The barren Burren

Our last stop on the family tour of ROI (April-May 2014) was the Burren, in County Clare - see a wiki description here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Burren and a map here: Google Burren Map.  On our way to the house we rented, we stopped in Kinvarra, which seemed a cute town, including a castle (of course), for groceries.

We rented a home there that had a lovely setting and sounded like it fit the bill (http://www.homeaway.co.uk/p905069). However, when we got there, we realized that we had fallen for a bit of a tourist trap. The disabled bathroom that my Mother wanted was on the ground floor and all bedrooms were on the first floor, the free wifi that was included was limited to a very small amount of pre-paid data, the pull-out couch that my Father tried to use was broken, the heat was set on timers that we couldn't change and it was freezing in the house, and the sauna didn't work, as examples. Most annoying was the owner who met us at the house and seemed to be grilling us to see whether we were up to snuff. She didn't even offer us a cup of tea (she was drinking some when we arrived), which is SO the norm for the Irish. Ah well... At least all of the houses we rented on the trip weren't like this one!

The Burren is an amazing landscape - parts of it made me think that I was on the moon. So interesting and different from other parts of the island!

Our first day there, Watson stayed back with Gramma and Grampa  (he was a little "tombed-out") while Jubin, Jamieson, and I went to see some archaeological sites - the Burren has MANY of them.

First, we went up a crazy switchback road to get to Poulnabrone, a really amazing neolithic portal tomb (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poulnabrone_dolmen). The tomb had/s burials 5K years old. There is even a much later infant burial at the entrance to the portal tomb a 1K years later. Imagine a woman (likely a important person in the community given her access/right to bury here) bringing her young child, who had unexpectedly passed away to this sacred place.  This seems to suggest that the early Irish population (mesolithic, neolithic hunter gatherers, pastoralists, and early agriculturalists) placed high importance on these places for a very very long time.

check out that road!

see all the beautiful wildflowers?

Then, we continued down the road to the Caherconnell Stone Fort (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caherconnell_Stone_Fort), which is privately owned and operated (funny how some of the historic/archaeological sites are operated by individuals and families in ROI!). They also had donkeys and goats wandering the area that Jamie enjoyed.

On our way back to the house, we found the Gleninsheen wedge tomb along the side of the road - super-cool! No car park or anything, just a random site that was very easy to miss in amongst the stony landscape.

After returning, we went for a driving tour of the Flaggy Shore and had dinner at a local place on the Quay that was pretty good (Linnane's Lobster Bar). Unfortunately, we were all pretty tired by then and ready to be in bed!

The next day, we all drove toward the Cliffs of Moher. Watson wanted to go on a cave tour, so I dropped Jubin and Watson at Doolin Cave (http://www.doolincave.ie/index.php/guides-a-tours) that was discovered by students. The goats on the roof of the visitor center were very fun! Can you spot them in the pic below? Close-ups follow.

They took a long elevator ride down into the Cave and were shown all around - it includes the 2nd largest stalactite in the world.

I then drove on to the Cliffs of Moher (http://www.cliffsofmoher.ie/) where Mom, Dad, Jamie, and I had lunch in the cafe (another good one at a site's visitor center- why is the food at sites in the U.S. so bad?). After picking up Jubin and Watson, we all got to wander around the Cliffs of Moher, which was very scenic. The Cliffs are, of course, very high (you can walk along the top from end to end if you have the energy and inclination!). And, there were lots of nesting birds. It was a bit rainy, but never downpoured. For me, I am never as impressed by the big tourist attractions as I am by the sites that no one in the U.S. has heard of, and the Cliffs fit right into that pattern. Pretty, neat, but not in my top 10 for the trip. I did, however, find and purchase my souvenir ROI wool sweater at one of the shops at the Cliffs. ;)

By the end of these couple of days, we were all ready for home and some alone-time. But, I would go back to the Burren to explore, for sure. I would stay elsewhere, and I would plan to explore Galway a bit as well. See pic of a map below - great resource for the future.