Connemara, The Burren & Cliffs of Moher

Thursday, September 13  Galway/Optional Connemara & Kylemore Abbey tour

 

After breakfast, the entire group journeyed through Connemara region of Galway.  Once home to more than two-million Irish, it still retains its regional heritage, as we ramble around its lakes, mountains, and bogs.

Bob & Mike in the Bog

 

A walk in the Bog

Diane and Phil 

Our first stop was to walk on and look at a blog.  Our guide told us that some bogs contained 2000 year-old bodies.  They cut the bog (which is not a renewable resource) and use it for burning/heating (peat).  We passed by the Connemara Giant statue.  Its inscription stated that “on this site absolutely nothing happened”!

Connemara Giant Statue

 

Rose &Bob at Kylemore Abbey

 

Kylemore Abbey

Bob made me add this--

 

 

Carolyn & Roy

Diane, Nancy, Rose, Carolyn in the back of the bus

 

We then visited the former Gothic mansion of Mitchell Henry, now home of Benedictine nuns and better known as Kylemore Abbey.  We wandered through the mansion and the Victorian gardens.  We could have spent more time there. 

Walking through the gardens

 

 

We then cruised  Killary Harbor, a fjord-like inlet.  We had a great lunch while cruising.  It was finished off with Irish Coffee or Irish Cream coffee.  It is nothing like what we have in America.  It is much better!! 

Boarding the ship

 

Vicki & Gary on the ship

 

What we learned today:  Our guide calls his wife “the leader of the opposition”.  If you live in Northern Ireland you call it Northern Ireland.  If you live in the Republic, you call it North of Ireland.  There are 10 million sheep and only 6.2 million people in Ireland.    Flashers on a car/bus are called “park anywhere flashers”.  The Famine was really a”great hunger” because there was food but the food was owned by the Lords and they wouldn’t give it to the people.  There were 8.2 million people prior to 1945.  During the famine, 1 million people died, 1 million people emigrated, and over the next 5 years, another 2 million people emigrated.  The Chaktau (sp?) indians helped the starving Irish by donating money to help feed them.

Typical house with stone fences

 

On the return to Galway, we traveled through the Inagh Valley to the coast seeing the deserted village of Clough Na Mara and discover a sense of hardship the Irish experienced in the 18th and 19th centuries.  Only shells of their homes remain.

Dinner in Galway

Jim, Phil, Diane, Rose, Bob, Nancy

 

Leg of Lamb

Nancy & Jim

 

Later, our bus driver John drove us to the city of Galway.  The city spans both sides of the River Corrib.  In the center of Eyre Square stands the Quincentennial Fountain, constructed in 1984 to mark the 500th anniversary of the Royal Charter granted by King Richard III that created Galway as an independent city-state.  Nearby are some of the oldest streets in Galway, narrow winding lanes that curve in and around old wooden buildings, often meandering off toward the Corrib and the docks.  Turn the corner and there is modern Galway.  Artists and musicians crowd the sidewalks and almost every pub seems to offer live music.  We ate at the Busker Brownes.  We had some fabulous food—and of course, pints!!

Friday, September 14  Galway/The Burren & Cliffs of Moher/Killarney

After breakfast, we departed Galway for Killarney.  On the way we discovered the intense natural beauty of Eire to the Burren and the Cliffs of Moher.  The Burren's name is derived from a Gaelic word meaning "stony place" and it is like no other place in Ireland.  Instead of peat bogs and pastures, there is a surreal moonscape full of huge limestone crags.

Green of Ireland

 

A diverse array of plant life, including wild orchids and rock rose, thrives here.  Alpine plants nestle in crevices beside temperate species.  The white, deeply crevassed limestone conceals "micro-environments" rich in potholes and hollows.  The ample rainfall and strange topography have resulted in a paradoxical profusion of artic and semi-tropical vegetation growing side by side.  The roads are narrow and windy, and scary.

 

 

Moonscape in Ireland

 

The majestic Cliffs of Moher are precipitous rock formations, towering nearly 700 feet above the crashing ocean surf at their highest point, that offer breathtaking panoramic views of Ireland's Atlantic coast.  These magnificent cliffs provide nesting sites for seabirds.  The wind was very strong today.  You could hardly walk, because a gust would blow you backwards.  It was mostly sunny, though, and the views were fantastic.  The visitors center was really great, with a virtual tour of the cliffs as seen by a bird. 

Cliffs of Moher

 

Bob windswept on the Mohers

 Over the centuries, people have also made their mark, with towers, quarries, and well-worn paths, but they're almost lost in the scale and grandeur of the sea cliffs.  One that does stand out is O'Brien's Tower, a huge structure built to house the guests of Cornelium O'Brien, Country Clare's legendary Member of Parliament from the 1830s until he died in 1857.

O'Brien's Tower

 

"Lovely" ladies at the Cliffs

Rose & Nancy

What we learned along the way:  a half hour such as 9:30 is spoken as “half 9”.  Children in Ireland are called “precious”, such as we are taking our precious to school this morning.  When the bus driver drives on the “cats eyes” (which is the bumpy, separated line along the side of the road), they call it driving through Ireland by Braille.  To make a stop or pull over, you call it a “tuck in”.   Divorced is called “between phases”.  If you “took the soup”, it means that you switched religions in Ireland so you could eat soup during the Famine.  So if someone “took the soup”, they switched sides (to survive).  Public Houses are called “pubs” (makes sense). 

Bus on the Shannon Ferry

 

We boarded a Shannon Ferry and we sailed across to Tarbert in the county of Kerry, Republic of Ireland.  Along the way we saw people playing golf on the windy courses.  Our guide, Denis is from this city, and we will spend the next three nights in Killarney.  The market town is known for its verdant, rolling hills and glittering loughs (lakes).  We are staying at the Killarney Towers.  We took a short walk around the town with the guide and then ate in the hotel.  We had rack of lamb and wonderful veggies and dessert to name just a few things

 

Playing golf on the lynx course

 

 

View above the town of Killarney