Ireland, Temple Cronan

We headed away from the coastline and into the interior where we had been told "there's not anything to see in the middle of Ireland." This from a 20-something young lady who described her country in terms of which pubs were the best ones had the best food and most fun.


We didn't know what to expect but thought it would be fun to find the Temple Cronan Church. With stone fences and gates for the animals, there were also steps, although very narrow and steep most times, for the people. I was going to head off to the left where the hill was to find the church, but somehow Craig noticed something and said we should head to the right where I could not see a single thing that looked like a church.


To the right was the church, I was expecting something a wee bit larger. I'm standing on the top step to climb over the stone monastic enclosure. The church was built in the 12th century.


The new door was added in the 15th-16th century and the old door (on the left) was blocked in.


Around the church are found carved stone heads of animals and humans.


Sure looks like a carving. There are two tent-like tombs here that are dated older than the church. The one closest to the church is known as the bed grave of St. Cronan, the founder of the monastery. The other one does not have a name.

Ireland, Cliffs of Moher

This is my view of O'Brien's Tower, built 1835 by Sir Cornellius O'Brien, a descendant of Brian Boru, the High King of Ireland. There is a single room above the ground floor with access to the roof. (I could mention that Cornellius is a cousin of mine.)


Craig's view. It was built as a place for the queen to visit as well as the hundreds of Victorian tourists that visited the area. It is said that he hoped to develop tourism to benefit the local economy and bring people out of poverty.


This marks the highest point of the Cliffs which are 8km long and 215m high.


From the rooftop, on a clear day you can see as far as Loop Head at the southern tip of County Clare and beyond to the mountains of Kerry, as well as the Twelve Pins beyond Galway Bay. The Aran Islands to the west looked very close.




Hmmm, do we stop here or continue along the edge of the cliff? I should mention, to the right was a memorial to "All those that have lost their lives at the Cliffs."


Sir Cornellius built this wall of Moher slate flagstone. Liscannor, nearby, is famous for its slate flagstones which was used for fencing.


Remember the scene in Princess Bride where the man in black is climbing the rope trying to catch up to Buttercup? It was filmed at the Cliffs of Moher.


Standing on the edge of the Cliffs is dangerous, it can give way and crash into the ocean, hence the memorial to all those who lost their lives here.

Ireland, County Clare

We could see this cemetery up on the hill with the church ruin. Craig did a 90 turn doing 55 and found it like he lived there.


The view was lovely from the church ruins.




The Irish language is still used today.


This fence could very well have been built hundreds of years ago.

The Day Paige was Baptized

Drawing by Anna, of Paige. To see more of Anna's work go here.


Here's another one, Paige.


Are you sure it will all fit?


Emma


Avery


Rush


Really, grandma, while I'm eating???


Audrey


Sierra, the golden child


The other golden children.


Some of the golden girls.


Ben, the holder of the next to youngest golden child.


Ben, who is surrounded by a few of the golden granddaughters.

(All this golden silliness is to poke fun at Ben)

Is it too late to post for Spring?

It's hard to get good shots with the sun directly overhead but it worked well for this photo
.

It really looks like the tulips are leaning towards the fountain to get a drink of water. I cropped a bit off one side to cut down on the "clutter" so the focus would be more on the water.


The whole reason for stopping and taking pictures were these tulips. The pinks and purples were so pretty. I wanted to crop this one, too, but I didn't liked how it looked. For me to like this, the street's going to have to look like grass.

Went for a walk and what did we see?