Wednesday, May 21st, Thursday, May 22nd, & Friday, May 23rd

Wednesday, May 21st

It’s anther 9 am departure from Lahinch to Doolin (a ferry departure spot for the Aran Islands) heading to the “Wild Atlantic Way” (a tourism trademark name). First stop is in the Burren region (a Natural Geo Park) where limestone rocks deposited during the ice age (361 million years ago) form a very unique landscape. Many wildflowers create a colorful patchwork.

After leaving the Burren region, we continued our drive along the Wild Atlantic Way coast with great views of Galway Bay and the Aran Islands. We stopped at another castle, Dunguaire, took some pictures and continued to Galway for an afternoon of exploring.

Our first stop was Eyre Park where President Kennedy addressed the Irish people in June of 1963 before he was assassinated in November of 1963. The Irish loved JFK! Many homes have a photo of him on their mantle.

We explored the pedestrian street known as the Latin Quarter; the Galway Museum (with a life size replica of the Galway Hooker); the “Long Walk”; the Spanish Arch; and the Train Tour of the city. We had a good chunk of time to relax in Eyre Park before boarding our bus to head to Clifden Town via the Connemara Region with its patchwork farmland divided by 7000 year old Neolithic walls.

We arrived at our accommodations (The Clifden Inn) where we would be for two nights with enough time for a bit of exploring before a group dinner and fun Irish music at Ravi’s.

Thursday, May 22nd

A bit later departure today (9:15 am) as we head to the Connemara Region to hike Diamond Hill (Elevation of 2100+)(One of the 12 peaks in the Manturk Range in the Connemara National Park) and visit Kylemore Castle. First stop on our way out of the town of Clifden was the launderette where we dropped off 16 bags of laundry to be picked up later in the day before they closed at 5:30 pm.

Only 4 of us planned to do the entire Diamond Hill hike that would take us nearly 3 hours – Carrie, Heather, Connie, and Laurette. Dory joined us for the blue loop and we parted ways for the Red loop. What a picture perfect day for a fantastic hike!!! Lee met us at the base of the “hill” to take us to Kylemore Castle where the rest of our tour group had spent the day thus far. We had but a short time to explore the Victorian walled gardens and the castle!! It was a rushed visit, but a good sacrifice given the beautiful hike we were able to experience:)

Following our Kylemore Castle visit we headed back toward Clifden after stopping for a bog cutting and stooking (peat drying) explanation. Once in Clifden we picked up our clean, folded laundry (what a treat!!) and then showered and headed to a relaxing, excellent dinner & dessert in our hotel.

Friday, May 23rd

Today we leave Clifden and head to another part of the Connemara Region. And I must note that we are experiencing our first rain on our 13 Day Irish Experience Tour!!!

Our first stop was to see a view of the Killary Harbour, Ireland’s only fjord. In the fjord was quite the mussel fishing operation for what we were told are the best mussels in all of Ireland.

We stopped in the Village of Leenane where many members of our tour group purchased souvenirs. I purchased a bracelet with Connemara Marble. And a few of us walked down the street to experience the unique aroma of burning peat that is not used as much in Ireland as years ago. Only certain homes are permitted to burn the moss peat.

The next part of our journey took us to the breathtaking valley of Doolough and its tragic past… death from famine. The first famine memorial we visited was in memory of those who perished on the coffin ships and the next (Croagh Patrick) was a National Famine Memorial. The Irish famine of the 1800’s is such a sad, tragic story.

On a lighter note, our next experience was an award winning walking tour of Westport. It even stopped raining for our tour!! The Irish we have met throughout our journey are very proud of their history and their towns. Westport is an award winning “Tidy Town” (the cleanest town in Ireland due to a brigade of local volunteers).

Our accommodation for the next two nights is The Mariner of Westport (the most modern of our accommodations).