We saw this ruins of a castle on the way to Derry after leaving the Giant's Causeway. It was built right on the cliff face and even had a place under it to launch a boat for an escape by sea! There was a spanish ship that had sank offshore near here as well.



This was in downtown Derry, just outside the walls of the old city. I'm pretty sure it was a large townhall community type building but I'll check my notes on that later. In any event it was massive in scale as you can see by the people at the lower right. We walked into the old walled part of the city and walked the walled battlements, it made for a nice view of the city. Below are 3 of 4 famous murals that were done on the sides of buildings that we could see from the walls. All of them depict the terrible reality of the Troubles. More on these later as well.











After Derry our time in the north was at an end so we headed toward Galway and the west where we had some pretty rainy weather for several days. On one of the good days we put to sea and headed to Inis Mor, the largest of the Aran Islands. The ferry we were on was almost sideways to the wind and alot of water came up on deck so I pretty much stood with my feet up on the rope anchors to keep from getting my feet soaked. At one point Nancy tried to go above where it was sure to be more dry (she took the picture below from there) but it was a-rockin' even worse up there so she came back down.


It seemed to take forever to get there but probably and hour and a half and two stops later we finally put in to port. The weather was the best we'd seen in days and even though our time on the island was short, we decided to make the most of it and walk the 5 miles or so to the big ring fort on the island. We passed this thatched roofed house on the way with strange, almost tribal drumming was emanating from it.


Of course once we got there it started to sprinkle! Oh well, the place is amazing in any kind of weather. Talk about a rugged country, it doesn't get much more rugged than this. The ring fort was built right up on the cliff backing one whole side. The rings were all made of stone, I think there were seven in all, ran around it at various distances from the center. Again the views were magnificent and we couldn't believe you could walk right up to the edge where the drop to the sea had to have been 500 feet or more. One good gust of wind could have pulled you right over. We crawled out to the edge anyway.


Stunning views!


And the rocks! The whole island is literally litered with rocks! There are more stone walls here per acre than anywhere else in the world I would guess. This is part of one of the walls of the ring fort and there were several walls like this, and they still had rocks to spare.



See what I mean???


Try using a plow here...I don't think so...



Back on the mainland, this little tower was at the top of the hill near where we stayed while waiting for Tom's family to arrive. The harbor there to the right actually is Doolin, where we stayed.

We happened by the ruins above one day, it was apparently an old abbey. We got out and took a better look. It seems wherever you looked there was an old ruined abbey or castle or something. So much history here it's staggering....

What else? The Cliffs of Moher. The park area has changed quite a bit from the last time I was here ten years ago and even five years ago according to Nancy when she visited last. They constructed a berm all the way around the edge and you can't get to the old paths you used to be able to right along the edge. Apparently there have been too many people who have fallen to their deaths here. (Christopher???) In fact we heard on the news that only two or three days after we had been there a tourist fell to their death after ignoring the berm and venturing out near the edge.

Matt, Andrew and Chris at the Cliffs of Moher.

Some ancient tomb we visited on the Dingle peninsula with Tom's family.


Tom, soaking it all up.
Gallarus Oratory, Dingle peninsula

Tom and family near the Staigue Fort.

This is where we ate dinner after a long day on the Dingle P. You're not thinking I mean Murphy's Pub are ya? Nah-uh, we ate at the Dog Shack, that little place at the right. Excellent hotdogs, Cheese-dogs and Chili dogs and at affordable prices from a guy who hails from Wisconsin (or was it Michigan?)

Aunt Abby's house in Waterville on the Ring of Kerry, boy has this place changed since I last saw it. We visited with Tom and family and Nancy and I stayed the night a few days later before we headed out to Skellig Michael.

Outside the tapas bar in Kilgorlin, one of the best meals EVER! I think we all waddled back to the van.

Is a rose by any other name still as sweet? Our other hobby as we tromped around Europe was taking pictures of the fabulous flowers we saw. I'm sure there will be a whole blog dedicated to our flower pictures which I will have to have Nancy name but I just couldn't help putting this one up here. It makes me smile.

Well I said this would include pics from our trip out to Skellig Michael but I changed my mind. That little adventure deserves a blog all to itself. Hope you enjoyed the pictures, just know that they really don't do Ireland justice at all. If this isn't one of the most beautiful countries in the world I don't know what is. Visit if you get a chance, you won't be sorry.