EireLandings ~ Part Five

The River Shannon

       Beautiful Landscapes and sunny skies were the order of this our third day on tour.  We left Ennis at 8 am and followed a trail of the ubiquitous and still charming cottage and castle ruins on our morning adventure.   We raced past and took photos from the bus and all the while I imagined the hours I would take on my own exploring the sites, listening for the stones to tell their tales, hearing the voices of the ancients who passed by, walked through, or lived in midst of these walls.  But it was only the beginning of the day.

  Our first stop of the day was the panoramic view of the coast of County Clare from the Cliffs of Moher - a well recognized scene, even if not everyone knows where it is. 

     

     So many films have used the cliffs and the beaches as backdrops without even slightly diminishing its breathtaking impact from real time experience.  It's hard to choose one photo to represent the wonder of it.  The wind blowing the cleanest air in the country from across the Atlantic Ocean adds to the breathlessness of the visit. 

       These dramatic cliffs are 668 feet above the ocean and from one of the highest points, at O'Brien's Tower, the Aran Islands can be revealed on a rare clear day.

O'Brien's Tower overlooking the Atlantic

The fabeled Aran Islands in the distance
at the horizon

        After a tour of the cave-like Visitor Center, hidden neatly into the hills so as not to detract from the Cliffs, a cup of tea, a few souvenirs from the shop, and it was back on the bus, more to see on the way to lunch.  The Burren was next.  From bustling city, to idyllic village, grassy plains, riversides, crashing oceanic waves, the rapidly changing vistas as seen through the bus windows were never monotonous, never tedious.  The only constant was the change and the knowing that many more ruins were to be seen lying about in back gardens and along the road.  But I was not prepared for The Burren.  It was the most unusual groundscape I have ever seen.  More to come...

      

       The River Shannon is the longest in Ireland with its source in County Cavan in the northwest and its emptying into the Atlantic at the estuary in County Limerick.  It marks the traditional boundaries between two of the four Irish Provinces, Leinster and Connaght.