Monday, 24 September 2012
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| Connemara Celtic Crystal |
Today we leave Galway and travel in the southwest of Ireland.
Our first stop was
Connemara Celtic Crystal Factory in Moycullen, a family run business for 40 years. We had a tour of the showroom and heard about the unique crystal designs. A master craftsman did a glass cutting demonstration. Then it was time for some “look don’t touch” shopping for me.
Next, we traveled south through the
Burren region in northwest County Clare. Different than any other part of Ireland, the Burren is limestone and shale (100 square miles). It is more grey than green; there are no trees and grass grows in small patches between the rocks; the only water is underground rivers.
The land is so barren that a surveyor of the 1650s described it as “savage land, yielding neither water enough to drown a man, nor a tree to hang him, nor soil enough to bury him”.
More than 700 different flowering plants and ferns have adapted to the landscape of the Burren since the last ice age, 10,000 years ago. Alpine, Artic and Mediterranean plants grow side by side. The first human inhabitants in the Burren came about 6,000 years ago. The area has more than 2,000 historic locations, including about 60 burial monuments from the Stone Age (3000-2000 BC) and about 400 ring forts from the Iron Age (500 BC – 500 AD).
Our next stop is the
Corcomroe Abbey in the north of Burren region in County Clare. A well-preserved abbey built in the late 12th century; known as “St Mary of the Fertile Rock”, refers to the fertile green valley surrounded by grey hills of the Burren. We had time to walk around and get some pictures.
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| Corcomroe Abbey |
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| Corcomroe Abbey church yard |
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| leaving Corcomroe Abbey |
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Back on the coach, it was time to fasten our seat belt as we traveled the famous winding road between Ballyvaughan and Lisdoonvarana, “Corkscrew hill”. The road was designed as a Famine Relief Scheme (1846-1847) to provide employment to starving men for doing unprofitable public work; building roads where nobody traveled or bridges where there was no river.
Our next stop, the
Cliffs of Moher, is Ireland’s most visited natural attraction. For five miles, the cliffs rise up to 700 ft above the Atlantic Ocean on the west side of County Clare. The O’Brien’s Tower (1825) stands near the highest point of the cliffs with views on a clear day of the Aran Islands, Galway Bay, Maumturks, Twelve Pins and Loop Head. It was a cloudy, rainy day – but grateful for what we could see.
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| O'Briens's tower |
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| Cliffs of Moher |
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| ferry from Kilimer to Tarbet |
Traveling south through County Clare, we took a short cut, crossing the River Shannon on a ferry from Killimer to Tarbert. Then we were on our way to
Killarney.
Tonight was a special evening at
Kate Kearney’s Cottage. Legend is Kate distilled the famous poitin (Irish whiskey--alcohol by volume 60-90%) and invited travelers to enjoy her hospitality and illegal “Mountain Dew”. We enjoyed dinner with traditional Irish music and costume dancers. It was a long day, arriving at our hotel about 9:00 PM.
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| playing Irish music |
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| Irish dancer |
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We stay for two nights in Killarney at the Dromhall Hotel