Cliffs of Moher, Limerick, and Visitors from Belgium

My good friend Brigette from high school is studying in Belgium this year, so she and her friend Maggie came to visit Galway last weekend. (From the left - my roommate Maggie, me, Brigette's Maggie, and Brigette.)

We spent Saturday taking a tour around parts of the Burren area and to the Cliffs of Moher. Above is Dunguaire Castle, a 16th-century castle on Galway Bay.

At Dunguaire Castle with Maggie, Brigette, and Annie

Ballyalban earthen ring-fort

The Dolmen (a burial site constructed 5800 years ago, now a landmark of the Burren)

Kilfenora Cathedral, a 6th-century monastery

The Cliffs of Moher

 

Colin (fellow Georgetown-er), Annie, and me... 214 meters high

Thrilling fact: the scenes at the "Cliffs of Insanity" in The Princess Bride were filmed here. Beyond excited.

Exploring with Annie - more of the Burren coast around Galway Bay

Sunday brought a visit to Limerick City, about an hour and a half south of Galway

St. Mary's Cathedral in Limerick

King John's Castle

River Shannon

Meeting up with an old friend of Brigette's.... behind us, Limerick's Broken Treaty Stone, part of a turbulent past with Britain

The Burren

Hiking the Burren this past Sunday, with the University's Mountaineering Club

The Burren is a region of mountains and limestone in County Clare (about an hour south of Galway).

Its Irish name is Boireann, which supposedly means either "great rock" or "stony place."

Incredible views, and incredible wind

The group, taking a lunch break

Cattle kept at surprising heights in the mountains

Ballyvaughan (the tiny nearby town)

A Day in Town

Wolfe Tone Bridge, with Maggie (one of my apartment-mates) and Kayla

...good thing they put up the sign.

Quay Street

Quote from a BBC article about Galway: "In the summer. . .strolling down the main street you will see a never-ending supply of people busking on tin whistles, fiddles, accordions, guitars, bongos, didgeridoos and bodhrans; judggling knives or flaming torches, performing feats of acrobatics, riding unicycles, lying on beds of nails, or generally making performance art out of whatever they found they were carrying when they arrived on the street."  An exaggeration, I'm sure... but... not too far off the mark.

 

 

Church of St. Nicholas (its claim to fame: supposedly Christopher Columbus prayed here on a stop in Galway before heading to America)

Farmer's market outside the church

Personally, I think Ireland doesn't get enough credit for having delicious cheese.