Cliffs and Castles

Yesterday I explored The Burren, an area of limestone uplands in County Clare. The Burren is a mystical place, with surreal rock formations, windswept highlands, and a loooong history. This is the Poulnabrone dolmen, a megalithic tomb constructed between 5 and 6 thousand years ago. Underneath the burial mound, archaeologists unearthed the remains of 33 people. It's hard to explain, but in stark areas like this I feel the spirits of many generations of past people, lost in antiquity. The land has been farmed and grazed for millennia.

Danny highly recommended I see the Cliffs of Moher from below, on the ocean, as well as from above. My hosts at the B&B in Doolin said the same thing. Yesterday I took a cruise below the cliffs, and they were right! Spectacular.

The sea stack in front of the cliffs in the previous picture is home to thousands of birds, who have made it an avian condo. Mostly kittiwakes and cormorants.

It was a rough trip out to the cliffs as we sailed into the strong southerly swell and winds. On the way back to Doolin, though, we surfed home with a nice tailwind. We raced a squall approaching from the south.

Today I drove to Kilkenny, in southeastern Ireland. Right downtown is one of the finest castles in the country. It was built in 1192. A single family occupied it from 1391 to 1935. Now it's a museum. Kilkenny is a bustling modern town on one hand, and a medieval time capsule on the other. I'll explore it in depth tomorrow.