Ireland - October 2014

We hired a car in Dublin and drove to Galway. A day trip from there included the town of Westport -
photo 1, we then returned to Galway via Leenane. This is going between Joyce's County and Maumturk Mountains.  The country side is very moody I loved it, photo 6 shows the stone walls going up the steep hills.

Sheep were dotted around the place and the odd white house with thatched roofs. Photos 4 to 6 are back in Galway where we did a lot of walking.  Photo 5 shows the Spanish Arches.

We left Galway and stopped at Kinvara a very colourful seaside town.  Next, while exploring we found a monastery in Kilmacduagh, there were a number of old buildings and a grave yard, some of the buildings were from the 11th century.

 We were in a part of Ireland called 'The Burren' which encompasses a big area.  Photos 1 and 2 are at Poulnabrone Portal Tomb, it dates from around 3000BC and had at least 33 people buried there, it is from Neolithic or New Stone Age period. Photo 3 shows an area of 'The Burren'.  Photos 4 to 6 include the the visitor centre at 'The Cliffs of Moher' which is built into the hill and the cliffs them selves.

 I love the artwork we found while exploring Ireland.  We had a quick look at Shannon as our niece is called Shannon, and my Dad had worked in the Shannon River Mill in Western Australia as a young man but were not enticed to stay long at all unfortunately.  Our next stop for the night was Limerick photos 3 to 6 which we enjoyed having a look around.

Photo 1 - King John's Castle which was started in 1200 and is next to the River Shannon. Photos 2 and 3 are not far from the castle.

 We came across the ruins of Ballybeg Priory, between Limerick and Cork, also there was the finest surviving dovecot from medieval times in Ireland.  We did a hop on hop off bus tour around cork, and got to see more art work on buildings among many other things.  Wandered through the 'English Market' hmmm, then had dinner and a drink or two at 'The Oliver Plunkett' pub which had live Irish music and an Irish dancer.

 Travelling from Cork to Dublin we stopped at a wee town called Cashel. Cashel castle is the famous tourist attraction here, photo bottom left.  We chose to go to the Cashel Folk Village instead.  This is owned by Bernard Minogue who is extremely knowledgeable and passionate about Irelands history, any history buffs should make a point of visiting and talking with Bernard, allow lots of time - photos 1 and 2. After arriving in Dublin we visited Trinity college and of course the Guinness Brewery which Jonathan really enjoyed.

Photo 1 is a street artist in Dublin, he had wrapped gladwrap between 2 poles and was painting on that.  Photo 2 is the GPO which is where the 1916 uprising started and photo 3 is the Spire of Dublin on O'Connell Street, it is 121 meters high.