Cliffs of Moher-please use control+ to enlarge the blog/photos

Photos, top to bottom:

Sunrise, day of Cliffs of Moher trip
Paul Sanders, on the trip
Coastal village
Thatched roof house
Burren
Poulnabrome tomb
Another tomb
Ballyaban fort-ring shaped
Old church ruins, and cemetery
Cliffs of Moher
Kilfenora cathedral
Crosses
Pub, good lunch there
Stained glass window, Celtic design
Road signs, Leamenagh Castle in background
Leamaneagh Castle
Watchtower
Cow blocking bus
Stained glass window
Cliff
Leprechaun cathedral

My 83 year old dad, Paul Sanders, is visiting from Washington state. We are seeing some of the sights, here in Ireland. We took a tour bus to the Cliffs of Moher, which also stopped at a dozen other interesting sites. I would highly recommend this tour, due to the ability to see a lot of sites in a day, and learn quite a bit while doing this. The bonus was our guide, Desmond, was wonderful. He was well into his 60's, yet he had boundless energy and enthusiasm about a job he has been doing for seventeen years, He was funny, animated, witty, bright, and an encyclopedia of knowledge. He was also an excellent driver, as he managed the bus around narrow winding streets, often with inches to spare, all the while telling us interesting facts and tall tales about Irish history and lore. He certainly has the gift of gab. He also sang Irish tunes that had us cracking up.

Some interesting facts:

• Galway was originally composed of fourteen tribes



• The Claddah ring was created in the 1600's . It consists of 2 hands holding a heart, with a crown. It is given as a token of love or as a wedding ring. If you wear it with the heart facing out, you are single. If you wear it with the heart facing towards you, you are taken.



• If you kiss the Blarney stone, you get the gift of gab. If your wife kisses it, you should kiss her, to take that away from her!



• Ireland is basically a lot of rock, with a few inches of clay left after the ice age. The bogs have added turf over thousands of years. Because of this, there are no vegetables grown. The rock walls are for property division, and give shelter to sheep and cows during storms.



• An old law said that when the parents died, their land must be equally divided amongst their children, so no favoritism.



• Some Irish homes have thatched roofs. At the apex, the roofer leaves his unique signature design in the weave, so you can tell them apart.



• Many watchtowers were built by the English along the coasts of Ireland, due to fear of a Napoleon naval invasion. That would have made Ireland a French stepping stone to England.



• When Cromwell ruled Ireland, he did not allow the Irish to build a house within a mile of the coast, in order to deprive them of coastal access.



• Historically, landlords would tax the Irish house, in part based upon the size of the windows. The bigger the window, the higher the tax.



• Up to the twentieth century, the Irish home would host Mass, at every so often. Cromwell had not supported Irish worship.


• A lady in a long black dress is a pint of Guinness.

We went by the Burren, a huge National Park, made of limestone, during the ice age. There are many wildflowers here during the Spring, otherwise, it is a fairly barren Burren. Had to believe it was seafloor thousands of years ago.

A sixteen year old probably looking for rabbits to snare, found a golden collar, from the bronze ages, sitting on the land which is now displayed in Dublin. We saw some wedge tombs, that were over five thousand years old. Basically, they were slabs of rocks over the tomb. They are called wedge tombs because they are taller and wider at one end than at the other. The Gleninsheen tomb is famous, I have included some photos. There were around forty remains found under it.

Dunguaire Castle was built in the sixteenth century. During the Celtic revival, W. B. Yeats, and George Bernard Shaw (both Irish) were there for a time. It is said that if you stand at the entrance and ask a question, it will be answered before the end of the day.

A special site was the Ballyalban Fairy Fort. This is a pre-historic ring fort or ancient farmer's homstead, dating back over two thousand years. There is a mystical connection to these forts, involving fairies and Druids. The fort is a larg ring of mounded dirt.

We proceeded to Leamaneagh Castle. This was built as a Tower House in 1480. The manor house was erected in 1648 by Conor O'Brien and his wife, Máire ní Mahon, one of the most infamous women in Irish folklore who, due to her flaming red hair, was commonly known as "Máire Rúa" (Red Mary). In 1651 Conor was killed in battle against the Cromwellians. His widow realized that the punishment for his rebellion against the English would be the forfeiture of their property. Therefore, in a desperate attempt to retain her lands and estates, she offered to marry any Cromwellian officer who would take her hand. (This is refuted in other versions of the story which state that Máire Rúa didn't marry until 1653, two years after Conor's death.) Her third husband, Cornet John Cooper was a Cromwellian soldier.

Next we went to Kilfenora, a village with a cathedral from the twelveth century, known for high crosses, which are literally tall crosses, the tallest about ten feet high. Recently, a glass roof was added to the cathedral , to protect the ancient contents. Note that the Celtic cross is a hybrid of the Pagen and Christian crosses. It has a ring around the intersection of the cross.

On the road again, our driver Desmond played a track of the song " I lost my heart to the Galway girl", and soon he was belting out the tune, and the forty some of us on the bus were singing along too. Good craic. You can google the song, if interested. Craic is the Irish term for having a good fun, it is pronounced crack. When someone says they are looking for good craic, it is not drugs!

We went thru the town of Lisdoonvarna, famous for a history of matchmaking. Traditionally, farmers would finish their harvests, in September, and head to town to meet with the matchmaker. Recently, this has evolved into an international singles event, hosting thousands of singles, each September.

We ate in the town of Doolin , just before the Cliffs. It is well known for traditional Irish music. This reputation was fostered by Micho Russell, a renowned tin whistle player. There is an annual music festival celebrating his legacy. We had good food in a local pub, but I held off on the Guiness, as it was a bit early.

The Cliffs are being nominated by the Irish as a candidate for the new Wonders of the World. They are impressive enough. The word Mohr means fort. There is a fort down the cliffs, which we did not have an extra 3 hours to hike to.The sun made it challenging to get good photos. Desmond said 18 people died there last year, I don't know if that was true, I suspect it was. There are barriers, but no guards. We saw people near the edge, it is 300 meters or so down to the Atlantic. There are lot of shore birds, and on a clear day, a view of the 3 Aryan islands. My dad had a chance to go out to Inish Mor, which he said was spectacular.

We went on to Ballyreen, a beautiful desolate area, all sandstone. Good sunset there. A way after that, we saw a Leprachon's Castle. the word is they come out in the wee hours, to do their thing. It was misting when I took my photos, so all the flash shots were sparkly. I thought there was some magical dust in the air, but I did take one photo with out flash (the only one included in this blog) that looked more normal. The trip was pretty mystical, as a whole.