Leftover Images from Ireland: Part Four

This group of images was taken as we traveled on our day-long journey from Killarney to Galway.  We stopped briefly in the village of Adare.  This is where we saw most of the thatched roofs, although we did see some in the remote countryside as well.

This one was having its roof replaced.

As I said in one of my earlier posts, the Irish countryside is dotted with ruins of various forts, watch towers, castles, homes, etc.  We saw these little structures on many hilltops.  These are leftovers from the era of the Napoleonic Wars and were used a lookouts.  The Irish were very concerned about an invasion by Napoleon's army, and these structures were used to keep a lookout.

Here, some men played golf alongside this structure, a juxtaposition of modern day life and ancient times.

We stopped for to explore the Cliffs of Moher and took time to eat lunch.  When you looked in one direction, you saw this:

In the other direction, this:

The walls lining the walkways out to the tower were made from slabs of rock that contained fossils of worm tracks, worms, fish, and shells.

I paid two euro to climb to the top of the tower.  Looking in one direction, I saw this:

Looking in the other direction, I saw this:

There weren't a lot of stairs, but they were steep.

Back outside, there was this leftover farm implement.

And lots of wildflowers.

We traveled on to The Burren, which consisted of a rocky cliff that dropped off sharply to the sea,

a rocky hillside,

and lots more wildflowers.

We also stopped briefly to see this monument erected in the memory of John P. Holland, an Irish immigrant to the United States who developed the first submarine to be commissioned by the United States Navy.  This monument was erected in the middle of a parking lot, and seemed strangely out of place.

We stopped along the roadside just to take in this view of Galway Bay.

Each little town we passed through was as charming as the last.  I took lots of pictures of doors, and I'll share more of them with you eventually.  I never grew tired of the colorful paint on these buildings, the simple Irish names of the shops and their interesting doors.

The next group I'll show you will be from the Connamara Marble factory and the Celtic Crystal Factory.  After that I'll be showing you some images from the quilt show.