Tuesday - June 14 - South by Southwest

Today we left Ennis and headed west to the famous and picturesque Cliffs of Moher. We spent a few hours viewing the cliffs from different vantage points.

They are every bit as beautiful and awe-inspiring as advertised in all the guidebooks. We had a beautiful day for our visit. Not many tourists compared to the weekends or holidays, so lots of opportunities to look around. At one point, there is a gate that blocks your way to the top of one of the cliffs, but I could see a dirt trail leading up to the cliff top. As there weren't many people around, I told Will I was tempted to climb over the wall and just go the hundred or so feet on the trail to the top of the cliff. He pointed out the following sign to me and I agreed it maybe wasn't the best idea. :)

On top of another of the cliffs was a structure called O'Brien's Tower. This was built around 1825 as a tourist attraction, although it's built to look hundreds of years old. It makes for a picturesque backdrop for the cliffs and gives you and idea of just how high they are (over 700 feet).

The cliffs are made up of a number of layers of sedimentary rock and have unusual formations, particularly near the base of the cliffs.

As we were heading back toward Liscanon, we came upon a shrine to St. Brigid along the side of the road. It was a healing place with flowing water and there was a statue of St. Brigid with a grotto as well as a cemetery. Meghan Brigid asked to stop and check it out. It was so peaceful, and the grotto itself (far left corner in the picture below) had a very sacred feel about it. Many visitors had stopped to ask for healing and to leave mementos and pictures of loved ones who had died.

                                   

The next leg of our journey took us south toward the Dingle pennisula. We stopped at a small town along the way, Milltown Malbray, for lunch and I had absolutely the BEST bowl of seafood chowder I have ever had. The soup was filled with a variety of seafood in a cream base. I decided to wait until after I'd finished the soup before I asked what was in it. Turns out, everything is caught locally and included such delicacies as shrimp, crab, and octopus. (YIKES!) At any rate it was delicious - they could make a mint off the recipe it in the States.

We continued south to Killimer where we got on a car ferry which took us on a 20 minute ride across the mouth of the Shannon River - which is something of a misnomer since its more like a lake at this point, than a river. The ferry boat ride was great - although the skies had become overcast and the winds had to be whipping up at 35-40 mph. Luckily the boat was heavy enough that we barely felt the rough waters. Once on the other side, we were in Kerry and headed southwest toward Tralee. We stopped for the night in Camp - just north of Dingle. Will has been batting a thousand with the lodging and he didn't fail us this time either. We are in a wonderful B&B which overlooks the Atlantic Ocean. The views are fantastic and the accomodations are top-notch. Our host, John, greeted us at the door with a cup of hot tea and coffee and showed us to our room which has the most wonderfully comfortable beds. We had a nice visit with John who answered a few questions for me regarding the Irish language. For example, I've often seen the word "Slan" and wondered what it meant. He told me it is Gaelic for "good-bye". I also wondered why so many Irish towns and landmarks and castles have the word "Bally" in front of them. John said "Bally" is the Anglicized version of the Gaelic word for "town", so any time you see the word "Bally" it means "town of". Good to know!

We finished the day at a pub recommended by John which was just down the hill from the B&B. A great dinner and great conversation over Baileys and Guiness. As we headed up the hill to the B&B, we passed a man under an umbrella who remarked it was a "soft day" and he was right. There was a gentle rain falling, the night was quiet, and we are thankful for the gift of being in such a beautiful part of the world.