Day 1
Pick up your car at the car hire desk at Shannon Airport and head to
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Ennis is a truly outstanding town. Lining its narrow, meandering streets is a bewildering variety of fantastic shopping opportunities:
The Ennis Sculpture Initiative has installed numerous sculptures along the riverside in Ennis, as well as creating street furniture in the town centre. The sculpture trail takes many forms depicting cultural, historical and sporting events as well as more abstract pieces.
The
Ennis Friary, is a Franciscan Friary founded by the O'Briens Kings of Thomond,
in the 13th century. The site was originally on an island in the River Fergus
aroudn which the modern town of Ennis has grown.. The well-preserved ruins
consist of a nave, chancel, belfry and an arcaded cloister.
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History, mythology, legends, ghosts, poverty, murder and more are all covered on these lively and entertaining guided walking tours through the winding streets of medieval Ennis. Hear tales of the characters who shaped the town's past and the mythology and legends of the town - from banshees to Biddy Early, the Magical Lady of Clare
Tours start opposite the Tourist Office.
Schedule:11.00 and 19.00 every day [except Tuesday], May – Oct |
Day 2 - The Burren
The route takes you by way of The Biddy Early Brewery in Inagh, and through Ennistymojn, home town of Caitlin Thomas, wife of the welsh poet Dylan Thomas.
The town of Ennistymon is hidden in a recess among the surrounding hills. It lies on the southern edge of the Burren, two miles inland from the Atlantic. The narrow street near the bridge over the Cullenagh River will take you to the oldest part of the town.
A little below the bridge, the river rushes over an extensive ridge of rocks and forms a beautiful cascade about one and one-half miles away from where it joins the river Derry.
Just down the road from Ennistymon is Lahinch Golf Club. As you drive towards Lahinch, you will notice the Great Famine Memorial located on the north side of the Ennis Road. This was the first memorial in Ireland dedicated to those who suffered through the "Great Hunger."
Brian Merriman the poet, and author of "The Midnight Court" was born in Ennistymon around 1749.
The next village, Lahinch, is world famous for its golf course. Check out the winkle sellers who are still to be seen in the summer months on the seafront. Liscannor is famous for its limestone rock that slices ionto layers thin enough to be used for roofing. Liscannor is also noted as the birthplace of engineer and submarine innovator John Philip Holland.
As you approach the Cliffs of Moher you will see St Bridgets Well on the left hand side - an amazing holy well, still very popular. The cliffs visitor centre at the top tends to be very busy, so our advice is to go on into Doolin and take a crusie on the Jack B, seeing them from the bottom.
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Doolin, Roadford and Fisherstreet is a rambling area along the coast, at the end of which is the Doolin Craft Gallery, one of the best loved craftshops in Ireland. The gallery is accompanied by a very cozy restaurant serving only home cooked dishes, surrounded by the splendid gardens created lovingly over the past years. There were one or two good musicians who were also good drinkers and they could be relied upon to always be in O'Connor's pub. So people went down there, there was always music. For a long time there was pressure on our culture with the English language and foreign music. But there were little pockets where the language survived and also pockets where the music was kept alive. Doolin just happened to be one of those pockets. It was a poor place, only fisher people living there really and music, dancing and singing was their entertainment.
Lisdoonvarna, known as the matchmaking capital of Ireland, is also famed for its smokehouse producing delicious smoked salmon, and it spa, producing disgustingly smelly but very health giving waters.
In the picturesque village of Kilfenora, The Burren Centre gives the visitor an introduction to the visual delights and ancient mysteries which await to be discovered in this unspoiled corner of Ireland. This walk through time will take you back through the aeons to a time when this area lay beneath a warm tropical sea. Follow the story of the formation of the Burren's lunar landscape where man hunted bear, and wolves roamed the forests.See how, thousands of years ago, man left his mark on the landscape in the form of Dolmens and burial chambers.
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The Burren |
The Burren is a limestone plateau on the West Coast of Ireland, famous for its wildness and the diversity of its plant life. There are more than 700 species of flowering plants here, roughly three-quarters or Ireland’s native flora.
At The Burren Perfumery, run by Sadie Chowen, visitors can view the distillation and soap making areas, visit the herb garden and organic tea rooms and, of course, try out Perfumery. It is a very unusual and special place near Carran in the heart of the Burren.
A diversion between Kilfenora and Carron will bring you to Caherconnell Stone Fort and Poulnabrone Dolmen
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Kinvara (Cinn Mhara) – “The Head of the Sea”, is County Galway’s only prominent sea village on the southern shores of Galway Bay. It is situated at the head of Kinvara Bay. Dunguaire Castle guards this end of the bay, and is one of the most popular tourists spots in County Galway.
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| Kinvara Harbour (left) and Galway Hookers (right) | Dunguaire Castle | Kinvara |
Kinvara was once a thriving port to which the necessities of life, such as turf (fuel), were brought by the traditional Connemara sailing craft in the 19th century. This trade is recalled each Summer in Cruinniu na mBad, a sea festival organised by the village, which sees the old boats compete in a host of exciting races and events. Take the Ardrahan road out of Kinvara and head for Gort.
Thoor Ballylee was Yeats's monument and symbol; in both aspects it had multiple significance. It satisified his desire for a rooted place in a known countryside, not far from Coole and his life-long friend Lady Gregory.To live in a Tower complemented, perhaps, his alignment with a tradation of cultivated aristocracy which he had envied and a leisured peace which he had enjoyed.
The tower or castle that Yeats bought was a sixteeneth century norman castle built by the family de Burgo, or Burke. It consisted of four floors with one room on each, connected by a spiral stone stairway built into the seven-foot thickness of the massive outer wall. Each floor had a window overlooking the river which flowed alongside. At the top here was a flat roof reached by a final steep flight of steps from the floor below.
Coole
Park outside Gort was the home of Lady Augusta Gregory, dramatist and
co-founder with Edward Martyn and W.B. Years of the Abbey Theatre. The area is
also a National Nature Reserve due to its great wildlife importance - its native
woodlands and turloughs.
Carry on the main road back to Ennis
Click here to Continue on to Day 3
Protravel International
12000 Biscayne Blvd.
Suite 400Miami, Florida 33181
The
1 hour cruise on the Jack B is a voyage of discovery along
this 8km shoreline and a more enjoyable, enriching, and fulfilling
experience you will not find on the Irish coastline. As you approach the
Cliffs on the southern tip of Galway Bay and the Burren, you will gaze in
awe at the scale and uniqueness of this natural phenomenon. The
cliffs rise from the Atlantic Ocean to a height of nearly 200 meters and
extend for a distance of 8km from Hag's Head due west of Liscannor to a
point beyond O'Brien's Tower where the cliffs reach their highest point.