Ireland - The Burren

Sunday - July 26

* Posting from a laundrette in Dublin - (We finally found one!) - check back later for pictures*

* I have posted some pictures for now that I borrowed from the internet, but will place my own later when I get back to the hotel*

We left the wind whipped Cliffs of Moher, following the hairpin turns down to the next little town - very little! The Stonecutters restaurant and pub was our oasis for lunch this day, an adorable yellow cottage holding strong against the winds near the edge of the ocean. The wind was really blowing, and the waves broke so far out from shore that the whitecaps rolled in for at least 300 feet. I'd say it was a surfers dream, except I don't surf! But I thought of Julie and Doug and wondered if they might like to give it a try. Hopefully I took a decent picture of it and can post it when I get to a place where I can reach my pictures.

Lunch was finally the closest to pub cuisine since our meal in Kilkenny. I had lightly pan fried fish cakes on a bed of mixed greens, Austin had seafood chowder (not as good as our night in Kilkenny at Fields' pub), Emma had a panini (ok, not so ~Irish~) and Mike had Guinness beef stew - amazing! The restaurant uses only Irish beef, so you can't get more authentic than that, right? We were stuffed, but topped it off with a traditional bread and butter pudding, complete with warm custard - YUM! I also had my first cider - a Bulmer's pear. Loved it. Regular cider comes back to haunt me, but this stuff was good! I had another one today... (Monday).

With our bellies full, we wound our way to the Burren, an area of Ireland that is of vast wild and rock. The formations are amazing and very different from anywhere else in Ireland. Nestled in the nooks and crannies of the rock are darling little plants of all kinds, with delicate flowers of yellow, white, and purlple to name a few. It's the most amazing rock garden you will ever see!

Stopping along the route, we saw the Poulnabrone Portal Tomb ruin, the most recognizable dolmen ruin outside of the druid Stonehenge, and it's actually much older, by a couple of thousand years.

Thinking back to the first time I saw this amazing man-made formation, me and the same girls who piled out of the tin can car at the Cliffs of Moher, pulled up to the side of the road and walked out over the rocks and right up to the dolmen, without even knowing it's significance. We weren't even looking for it, we just happened to see it and think it looked pretty cool. I do remember thinking at the time that anyone could come along in this vast empty, quiet place and do something to ruin this unique formation. Now it is only protected by a small rope which rings the tomb with the signs that request no entry. There is now a parking area and a designated historical park, complete with kiosks that explain the history and formation of the area, and the significance of the tomb. I found it all extrememly interesting. The kids of course, just enjoyed jumping across the rocks and crevices.

We beat it out of there just as we saw the rain coming (at least we can see it coming!) .

Of course we saw the stray castle and church in various states of crumble, with cows grazing among the ruins like it's no big deal.