Day 11 - Bunratty Castle, Cliffs of Moher, the Burren, and on to Galway

It has been a whirlwind trip! This Emerald Isle is like technology, the more you learn the more you find that you don't know! There is just so much to see here, so many ruins EVERYWHERE! So much that we will not see on this trip.  Maybe another time!
We were short on sleep today. The bar with a very loud band must have been on the floor right above us last night! Sounded like they were playing in our bathroom--or Toilets as they are called here!
First stop bright and early was to visit Bunratty Castle and Folk Park...very, very cool place to visit!

Bunratty is full of 15th and 16th century furnishings, tapestrys, and paintings. Just beautiful!  The site first had a wooden fortress, built in 1251. Then in the late 13th century the lands were granted by King Edward 1st to Thomas de Clare, who built the stone castle in 1425. He drove out all the native Irishmen, who continued to pester him with attacks, especially the O'Briens and MacNamara families! They finally succeeded in overtaking the castle in 1450...That is perseverance! the castle continued to be besieged and one time Admiral Penn, father of Pennsylvania's founder, William Penn was in the castle when this happened. William was reported to be an infant in the castle. Finally the castle was deserted by 1700 and left empty until it was restored in 1960. The castle has 4 towers, each 6 stories tall, and we climbed every single one of them! Whew! Those winding staircases are a claustrophobic's nightmare! But, I made it...but I must confess, I could not make myself go down the steps to the dungeon...too spooky! One absolutely horrible thing did happen at the castle. As we exited, I realized that I no longer had my journal in my hand, the journal that has notes from our entire trip! Slight panic set in. Phil went back to look, but then, you know how a man looks for something. As we were leaving, I was just about to go back in when a man approached me asking if I had lost something. I guess he could see the stress on my face! He had found it and turned it into the gate keepers! Yipee!

Next we spent a bit of time in the Folk Park. So neat! Bunratty Folk Park is a living reconstruction of the homes and environment of Ireland of over a century ago. Rural farmhouses, village shops and streets are recreated and furnished as they would have appeared at that time. We went into several of the establishments...fireplaces going in all...love that peat smell! In one a lady was kneading the dough for fruit scones (thought of you sister Dorothy!) I told her she must have strong fingers...she replied (now this is a bit naughty, so don't read it if you offend easily!) "I don't know, I'll have to give you my man's text number so's you can ask him"! I think I stood there for a minute with my mouth open! She was quite a character, and I thoroughly enjoyed visiting with her.

I thought this picture looked so totally authentic Irish that I had to put it in. Note the stone fences and thatched roof in the background. Did you know that those roofs are about 1-2 feet thick? Amazing!

Now for all you educators, past, present and future! I took some pictures inside the schoolhouse. One teacher would have around 80 students at a time, all ages! So, I do not want to hear any more complaining about class sizes! lol! And I do remember that I had 36 my first year--back in the dark ages.
Wish I had one of these old beautiful desks!

Charming room isn't it? I don't think the teachers here showed up 2 weeks before school started to decorate their classrooms!

On the way to the Cliffs, we decided to grab some lunch in a small town called Ennistimon. MISTAKE, kind of. We had forgotten that it was Sunday and everything was closed! We finally passed a young girl on the sidewalk eating a delicious looking sandwich and she directed us to a local convenience store with the best deli I have ever seen. I had a fruit salad that was out of this world! And, while we were there we ran across the most beautiful old church and cemetery. I told you, there are ruins everywhere!
I do wish we had time to walk around the cemetery! So interesting.
Isn't this tiny purple flower beautiful? It grows on stone fences everywhere!  I took a picture of it last night growing on a stone bridge, then here it was again on a wall in Ennitimon! Just had to get a picture of it!








 Finally we arrived at the Cliff of Moher. At first, I was a bit disappointed because it looked like the cliffs had become totally commercialized, and in a way they have. But when you make that long climb up, all the commercialism falls away to the pure beauty of nature! No description is needed..just enjoy the picts!

The right side of the cliffs.

And now this tiny little path you are NOT supposed to walk on, but of course, we did after crawling over a fence! Please don't tell my Mom. It looks even more dangerous in the picture!

So, those are the cliffs. We took the shore road all the way in to Galway. Did not have seeing the burren on my list, but I am so glad now that we have seen it! The name Burren is from the Irish - "bhoireann" meaning a stony place. It is composed of karstic limestone, the largest area of such in western Europe. It is a very barren area, but lots of botanists, archaeologists and ecologists study the burren. 

The burren has some pretty nice cliffs itself. We had a beautiful day of weather at the cliffs. It was unusually clear and not windy! As soon as we got to the car, the clouds moved in and it began to rain. Guess those Texas skies are following us!
We found the hotel easily in Galway, thanks to the GPS! We are right on Galway Bay, now getting ready to go out and explore. One more day in Galway, and then Tuesday it is back to Dublin for our flight home on Wednesday.
I have loved every minute in the Emerald Isle, such a beautiful, magical place to visit! For now, it is out to dinner and a early evening because of our personal rock concert last night! Hope you are enjoying the blog as much as I am writing it! ...d