The Burren

     After our night of rocking alongside the Cliffs of Moher, we packed up and head to The Burren. It's an area north of the Cliffs of Moher in County Clare. It is known as a karst landscape, or a landscape that is defined by the dissolution of layers of bedrock and is one of the largest in Europe. The Burren also hosts nearly 90 megalithic tombs through the area. The hills are composed of limestone that criss crosses and is full of cracks. Due to its unusual environment, plants from Mediterranean climates and alpine climates grow side by side in the cracks. The temperature and soil temperature generally never drop below 6 C so this gives the area one of the longest growing seasons in Ireland.

     We visited the village of Ballyvaughan, where we heard authentic Irish language being spoken. We found an area of the Burren that has caves with stalactites and stalagmites but due to the 17€ entrance fee, we took a scenic drive back towards the cliffs and back towards Dublin. Hope you enjoy the pictures of this wild landscape.

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Cliffs of Moher

     After our day in Kilkenny and spending the night at the camper site, we packed up and headed on to the Cliffs of Moher, located in western Ireland near the town of Doolin. The roads leading to the cliffs are a tad small but somehow the Irish people have learned to make it work and they do it well. It is also an experience for us to see the driving on the opposite side of the road.

     The weather at the cliffs during late September was rather chilly and windy. At times, it felt like the wind was going to carry us off. There was a large parking lot(or car park as is used here) near the cliffs that cost 8€ to park your car. There was no entrance fee although some people did stop to buy a ticket to the exhibition they have near the caves. The gift shop was bustling with tourists, hot coffee, and was the only place nearby to find an ATM machine. The Cliffs of Moher were beautiful and O'Brien's Tower has been preserved quite nicely as you will see in the photo. It is named for Sir Cornelius O'Brien, who built the tower at the mid point of the cliffs in 1835.

     The Cliffs of Moher are lcoated on the Atlantic Ocean at Hag's Head. They rise up to 214 meters high. They were named for Fort Moher that stood on the southern most point of the cliffs in the 16th century. It was destroyed in 1808 to build a new telegraph tower. They draw nearly 1 million visitors annually, topping Ireland's tourist attractions in 2006. The visitor center was opened in 2007 and affords visitors interactive experiences about the cliffs.

     There were steps and a lot of other places to view the cliffs as well as paths to walk out on the cliffs themselves. In the town of Doolin, there are various tour boat companies that offered ferries to the Aran Islands(in Galway Bay) and along the cliffs to see a full on view of them. Of course, if the wind is whipping and the water is choppy like it was for us, the amount of boats decreases drastically. The Aran Islands have a lighthouse and some small attractions as well as Atlantic Puffin Birds.

     We stayed near the village of Doolin and ate dinner at a pub called O'Connells that offers traditional Irish fare and authentic Irish music. We highly recommend the Irish stew. The camper rocked all night as the wind from the sea swept over us. I thought it would keep us awake but it actually helped to rock us to sleep. While it might not be ideal for some people, we found it to be a great way to tour the countryside.

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Kilkenny, Ireland

The first stop on our tour around Ireland was in Kilkenny in the southern part of the country. Kilkenny County is a beautiful place with a lot of history. We went to Kilkenny Castle, which was built in 1195 by William Marhsal, 1st Earl of Pembroke along the River Nore. The castle was sold to the city for £50(almost $100.00) and is now maintained by the city. The inside of the castle is maintained in an 18th century style and has interesting stories along the path through each room. We saw a wedding ceremony or possibly a wedding party taking pictures out back on the porch. We walked through the town that has a vast array of shops full of knickknacks and other touristy collectibles and restaurants and pubs with delicious food and drinks. We ended up eating dinner at a small tapas bar that served authentic Spanish style tapas that included chorizo and patatas bravas(small fries with tomato sauce). The city as a lot of various churches and abbeys scattered around and all are within walking distance of one another. We made our way to the Black Abbey and an old Church of Ireland. The graveyards are as interesting as the churches themselves and there are many tombstones that have Celtic crosses as the headstones.

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Irish Countryside

We took a 3 day tour around the Irish countryside and here are a few of my favorite images. Click on them to make them larger if you like.

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Dublin

After the hell of getting over here and being in the Atlanta airport for 11 hours, we finally took off and landed in Dublin around noon the next day. We went from 90° temps to 50° temps and it feels like a nice break. After sleeping off the jet lag, we headed into to Dublin for a look around. According to sources, there are around 1 million people in and around the city. We ate lunch at a kebab shop because we have been longing for one since we left Madrid 2 years ago. After that, we walked up and down the River Liffey that divides the town into the North/South. We found a few churches like St. James, Christ Church, and St. Patricks Park. After walking more westward, we found the Guiness Storehouse and took a tour for €11, which includes a free pint at the end. We were able to see the entire brewing process and enjoy a 360° view of the city. From there, we walked to the Spire, a tall poll in the middle of the city. We met up with our friend for a couple of pints and headed home through Phoenix Park, the largest park in Europe and the home of the President of Ireland. We've noticed a lot of similarities in the politics and business of Ireland and the US. Hope you enjoy the pictures.

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Departure

It's finally arrived, the time to move overseas. We are anxiously awaiting our flight to Dublin, Ireland, where we will spend a week before heading to Madrid Spain for the next 9 months. We had some flight snafus that resulted in our acquiring a direct flight from Atlanta to Dublin instead of hopping from Atlanta to New York and New York to Dublin. Sometimes a flight delay can be a good thing and not something to get irate about in the end. We ended up having our tickets changed for free and given $28 in food vouchers for our delay. Basically the connection to New York would put us there with 10 min between flights which just wouldn't work. We are big fans of Delta Airlines now, even if they might be more expensive for certain flights(certainly not this one though). We will be posting picture from Ireland in the next couple of days.

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