Ireland, Day 5: A Trip to Connemara

After some tea and scones in this little pub in Leenaun (in which the movie "The Field" was filmed... but I haven't seen that, so, uh... yeah.)

we went to see these:

Croagh Patrick was the pilgrimage to the top of this mountain, from which St Patrick allegedly called the people to worship.  I think he also banished the snakes from Ireland there, too.

It was a long way up (4 hr hike), so we only went part of the way up.

 then we saw the National Famine Memorial... (I couldn't back up far enough to get the whole thing because of a wall... :/)

and finally Murrisk Abbey:

We stopped for lunch in Louisburgh.  Since food took forever, we only spent about 10 minutes basking in the sun on this beach:

Then it was on the road again, and more lovely countryside...

We stopped along the way a few times in Doolough Valley, where many famine victims died on the road in an attempt to get aid.

Despite the tragedy, the valley itself was beautiful:

On the way back to Galway, we stopped here for a bit:

It looks really old, but I think it was built sometime in the late 1800's.  Originally a family home, it later became an abbey.... and then later it became a school.  Now I think it's just a tourist attraction.  Which makes sense in light of the fact that it has 33 bedrooms and, uh... 4 bathrooms.

Moving on...

Our final stop was in Recess, where we got to see this monument:

If you can't read that, it says "This is Connemara (Conn Son of the Sea), built in 1999 by Joyce's Craft Shop for no apparent reason."

Behind it there was a plaque...

("On this site in 1897 nothing happened.")

Hehe...

Ireland, Day 4: Ennis to Galway

On Wednesday we headed to the famous Cliffs of Moher.  First, however, we passed through some very picturesque areas

and a castle with a very interesting story, about a woman named Maire Rua ('red-haired Mary', I think) who supposedly went through 25 husbands, all of which she murdered in various ways in this castle. *insert creepy music*  It explains why the locals are suspicious of red-haired girls....

Then through a place called the Burren, which has a 'lunar landscape', which was pretty cool.  Oh yeah, and a really really old stone portal tomb called Poulnabrone.

We made a quick stop to see a fairy circle:

Then to the cliffs!

Finally, before heading to Galway, we stopped at some cliffs along the Black Head Drive

Ireland, Day 3: Killarney to Ennis

Our first stop on Tuesday morning was Aghadoe, only a few minutes outside Killarney:

Next we stopped by the Inch Beach for a minute, just to take pictures. (it looks like I'm on the beach taking these, but I'm actually on the road above it)

Then on to Slea Head....

There was a traffic jam along the way.... :D

We did actually go onto this beach: (Coumeenole beach)

Then to Dingle for lunch! (it looked nothing like in Leap Year....)  Apparently there was a big upset over the name of the town in the past few years -- they've been called Dingle for a long, long time, but the government decided that since they are a Gaeltacht area (a recognized Irish-speaking region), their name should be in Irish, not English.  So they changed all the signs to "An Daingean".  Unfortunately, after that none of the tourists could find it anymore!  So they petitioned to have it changed back, and after much debate, settled on the name "Dingle An Daingean Uí Chúis", or "Dingle Dingle by the Sea", to incorporate both the Irish and English names.

But then there was another problem.... the government couldn't afford to change the signs again.  So the towns people vandalized all the signs that said "An Daingean" to say "Dingle".  Well, most of them... one of them now says "Dingey".  Anyway, some of them were quite well done -- you can hardly tell that it was painted/taped/glued on.  Others were probably done with a sharpie...

At any rate, we found a number of exciting things there.  Like Fungie the dolphin (or his statue, anyway).

 and that Guinness is good for you.

Not to mention fish that is "so fresh it practically jumped out of the sea onto your plate" (or something along those lines).  And of course yummy chips to go with that.

 and the lovely Craic House. (yes, that's pronounced "crack")  .... a souvenir shop. :D

Ice cream!!  (I got brownie and peanut butter... it was delicious.)

Anyway, after experiencing the delights of Dingle, we got back on the road to Ennis.  But  first we stopped in Adare, where they still have some cottages with traditional Irish thatched roofs:

Finally, we arrived in Ennis for a relaxing evening.  We ate at the hostel's restaurant (it was more like a hotel... voted "best hostel in Ireland") alongside the river.

Well, that's all for now folks!