Good Morning! This is Bessie who, with her friends joined us for breakfast just outside our window. Bessie is standing in rich thick grass, but the flowers (or what's left of them) on our side of the fence are just too good to pass up. Bessie has learned the value of eating dessert first.
We're leaving this morning as we've planned to end our day very close to Galway, and it's a bit of a hike. We've just succumbed to our hostess' suggestion that we leave by way of Conor Pass--a "beautiful" drive that will add only a "little" bit of time to our trip. Considering our "age and stage," we don't want to miss any more beautiful drives than we absolutely have to, so we're penciling in Conor Pass and working with our GPS.
Yes, as far as we know this may well be Conor Pass but we're really not sure. We've come from bluish skies into a land filled with clouds--more clouds with every few feet of elevation. Surely we're getting close. We found a pullout and joined a number of other cars and disappointed photographers taking pictures of the low clouds, the fog and the drizzle. If it wasn't for "Picasa's Photo App" and it's computerized magic, this photo would be nothing but a dark grey blob. Oh well--it was only a little out of our way.
We took a shortcut to the Cliffs of Moher which meant crossing the River Shannon on a ferry. I'm always amazed at how many cars, trucks and trailers can fit on a ferry without sinking it. We walked to the top of the boat for the view and as I looked down I saw this great car. Can't you just see Hercule Poirot or Lady Grantham from Downton Abbey comfortably settled in the back seat? There's a similar car parked next to it, but it's not nearly as spiffy or shiny It must be for the servants.
We crossed into County Clare and drove toward the coastline on our way to the Cliffs. As we approached them--buses to the left, cars to the right--we realized this is an extremely popular site. And, an exercise in patience whilst looking for a parking spot. Despite the fact that our car was a sub-compact, it was still too large for any available empty spot. As we finally semi-parked and crawled out, we were surrounded by parents with babies in strollers, heartbroken toddlers wailing over dropped ice cream cones, and sullen teenagers frustrated with the lack of phone service. Most of them loudly proclaiming that they would rather be in hell than the Cliffs of Moher. You know, the normal family holiday scene we look forward to all year.
Despite the crowds and the distant haze, the Cliffs are so worth visiting. They're obviously dramatic--especially if you can elbow someone out of your way and take in their length and breadth.
Being a Kansas girl, I'm impressed again at the force of the sea and the sculptures those waves create.
We're still at the Cliffs simply gazing farther into the distance. We'll try to find our little wrinkled Nissan now, point ourselves toward the northeast and drive to the Burren.
And here we are. According to the guidebooks, the Burren is about ten square miles of limestone--a former seabed, so alert visitors will find evidence of fossils in the stones. As we walked from the parking lot toward "Poulnabrone Dolmen," the stones gradually increased from being scattered here and there to this scene (below) where they nearly pave the landscape...
forming a rough road of sorts.
This is the "Poulnabrone Dolmen" and, no, I can't pronounce it, but I was terribly impressed. Wikipedia wrote that it translates to "hole of sorrows." This is a portal tomb (who knew?), a grave chamber that was once in a cairn of stacked stones. In more recent years, the Irish have called it a druids' altar. I don't normally think in symbols or biblical images, but the thought of Easter Morning and sunshine and open tombs popped right into my mind.
I'm not a botanist, nor even a gardener, but I am fascinated when delicate little flowers bloom in such a forbidding landscape. Our mother earth is much more complex than most of us can understand.
Our day came to a close in Kinvarra at a small B&B overlooking Galway Bay.
No comments:
Post a Comment