And as we continued through the northern mountains of Ireland we came upon the Burren..
The Burren is a karst landscape in County Clare, Ireland. It measures approximately 250 square kilometres and is enclosed roughly within the circle made by the villages of Ballyvaughan, Kinvara, Tubber, Corofin, Kilfenora and Lisdoonvarna.
It contains 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. The word "Burren" comes from an Irish word "Boíreann" meaning a rocky place. This is an extremely appropriate name when you consider the lack of soil cover and the extent of exposed Limestone Pavement. However it has been referred to in the past as "Fertile rock" due to the mixture of nutrient rich herb and floral species.
In 1651 a Cromwellian Army Officer named Ludlow remarked, "of this barony it is said that it is a country where there is not water enough to drown a man, wood enough to hang one, nor earth enough to bury them. This last is so scarce that the inhabitants steal it from one another and yet their cattle are very fat. The grass grows in tufts of earth of two or three foot square which lies between the limestone rocks and is very sweet and nourishing."
as we came down off the burren we were coming into more settled areas
many along coastal areas
many ruins visible.
deserted homesteads
rocky barren lands
We still a re on the morning side of lunch on the 7th day... so much variety to see in this part of Ireland!!!
a priory ruin
there before us was Galway Bay
and suddenly.. so suddenly I almost missed it there was Dunguaire Castle....I had no idea we would actually see it for we were just driving by, it wasnt on the itinerary.. now why you say is this important to me...
here is a stock photo of Dunguaire from the bayside...
Now I deviate here to explain that heretofore my dream vacation was actually Scotland,,, but when this trip came up i jumped on it thinking both areas are so similar... especially because Dunguaire is so much like my favorite castle in Scotland, Eilean Donan; seen here:
and here
so I could barely contain myself that we were actually hurtling past dunguaire at 50 kph.. the glare shining brightly in my view finder.... but I could prove I was there in real life!
my heart was still racing as I watched it pass from view
and the dunguaire priory ruin captured my imagination!
and before I could say King Brian Boru... we were coming into Galway City!
and it was lunchtime... so our little band of friends scoped out the Skeffington Arms!
extremely cozy and atmospheric!
a multileveled olde world establishment with a fabulous lunch and patisserie
and lovely iced water!
it was a great time to settle our brains and just consider what all we had experience that morning and the day was half done!
