Ireland - Cliffs of Moher

After driving through the Burren we finally reached the famous Cliffs of Moher. The Cliffs of Moher are seen in the following films: The Princess Bride and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

According to Wikipedia:

The cliffs rise 120 meters (394 ft) above the Atlantic Ocean at Hag's Head (Irish: Ceann na Cailleach), and reach their maximum height of 214 meters (702 ft) just north of O'Brien's Tower, eight kilometres away. The cliffs boast one of Ireland's most spectacular views...The cliffs consist mainly of beds of Namurian shale and sandstone, with the oldest rocks being found at the bottom of the cliffs. It is possible to see 300 million year old river channels cutting through the base of the cliffs.

Ireland - The Burren

After going from Dublin to Newgrange and Trim Castle we stayed in Galway which is on the west coast of Ireland. The intent after Dublin, where we reserved rooms, was to just find B&Bs where ever we ended up that night. The plan this night was to stay in Galway at The Spanish Arch which was recommended by the Michelin Green Guide, but unfortunately it was booked.

So we asked them if they recommended any place for a family of 4 near there and they directed us to the hostel two doors down. So we headed there and they were booked and so we asked them the same question. Then they got on the phone and called someone they knew near there who had a B&B and that she would come and pick us up and we could follow here to her place.

It ended up being a little old lady who had a B&B in her home with two bedrooms. So we took her up on the offer and stayed there. We had dinner at a little Irish pub near her house which was fantastic. It was here that we first tried the Black Pudding which "is a type of sausage made by cooking blood with a filler until it is thick enough to congeal when cooled." It wasn't horrible but I will tell you I would not order again. I asked several people what one is obligated to eat while in Ireland and they all said "Black Pudding" without skipping a beat. I truly don't know why they like it.

We got up that morning and the plan was to head south toward Bunratty where we'd go to the castle and stay the night around there. The problem was that we had a tough time getting out of the B&B because the very, very nice lady would not stop talking. After talking with the people at the hotel in Dublin and after listening to this lady talk about her cat named Elvis and her pilgrimages to Catholic sites for 30 minutes straight without taking a breath it became clear that the Irish speak English faster than any other English speaking culture that I've ever experienced. I think we had whiplash after that visit.

So after successfully escaping we got in the car and drove south through the Burren on the way to the Cliffs of Moher. The rock in this area was amazing. Not only was the ground covered with it, according to Nicole, it is purple (I couldn't tell because I am colorblind). According to the website:

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.

The Burren is underlain by limestones of the Lower Carboniferous (Visean) period. The limestone formed as sediments in a tropical sea which covered most of Ireland approximately 350 million years ago. These sediments were compressed into horizontal strata and contain fossil corals, sea urchins, sea-lilies (crinnoids) and ammonites.

Ireland - Trim Castle

Trim Castle is the largest Anglo-Norman castle in Europe, and Ireland's largest castle. It is noted for its appearance in Braveheart. We learned on our tour that castles were actually white on the inside and out because they put lime to smooth it out and keep it clean. We also learned that they used a lot of wood as well in the construction of the castles.

We also learned that they would hang their clothes over the toilets to kill the bugs and lice in them by means of the gases that eminated from the urine. Nice huh?! So they smelled like urine all the time but they didn't have bugs and lice on them. Sounds nice eh!

Ireland - Newgrange

Newgrange is a passage tomb, possibly even a temple, constructed over 5,000 years ago (about 3,200 B.C.), making it older than Stonehenge in England and the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt. It was built by an ancient celtic farming community.

Wikipedia describes Newgrange as

One of the most famous prehistoric sites in the world, and indeed the most famous of all Irish prehistoric sites. Newgrange was built in such a way that at dawn on the shortest day of the year, the winter solstice, a narrow beam of sunlight for a very short time illuminates the floor of the chamber at the end of the long passageway.

Ireland - Temple Bar

Temple Bar, which takes its name from Sir William Temple, Provost of Trinity (1928-99), who owned land which included a sand bar on the south bank of the river, is a medieval network of narrow cobbled streets and courts " promoted as 'Dublin's cultural quarter.'"

Ireland - Kilmainham Gaol

Kilmainham Gaol was "built in 1796" and is a "witness to Ireland's turbulent passage from the late eighteenth to early twentieth century. Prisoners from the United Irish Rebellion of 1796, the Emmet Rebellion of 1803, the Great Famine of 1845 to 1851, the Young Ireland Rebellion of 1848, the Fenian Rebellion of 1867, the Land War of the 1880s, the Easter Rising of 1916, the War of Independence and the Irish Civil War were held and often executed here."

They actually imprisoned children here as well as adults. It was quite interesting, especially in light of the fact that we had just recently visited Alcatraz. Wikipedia discusses this and provides a list of the former prisoners.

Ireland - St. Patrick's Cathedral

St. Patrick's Cathedral is the other and less old but larger mediæval cathedral in Dublin, and is the largest church in Ireland.

This cathedral was built in honor of Ireland’s patron saint, Saint Patrick. It is adjacent to the famous well where tradition has it Saint Patrick baptized converts on his visit to Dublin.

Ireland - Christ Church Cathedral

Christ Church Cathedral is the oldest of two mediæval cathedrals in Dublin (the other is St. Patrick's Cathedral just a couple blocks away).

The picture of the cat and mouse is mummified remains that were found in or behind the organ.