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A post from the highlands of Ireland!

On the drive from Galway to Dingle, we passed through Burren and the Cliffs of Moher.  Burren is an interesting but barren landscape consisting of limestone broken in places with rifts several feet deep.  In this high area, the ancient people who lived here made stone tombs of large slabs of limestone.  The Poulnabrone Dolmen is one such tomb from 2000 B.C.

In Kilfenora we ate lunch and chatted with the owner of the pub Linneane’s.

The Cliffs of Moher are so obviously the inspiration for The Princess Bride’s cliffs of insanity, it isn’t even funny.  These cliffs drop 650-700 feet directly into the Atlantic Ocean.  We spent quite a time walking the cliffs and visiting the excellent visitor center.

Lahinch is a “really cute” (according to Karen) town, and appears to have a decent surf break.  From Killimer to Tarbert, we took the ferry and thereby cut 1.5 hours off the drive around the River Shannon through  Limerick.  From the boat we drove over the Connor Pass on the Dingle Peninsula, over the Sleive Mish mountains and into swarms of mini-mosquitos at a turnout to view a waterfall and granite lake.

The town of Dingle is a great town of 1500.  We stayed at Greenmount House, a lovely B&B about a 5 minute walk from town and having great views of the harbor. We had dinner at John Benny Moriarty’s near the water and enjoyed the Guiness beef stew and live music in the neighboring pubs.