Ireland Road Trip, Day 8, 2013

Today’s Sunday and we are leaving the Old Brown hotel in Ennis towards our hotel north of Galway. 

Views from our room at the Old Brown hotel

 

Views of Ennis, County Claire

 

How lucky can one couple be? While we were on Dublin, the Dublin Gallic football team won their championship game and the Dublin raised hell until the wee hours of the morning. Last evening the Ennis County Claire hurling team won the all Ireland championship and Ennis raised hell till the wee hours of the morning. The only good thing to come of it is that everyone is so hung over that there is virtually no one on the road but us.

This sign was posted on virtually all of the stores Saturday

 Our first stop was the Cliffs oh Moher. They a absolutely fabulous cliffs which are taller than the Washington Monument towards their drop to the sea. It is overcast and with strong winds but no rain for the moment. Sitting at the tip of the point is a stone tower built in 1835.

The castle is at the tip of the point

 

Water cave in the cliffs

On the way to our next stop we passed this impressive ruin. (In Irish brouge ruin sounds like you're slurring the word run.)

From the Cliffs of Moher we continued traveling north though the 400 square kilometer Burren National Park. We stopped at the visitors center and ate a light lunch at the tea room. The park is sparsely settled today and the terrain ranges from rugged tumbleweed type grass to rock and stone in its center. There is very little water and the center which was scraped by a glacier is not inhabited today but was settled as early as 4000 BC. Although the Burren reaches from the sea to inland mountains of stone, we only traveled through the center.

Grassland in the Burren

There is some grazing land, this with cows

Mountains of rock frame the valley

This is representative of the majority of the soil

 

Katy Exploring

 

The Burren spans an area from the sea to the mountains

This  ruin, the last I post, was in the Burren

Sheep even run in the Burren

Leaving the Burren, we headed toward our hotel, Ballynahinch Castle, which is located north of Galway in Recess Connemara. It is a magnificent property built in 1725. We checked in and Babs took a walk around the property taking pictures.

View from our room

 

Jason, Joan, & Katy in front of castle entrance

Our room

 

The castle throne

Ballynahinch Castle

Guest house

Rear of castle

 

Hydrangea were everywhere

Katy had made reservations’ for dinner which was a 4 course fixed price dinner. The food was excellent but the table service leaving a lot to be desired especially at 60 euro per person exclusive of wine.

Tomorrow we will take a walk around the property unless it is raining, then be off to another B & B about an hour from the Dublin airport.

Babs Says: At the cliffs is a big sign saying “Need to talk with someone? Call9391427” They must really be afraid of jumpers!