Ireland Road Trip: Heading West

April 18th-19th, 2011

Trim, Co. Meath, to Doolin, Co. Galway

We had a late start to our trip due to some unfinished taxes and a slow car pick-up at the airport.  We even ended up making the very daring decision of a manual in an attempt to speed things along.  Our first stop, the Hills of Tara, gave us a further set back as it was closed for the day.  We continued on to a nearby site suggested by the friendly Tara folks, with lots of Round Towers and Celtic Crosses.  Round towers, if you're wondering, look something like this:

They are very tall stone towers made by monks, and have no windows or even doors until about 15 feet up, because the foundation only goes about 2 feet down.  So basically, an architectural marvel.  Opinions are mixed on the "why," but one tour guide told us, and I tend to agree, that the idea that they were for defense or to "hide out" is absurd.  If monks were being attacked and ran up a tower, the attackers would then know exactly where they were and how to corner them, and since the towers had no defense mechanisms, that would be the end.  They were more likely libraries, and some attempt to get closer to God by building towards the heavens.

Working out way westward, we stopped at another set of ruins (we should have got a bumper sticker that said "we stop for round towers").  This one had giant keys to open each metal door, and to get to them, you had to walk right out with the cows.  Very rustic.

By evening, we made it to Trim, named for Trim Castle.  We spent some time exploring the outside, but sadly, the inside wasn't open for tourist season yet.

My dad was thrilled to see that it actually had a moat.

Other ruins near the castle, on a ruins walk suggested by the woman at the hotel.  She assured us that they were "very nice ruins."  My parents are looking at the info on the cathedral, while I've climbed up into the stone work.

We stayed the night in a lovely hotel in Trim, and after my parent's first real full Irish breakfast, continued westward the next day.  On the way, we made the glorious discovery of Yeat's tower.  Having just read his poetry collection, The Tower, which was actually written while he holed himself up in this tower during the war, this was a pretty cool find for me.

Yeats Tower, Thoor Baylee, Gort, Co. Galway

...And we also found some more ruins, with some more cows.  They really don't mind you if you don't mind them.

Finally, we made it all the way to the coast and the Cliffs of Moher (no one really knows how to pronounce it-- it always comes out sounding something like "more," but you say it all drawn out and hope people understand).

The signs were pretty amusing.  "Don't step on fire while trying to catch birds"?

The cliffs really were stunning, although it was a pretty misty day, but apparently that's par for the course at the cliffs.

With out real sight-seeing done for the day, we headed to our stop for the night: Doolin and the St. Anthony B&B.  We went to the docks to sign up for our morning ferry to the Aran Islands, then went on Bridget's suggestion to O'Connor's Pub for some food and live music.  They really did call out for people to sing a song of their own-- I thought the Musical Pub Crawl guys had been making that up. 

Two boys with tin whistles joined the band too.  They weren't half bad.  I entertained one of their little sisters with a card game while they played, but she fell asleep pretty quick.