Day 7: Thursday (6/13/2013)

Today, we decided to explore as much of County Kerry as possible.  So: up early, another delicious breakfast, and out the door.

The first stop of the day was Tralee, a small town to the north of the NE of Dingle.  Our reason for being there: the Kerry County Museum.

Whaddup my medieval bro.

This was a good stop.  The museum does a great job cataloging the history (prehistoric to present) of Kerry County.  The only drawback was that there was a parade of school buses coming through the museum, so quiet contemplation was at a premium.

After the museum, we headed north for County Clare.  We drove through Ennis, a small working town called "the gateway" to County Clare.  From there, we visited the Cliffs of Moher.

This was... breathtaking.  Majestic vistas of 600 foot cliffs bordering the Atlantic.  Wind is strong enough to smack you off your feet.  I'm really not sure how to describe the Cliffs of Moher.  This is a sight that no visitor to Ireland should miss.  What an amazing and unforgettable sight.

(Nerd side-note: when I saw these, I immediately thought of all the convenient endless cliffs people get thrown or driven off of in the Indiana Jones movies.  They're that tall.)

Reluctantly leaving the cliffs, we continued north to Kilfenora to enter The Burren. We stopped at Caherconnell Ring Fort, which was a fascinating working archaeological dig.  Well worth the stop, although we didn't get to explore it fully--lashing rain soon drove us indoors and back to our car.  I felt for the poor grad students stuck at the dig.

Like another planet.

From there we wandered through the region.  The Burren is like nothing I've ever seen before.  It's like another planet--strange rocky ground with plants struggling to survive in the cracks between limestone.  But for all that, the grass there is apparently very lush, and cattle do really well in the Burren (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Burren).

From the Burren we drove on to Kinvarra, a very cute seaside town nestled under the looming ruins of Dunguaire Castle.  The latter was our true destination.

Would mi'lord like some dinner?

One of Mary's big asks for this trip was to have dinner in a real castle--something she's been dying to do ever since I took her to Medieval Times in Los Angeles.  You can read all about this event here.  Yes, it's cheesy--but enjoyable.  See my review here.

We got ourselves mi'lord-ed out the door, hit the road, and finally made it into Galway at around 9pm.  13 hours of driving today.

Our lodgings in Galway were at the Petra House, a fantastic B&B outside of the town center.  The proprietor, Frank, is just utterly fantastic.  As an example, we were taken aback at how weak our shower was--it took a long time to shower in a trickle of water.  When we asked Frank what we were doing wrong, he immediately showed us a bunch of extra rooms, had us try the showers, and select the one we wanted.  The result?  More work for Frank, but a much relieved Mary and Steve.

Galway's main pedestrian drag.

After checking in, we headed out to explore the town.  Immediately, we found Galway to be a very lively place.  It's an interesting-mix of medieval and college town, with all the pubs, screaming drunk kids, and street performers you'd expect.  It reminds me of colder, wetter Florence, actually, with the walkable old town crammed with nightlife surrounded by a working city full of people that try very hard to avoid having to go through the center area.

With rain on the way and a long day behind us, we decided to head in and crash.  Tomorrow: more road tripping!