A Glimpse of Ireland

  A tour took me across southern Ireland, west to east, in mid July. 

Coast of the Dingle Penninsula, Ireland

Here is a bit of how it looked.

Spectacular vistas

The Cliffs of Moher

Lots of stone monuments. Built in prehistoric times such as this tomb (Poulnabrone, early Paleolithic, built 6200 to 4900 years ago)

Poulnabrone Portal Tomb

or about 1000 years ago, the West Cross at Kilfenora,

The West Cross at Kilfenora

or relatively recent, Newtown Castle, a round tower, County Clare, 16th century.

Newtown Castle

I saw miles and miles of stone walls. Many have been in place for millennia, so are older than the dramatic stone buildings. They mark property lines and have been maintained for the last several thousand years

I enjoyed scentic views

distant view of the Burren, a region of limestone outcrops

towns, most of them small by my standards,

Ennistymon, County Clare

more scenic views,

countryside at sunset

and places where on the neighboring property was a ruined castle:

Adare Castle, Adare, County Limerick,
seen from the back of Dunraven Arms Hotel

We continued on to Dublin

Dublin, traffic and apartments

with its famous buildings 

Dublin Castle

and amazing museums

Cross of Cong, National Museum of Archaeology

                                                                        Dublin

I was going to intersperse some of the plants I saw, but this has plenty of photos already, so I will keep those for a forthcoming post. 

The above barely touches the sights of a week in Ireland. 

One thing my photos don't share is the humidity and the "green" smell of the land. We got rained on most days, though often the rain was a fine mist. Lots of humidity: my hair frizzed, handwashing did not dry, and, without being cold, I felt clammy. 

We also had sunshine most days, for an hour or so. On a couple days, it only rained while we were in the bus. We had pretty good luck not being a long way from cover, say, in the middle of an archaeological site, when it started to pour. On a rainy day in Dublin, it let up for an hour as I walked from Trinity College to Dublin Castle. That's not far, but if had rained like it did when we arrived at Trinity College, I'd've been thoroughly soaked. Luck of the [slightly] Irish?

It was, as the photos show, very green. The roadside weeds and garden plants were flowering exuberantly. Photos of them in a future post.

Comments and corrections welcome. 

Kathy Keeler

A Wandering Botanist

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