Galway & KIlarney

We had reservations for dinner at Oscar's the first night in Galway.  We had wild prawns, scallops, monkfish, carrots. The muscadet and warm chocolate pudding, with candied orange on top and vanilla ice cream on the side for dessert made a nice finish to the evening repast.

Galway is known as a foodie haven and we had food tour the next morning where we sampled everything from chocolates to raspberry swirled croissants, and fish stew to mussels and oysters. A fitting  introduction to the Galway dining scene. And there was an opportunity to add some ice cream for dessert.

Wandering Galway on our way to Oscars, where we dined the first night, we noted several crafts along the waterfront and Galway's own Spanish Arch. 

Add some very colorful flower arrangements with buildings decorated like frosted cakes and tapas bars with flamenco dancer decor and you get a sense of the city's ambiance.

We followed the the Wild Atlantic Way in the rain through fields of stones, wiith waterfalls everywhere heading to the Cliffs of Moher. We stopped in the colorful town of Doolin for the cruise along the Cliffs of Moher

The Cliffs of Moher are well worth the stop, two stops if you have the time for a cruise as well as the view from the top. Be prepared for photos on the outbound and inbound segments of the cruise. On the top left is the path to O'Brien's Tower (in the distance), bottom right is the view of the Cliffs of Moher from the path near the tower, and the other two were taken on the cruise. The amazing thing is there was a horde of visitors but this is such a massive site, it just swallowed them up. 

Killarney is a central location for exploring the Dingle Peninsula and the Ring of Kerry. In Killarney you can visit the Killarney House and Gardens, take touristy horse drawn jaunting carts around the city and to Ross Castle. 

Our Dingle Penninsula tour stopped near Killarney for a view of Lough Leane from near Parkavonear Castle. We had another break at Inch Beach.

We drove along a narrow road made all the narrower by the plants overtaking the road. In Anascaul we visited the Tom Crean Memorial. Tom was an Irish seaman and a member of three major expeditions to Antarctica. 

We stopped at the Gallarus Oratory, a well preserved 1000 year old Christian Stone Church. The best preserved ancient church in Ireland.

In Dingle we visited the Díseart Institute of Education and Celtic Culture to see the noted six stained glass windows by Harry Clarke.

In Castlemaine there's a statue of Jack Duggan who is said to have emigrated to Australia in the 1800's and became a beloved Robin Hood style outlaw aka a bush ranger. (Researching this we saw a few variants on the story but it is the story of the statue, anyway.)

In Fungie, we checked out the Dingle Dolphin statue commemorating a dolphin that lived in Dingle Harbor from 1983 until his disappearance in 2020.

On our way to the Ring of Kerry, Pat snapped a photo of Derrycunihy Church. 

There was a nice view of Killarney National Park and Moll's Gap including the "Ladies View" over the lakes.

In the picturesque town of Sneem Pat bought some lambs wool slipper's at Green Chair.

In Keel, where our guide grew up, we stopped at the Driftwood Surf Cafe for some Korean style chicken with a spicy kick, along with some fresh locally caught hake in a light beer batter accompanied with minted peas & tartare sauce & chips (fries). We also stopped at the Skellig Chocolate factory for some samples (we actually brought some home with us).

Starting in 1959 the Charlie Chapman family made Waterville their second home for many years and the town erected the statue as a remembrance.

We toured the house and gardens at Derrynane, the home of a beloved Irish politician and statesman, Daniel O'Connell.

With help of our driver these excursions were interesting despite the cold and rain.