Cliffs of Moher and the Burren: Ring of Kerry tour day 4

It was rather sad to check out of Ballynahinch, but it meant we were heading south, back through Galway, and down to the Cliffs of Moher. I had always wanted to see the Cliffs, sucker that I am for steep, dramatic views. And, in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the Cliffs are part of a grand CGI mashup in the scene during which Dumbledore and Harry apparate to the crashing sea, enter the cave, and undergo the horrors necessary to find one of the horcruxes. Neat!

But first, on our way to the Cliffs, we visited Corcomroe Abbey, an early 13th century Cistercian monastery in the Burren region of Co. Clare.

The Burren is a vast limestone plateau (indeed, “the word ‘Burren’ comes from an Irish word “Boíreann” meaning a rocky place”), and in its southeastern area lies Burren National Park. Within the park can be found “examples of all the major habitats within the Burren: Limestone Pavement, Calcareous Grassland, Hazel scrub, Ash/Hazel Woodland, Turloughs, Lakes, Petrifying Springs, Cliffs and Fen.” Fascinatingly,

The Burren region is internationally famous for its landscape and flora. A visit to the Burren during the summer months will leave a person amazed by the colourful diversity of flowering plants living together within the one ecosystem. Arctic-alpine plants living side by side with Mediterranean plants, calcicole (lime-loving) and calcifuge (acid-loving) plants growing adjacent to one another and woodland plants growing out in the open with not a tree nearby to provide shade from the sun. Also found here are certain species which, although rare elsewhere, are abundant in the Burren. Even more amazingly they all survive in a land that appears to be composed entirely of rock.

To the Cliffs! It was actually so stunningly bright that I struggled to take good photos, but I enjoyed a magnificent walk along quite a bit of the visitors’ path, the many views, and the sheep and cows grazing languidly in the highest pastures. My only disappointment was not seeing any puffins. Next time!

Roundstone, Clifden, and Kylemore: Ring of Kerry tour day 3

It brought me enormous delight to visit both Roundstone and Clifden. They were the primary settings for the third of Dervla McTiernan’s crime fiction series featuring Cormac Reilly (McTiernan is an author I only recently discovered, and I absolutely love her books, most of which are set in Galway and the west of Ireland.). I’d read The Good Turn while T and I were in Amsterdam, and it felt very exciting to then be in situ.

Roundstone is tiny but offered some amazing photo opps, including a real Galway Hooker which, despite the image the name may conjure, is a traditional fishing boat that can withstand strong winds often encountered in Galway Bay. The boats are shiny black with a red stripe running down each side of the vessel, parallel to the water, and a red sail. They’re really beautiful!

a Galway Hooker

Clifden was larger, and there I found a book I’d been researching and searching for, a biography of Grace O’Malley aka the Pirate Queen. If you want to read more about her, and I think you should, click here. In short, Grace was born around 1530 on Ireland’s west coast (some say Connacht, some say Clare) into a mighty seafaring family. From an early age, she demonstrated zero interest in following the expectations for women and instead became a fearless leader, feared pirate, and unforgiving warrior. Lore has it that when she first, as a child, asked her father to take him with her as he sailed, he said no, that her hair was too long and would get stuck in the ship rigging. So, she chopped her hair short, demanded again, and never looked back. When her father died, she rather than her brother, took over. One of her husbands died, one she divorced, she even took a lover. What a woman!

As I was checking out in The Clifden Bookshop, two Ukrainian women and their children came in. It quickly became clear that they were refugees newly arrived in Ireland. I assume that if they’re married, their husbands remain in Ukraine fighting. Anyway, their English was really strong (I am on day 168 of Ukrainian study, and mine is not strong, although I can tell you that I can cook dumplings with cabbage and that Khreshchatyk is a big street) and they were inquiring, with huge smiles, about children’s books written in Ukrainian. They had loved the ones the shop had been able to get: had any new ones arrived? The shopkeeper was so kind and dear- she kept applauding their English and apologizing that the new books weren’t yet here. One of the moms mentioned that her daughter especially loved unicorns and so any stories that included unicorns would be particularly appreciated.

I wished I’d had an armload of books to give them. As I left the store, the shopkeeper and I looked at each other, hands on our hearts. The spirit of some people, I tell you. I hope desperately that their loved ones are safe and that at some point they can go home again if they want to. Fucking Putin.

After snarfing a lunch that I have no real memory of, we headed to Kylemore Castle.

Essentially, it was built as a love letter from a man to his wife, and it is spectacular in every way. The location and angle of construction were chosen so that on clear days, a full reflection of the house could be seen in the Pollacappul Lough over which it looks. The grounds are as magnificent as the structure itself.

During a family trip to Egypt with their children, the wife fell ill and died. Distraught, her husband had her embalmed and returned to Kylemore. There he built a miniature, perfect replica Gothic Church in which he planned to inter her, but ultimately, she was buried in a small, understated mausoleum nearby, and honestly, that seems just perfect.

Kylemore Castle is now Kylemore Abbey, and visitors are welcome to explore parts of the home, the various outbuildings, and the 1,000 acre grounds which include a Victorian walled garden, a pig sty, and a small, stunning herd of Connemara ponies. They are spectacular creatures.

Everything was just so stupidly beautiful. On our way back to Ballynahinch, we stopped quickly to explore a bog, and this little guy came across the road to visit.

Galway and the West: Ring of Kerry tour day 2

So, we arrive in Galway just before lunchtime and were told we had 2.5 hours of free time. I had remembered reading about a number of highly regarded restaurants there, so upon disembarking, I hauled it to Ard Bia at Nimmos where, after some hemming and hawing, I ordered a bowl of fresh seafood chowder with a side of brown bread. As had been every other person since I landed in Ireland, my waiter was noticeably friendly and lovely, and the chowder, bread, and butter did not disappoint.

Galway was in the throes of a vibrant arts festival and a hopping tourist scene, and in an attempt to escape the latter, I wound through farther-out side streets to explore. A local crafts store caught my eye, and I wandered in and was taken with it all, particularly the earrings and tea towels (I have a significant and long-standing obsession with tea towels). As I was checking out, the HILARIOUS clerk and I happened to begin chatting about her long-ago trip to DC. She was traveling with a friend and, following a terrible experience at one hostel, found another where she “experienced the best sleep of my life.”

The next morning, confused by the lack of noise and, upon a look around, other guests, she and her friend worried they’d inadvertently squatted somewhere. Turns out it was a Mormon lodge of some sort, and they never did cross paths with a soul. “Well,” I said, “maybe you are, unbeknownst to yourself, a Mormon. But, they don’t drink caffeine, so…”

With a very dramatic series of hand gestures towards herself, she replied, “does THIS look like it needs caffeine?” “Ok,” I said, “well if you’re fine with no alcohol and a certain type of undergarment, you’re set.” That killed the deal, which never there was, and we were still laughing as I walked out of the door with my purchases.

After Galway (wish I’d had more time there), we ventured further into Connemara, a stunning region in western Ireland that also includes the eponymous national park, and to Ballynahinch Castle. It sits on 700 wooded acres and is breathtakingly beautiful. Beyond the grounds, the rooms were perhaps the nicest I’ve ever stayed in, the food was delicious, and during dinner our first night, a local father-son duo played jigs, reels, waltzes, and a variety of tunes from all over Ireland on a Gaelic accordian (the son) and a wooden flute of African black wood that the father had crafted himself. The son was also an excellent Irish dancer, and the entire evening was a joy to witness.

The grounds were just stunning, and I took an absurd number of photos. I was fascinated by the fact that MD and Ireland grow so many of the same plants, despite the latitudinal difference. Granted, their gardens seemed happier than ours, perhaps because it was not 100 degrees each day.

Next stop: Clifden, Roundstone, and Kylemore Abbey.