Portal Tomb, Donkey and Cows

After driving through some of The Burren, we decided to stop in the Burren Center to learn more about the landscape we had seen yesterday.  This moon-like looking area was created millions of years ago and is one of the six national parks of Ireland. The Irish name is An Bhoireann, which means a place of stone. In spite of this, the landscape boasts 23 of the 27 types of wild orchids that are native to Ireland!

There are a huge number of ruins here - castle, churches, forts, you n1ame it. It is not unusual to drive by ruins on a daily basis. Today, we happened across the Leamenh Castle Ruins on the way to the Poulnabrone Portal Tomb. The dolmen was constructed from slabs of limestone some time between 4200 BC and 2900 BC.

You will wonder why I am telling you this next bit......but, our neice, Anna (Rhonda's middle girl) decided to do a study abroad program with ECU - to Ireland! As fate would have it, we were in Ireland at the same time. Rhonda really liked knowing we were here for Anna if needed. (You know, mom's can't help but worry about their babies). Today, we figured out we were really close to each other and worked out to meet up briefly at the Portal Tomb. 😊💜

After the brief reunion, I met another donkey when we stopped to see The Pinnacle Well, a Gothic revival well house built in the 1860's. It was originally considered to be a holy well, but now is just a spot for people like us to stop and visit. 

We then added a martello tower to our list of sites. A martello tower was a small defensive fort. They were built mostly along the coast by the British Empire in the 19th century. We next stopped by Dunguaire Castle, which was built in 1520 as a tower house on the shores of Glaway Bay. It was bought in 1924 by Oliver St. John Gogarty (surgeon and literary figure) who repaired the property. He then turned it into a meeting place for literary greats like George Bernard Shaw, Lady Gregory, J M Synge and W. B. Yeats.

On our way to our next B&B, we stopped at Moran's Oyster Cottage, so Richard could enjoy some more Irish oysters. This place sits back along a weir in a quiet little inlet and has been around for 250 years! After a few wrong turns on the small rural roads, we found our B&B and met our neighbors for the next 2 nights.  Mooooo! 🐂hfRead more