

It's all happened here.

There's no blank spots in the canvas of Ireland's rich tapestry of a story.

-Do come to the Burren.

It's such a unique, special place.

And what we hope for our visitors is that they find a wonderful oasis where they can stop for a moment, take time to look at the flowers, smell the perfumes, talk to all our lovely staff, and just be here.

-It doesn't matter what you like, Limerick has all of it.

We have so much history, so much geography, such a large Irish culture here in Limerick, as well.

There truly is something for everyone here at Limerick.

-Oh!

One point!

-One point?

That's all right.

-It's Ireland.

It's brilliant.

-When the ancient and traditional are a bridge to the modern, when a rocky place reminds us to take it slow, when every era of history reveals life's brilliance -- That is when we share a love of travel.

And that's why Limerick and County Clare, Ireland, are places to love.

-For more information about this and other episodes, destination guides, or links to follow me on social media, log on to placestolove.com.

Samantha Brown's "Places to Love" was made possible by... ♪ ♪ ♪ -The world is full of breathtaking destinations and experiences.

AAA wants to help turn vacation dreams into reality.

Wherever you want to go, AAA has services to help you before, during, and after your trip.

Learn more at AAA.com/LIVETV.

-The endless deserts, canyons, and stunning vistas between Denver and Moab deserve to be traveled.

Rocky Mountaineer.

Proud sponsor of "Places to Love."

-Exploring the world for over 150 years.

Guests cruise to nearly 400 ports of call around the globe, exploring over 100 countries.

Live music at sea fills each evening.

Dining venues feature selections from a Culinary Council of chefs.

Offering mid-sized ship experiences with handcrafted itineraries, personal service, and connections to the destinations guests visit.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪