Click on images for more pictures.
Roundstone
Doolin
Cliffs of Moher
Sunday, September 9th
Roundstone, Clifden
Drove to Roundstone, a coastal fishing village dating from 1820. (Please note I will refrain from calling anything picturesque; just assume that it all is). After taking numerous photographs we stopped at the Music Shop where they make the traditional Irish goatskin drum, the Bodhran. Bought “spoons” hand crafted instrument as a gift and asked the shopkeeper to pick out a CD of traditional music for us. That was the one souvenir I bought myself.
Ate at O’ Dowd’s a longtime establishment. I had fresh cod, huge filet and tried a Harp’s beer. There was brown bread but there is always brown bread though there are a variety of styles. Michael had a fish stew. We were getting all the fresh fish we could get.
On the way back we stopped at the Castle ruins (our bumper sticker should have said we stop for castles and towers.) It wasn’t well marked but Michael has a way of finding his way back to these treasures. And of course we had some guidebooks our daughter Kim had given us before our trip. Soon we found we were being followed by a couple of horses in the next field and by an American couple, two lawyers from California. We enjoyed chatting and taking pictures of each other. And I talked to the horse like I would my dogs and petted him and then surprisingly he licked my arm. The castle set off by it gave us all sorts of photo opportunities.
That night we wandered down to the town and found Manion’s Pub. No particular reason we chose this one. Sure the music was great but even more fun was the Australian couple, Pete and Ginny, we shared a table with. We hit it off like we had been friends forever. They like us had left the big cities behind and settled in a rural area in Australia and yet they were world travelers with a worldview. After hours of conversation and laughter and a couple of pints of Guiness and a glass of Smithwicks we closed down the bar. We exchanged web addresses.
Monday, September 10th
Doolin, Lisdoonvarna, Cliffs of Moher
Once again we went looking for a B&B. The guidebook suggested Lisdoonavarna as it was larger than Doolin where I had wanted to go but Lisdoonavarna was in the midst of the annual Matchmaking Festival so we moved on. Our former innkeeper had directed us to her friends B&B. The Atlantic Sunset B&B was not in Doolin but it was close enough. At first I was not impressed with Doolin. It was small with not many eateries. But once we started exploring we were good. First we found the beach with its crazy stones formed from the glaciers. We would later find out that it was all a part of a vast expanse of the Burren, limestone bed that once formed the ocean floor. We snacked on some picnic food on the windy beach.
We went out to the Cliffs of Moher for a breathtaking view overlooking the Atlantic. It is one of the most visited sites in Ireland. The edges are very well protected maybe even too protected with stone walls. So Michael went beyond the “do not go beyond this point” so I could snap a picture. Note the picture of him standing unafraid meanwhile I was surprised that I didn’t shake taking the picture.
We ate at Bruach na haille and had a “starter” a small meal of fishcakes made of potatoes prawns and fish. Absolutely scrumptious. Having scrimped a little on the meal we treated ourselves to tiramisu. That evening we went to Fitz’s Bar to hear traditional Irish music, comparable to American Blue Grass. The musicians played the bodhran, the banjo and the guitar. Certainly the best we had heard so far in our travels. I thought of our musician friends back in Medicine Park and how they would have loved it.