Saturday was the day we hit the big tourist sites though since we're not traveling at the height of tourist season, no place we stopped was even close to mobbed. We set out from Galway after breakfast and our first stop was a castle ruin just 8k from Galway, Dungaire Castle.
I loved just stumbling upon castle ruins. They are literally everywhere, in the middle of fields, in the middle of towns, between houses, and right on the road where you can walk right up to them.
From Dungaire, it was a beautiful drive through
The Burren. The Burren (
boireann in Irish) means rocky landscape, and that it is. It's very rocky, and limestone rocks make up more of the ground than grass.
While in The Burren, you must stop and see
Poulnabrone Dolmen. Also known as the Portal Tomb, it's one of Ireland's most famous landmarks.
On the way to the Cliffs of Moher...more castles (and ruins)! There are also stone walls ALL OVER the place, and they are amazing. Stone walls are going to get their very own blog post a bit later on, so stay tuned.
At last we arrived at the
Cliffs of Moher, the famous cliffs featured on the cover of almost every Ireland tour book, including our Lonely Planet
discover Ireland. (We're clearly making a habit to going to the location on the front of our tour book -
see when we did this in New Zealand.) The Cliffs of Moher are stunning 700+ foot high cliffs that run 8k along the coast of the Atlantic. It is incredibly windy, and in addition to walking along the edge (both legally - barriers provided - and illegally - no barriers), you can go up
O'Brien's Tower, built in 1865 for tourists. Here are just a few of the (too) many pictures I took at the Cliffs.
 |
| O'Brien's Tower |
 |
| View from O'Brien's Tower |
 |
| Atop O'Brien's Tower |
And from the illegal side...
 |
| That's O'Brien's Tower way in the distance |
 |
| Todd holding O'Brien's Tower |
From the Cliffs, we drove to Limerick where we were spending the next two nights. However, after checking in and taking a quick rest, it was back to Galway for a provincial rugby game. Todd, Barrantes Tour & Travel's intrepid sports reporter, had procured us tickets to watch
Connacht take on
Munster. The stadium (teeny tiny...like a US high school football stadium) was packed to the brim, mainly with Connacht fans (wearing green) with a smattering of Munster fans (wearing red.) Todd wore his Irish Rugby World Cup shirt which is green so helped us to blend in as Connacht fans. Todd was in heaven, and since I understand rugby, had a seat inside a nice warm box, and a Bulmer's in my hand, I was a happy camper too.
After rugby, we drove back to Limerick and went to bed! Tomorrow...castles!
Saturday was the day we hit the big tourist sites though since we're not traveling at the height of tourist season, no place we stopped was even close to mobbed. We set out from Galway after breakfast and our first stop was a castle ruin just 8k from Galway, Dungaire Castle.
From the Cliffs, we drove to Limerick where we were spending the next two nights. However, after checking in and taking a quick rest, it was back to Galway for a provincial rugby game. Todd, Barrantes Tour & Travel's intrepid sports reporter, had procured us tickets to watch Connacht take on Munster. The stadium (teeny tiny...like a US high school football stadium) was packed to the brim, mainly with Connacht fans (wearing green) with a smattering of Munster fans (wearing red.) Todd wore his Irish Rugby World Cup shirt which is green so helped us to blend in as Connacht fans. Todd was in heaven, and since I understand rugby, had a seat inside a nice warm box, and a Bulmer's in my hand, I was a happy camper too.
No comments:
Post a Comment