May 30 - Cliffs of Moher and Killarney

This morning we headed out of Galway to go to Killarney with several stops along the way.  We were passing through an area referred to as the Burren.  It is a series of barren limestone mountains that arre totally devoid of vegetation.  Here is an example of one of these hills.

Between. the barren hills there are bogs that the locals use for grazing cattle and sheep.  Here is an example of a thatched farm house with the barren hills in the background.

Here is a photo of the small town of Ballyvaghan sitting on a very picturesque bay.

And lots of sheep grazing the fields.

Here we have arrived at the Cliffs of Moher.  Here is the entrance to the visitors center.  It's built into the hillside.

And here are the cliffs.  They range in height from 390 to 700 feet high and are really spectacular.

Here is an observation tower that was built in 1835

Here is another photo.  The cliffs in the area are some of the tallest.  There are several walking paths that you can take along the cliff tops.  The rock that the cliffs are made of is relatively soft and so the cliffs are being eroded.  In the area we were it looks like the cliffs have moved back about 10 to 20 feet from where they were 100 years ago.

This is a nice looking pub that is very well know in this area.

Nice looking houses.

The remains of something.  Don't know what it was.

This is a memorial to the potato famine.  It shows a 4 year old boy named Michael Rice who has just lost both his parents and he is trying to get into the workhouse.  If he doesn't, he will starve.

A tower castle we passed.  They are fairly common as any clan that wanted to show their wealth, built one.

Here is a more impressive castle.

We are now in the city of Limerick.  This is the location where the Irish Catholic forces surrendered to William of Orange's forces ending the war that had started at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690.  This rock is where the treaty was signed and was originally in the center of a bridge crossing the River Shannon.

This is King John's castle just across the river.

We've been seeing lots of swans.

We passed this cute thatched cottage.

We arrived at Killarney and checked into our hotel.  This evening we are going out to an Irish music and dance demonstration on the Muckross Plantation.  Muckross was a mansion and farm just outside of Killarney.  It was built in 1843 an given to Ireland in 1932  and became the first national park in the country.  It is dedicated to preserving the Irish way of life.  When we first arrived we entered the old schoolroom and our host gave us a lecture on what it was like in the old days.

We then went into another room for dinner and were entertained by these musicians.  The flutist in the center had previously won the all Ireland competition as a flutist.

We then were entertained by these two young dancers who put on a great show.

Tomorrow we will be driving around the Ring of Kerry.