Galway

Our plan for today was to take a ferry to Inishmore, one of the Aran Islands, to see Dún Aenghus, a 2,000-year-old Iron Age fort. From Rick Steves' Best of Ireland: The stone fortress hangs spectacularly and precariously on the edge of a cliff 200 feet above the Atlantic. Its concentric walls are 13 feet thick and 10 feet high. As an added defense, the fort is ringed with a commotion of spiky stones, sticking up like lances, called chevaux-de-frise (literally, “Frisian horses,” named for the Frisian soldiers who used pikes to stop charging cavalry). Slowly, as the cliff erodes, hunks of the fort fall into the sea.

 

However our plans had to change a bit when Ophelia came to town.

 

 

The waves and the wind were very enthusiastic!

 

 

 

 

Almost all schools, shops, and restaurants were closed for the day and no ferries or buses were running. We basically spent the day in the hotel but our guide, Dara, arranged for some excellent Irish music after dinner.

 

 

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Adare, Moher & the Burren

Our first stop today was the little town of Adare. It is known for its thatched cottages.

 

 

We also paid a brief visit to the Trinitarian Monastery. According to Wikipedia: The Trinitarian Order established their only monastery in Ireland in Adare in 1230. It is believed that the Trinitarian monks who came to Adare may have come from Scotland. The Abbey was restored in 1811 by the first Earl of Dunraven as the Catholic Parish church.

 

 

 

 

 

Next we stopped at the Cliffs of Moher. Pretty spectacular.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our last stop on the way to Galway was at The Burren. This name is generally applied to the limestone uplands of north western County Clare.

 

 

 

 

 

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Dingle

Today was a free day in Dingle. It's a peaceful town with lots of colorful buildings and interesting pubs. The courthouse (1832) is open one hour a month and the judge does his best to wrap up business within a half hour.

 

 

 

 

 

Like many Irish pubs, two traditional ones in town were originally shops by day and pubs by night. Decades ago, small-town pubs often also served as the town morgue (because they had the only large refrigerated space in town). Ó Curráin’s is a small clothing shop by day, the left side is clothing ...

 

 

... and the right side is drink.

 

 

Foxy John's, just across the street, is a hardware shop by day and a pub at night.

 

 

 

This is the back room.

 

 

And a brief article about the pub.

 

 

This is the music shop in town. It is owned by our guide and his father.

 

 

St. Joseph’s Convent in Dingle contains a beautiful Neo-Gothic chapel built in 1884. In 1922 the chapel acquired 12 Art Nouveau-style stained glass windows—the work of Ireland’s top stained-glass man, Harry Clark.

 

 

They are filled with tons of beautiful patterns. Below are some examples.

 

 

 

This is the altar area.

 

 

 

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Dingle Peninsula

On the schedule for today was the 30 mile (47 km) Dingle Peninsula loop drive around Slea Head. It is a narrow, twisting road that weaves its way around the sharp cliff faces and past the high glacial lakes. There are spectacular views of the Atlantic Ocean below.

 

The Blasket Islands lie off the west coast. They are famous for the literary and linguistic heritage of the former inhabitants. However, these remote islands have been uninhabited since the 1950s following an evacuation.

 

This is a postcard of the view.

 

 

This is what we saw.

 

 

Along the way we stopped in to watch a glass cutting artist who creates beautiful cut crystal objects.

 

 

 

We also visited the Gallarus Oratory.

 

 

 

This is what it looks like on the inside.

 

 

This is the countryside around the oratory.

 

 

While we weren't very lucky with the weather this weekend we were lucky to have the Dingle Music Fest going on Friday and Saturday. In addition to a concert both nights there were musical groups in a number of the pubs during the day.

 

 

 

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Killarney National Park

On our way from Kinsale to Dingle we drove through the Killarney National Park. In 1932 Muckross House was presented by William Bowers Bourn and Arthur Rose Vincent to the Irish nation. It thus became the first National Park in the Irish Free State (now Republic of Ireland) and formed the basis of the present day Killarney National Park [Wikipedia].

 

 

 

The grounds of Muckross.

 

 

 

We also stopped at Kenmare to see the stone circle there.

 

 

 

This is a wee bit of the countryside.

 

 

A cafe we stopped at had this cute fellow hanging on the wall.

 

 

This is our guide Dara modeling his new wool hat.

 

 

This bathroom scale was in our hotel room. If it looks a bit odd to you it is because it measures weight in stones (1 stone = 14 pounds) and kilograms (1 kilogram = 2.2 pounds). You need to be good at math to be able to determine your weight here!

 

 

 

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