Thursday, June 16, 2016

Day Five in the Morning


We left Dingle Friday morning and headed up towards the Cliffs of Moher.  We saw a lot of beautiful Irish countryside.  Michelle and I counted at least a dozen or more ruins of castles, churches etc. along the way.  They just dot the landscape.

We stopped in the town of Annascaul and visited the South Pole Inn.  Tom Crean, a native of Annascaul joined Ernest Shackleton's expedition to the South Pole on the Endurance and was instrumental in helping to save those on that expedition.  He came home to Ireland and opened up this pub, calling it the South Pole Inn.







I just had to take a picture of the mailman, on his yellow bike!



Next stop was the Listowel Castle - the horse racetrack was right next door.



The castle, above, was built in the 15th Century. It overlooks the river Feale.  A substantial part of the front of the castle survives, consisting of two large square towers of four stories connected by an arched wall.



When asked where the stone from the rest of the castle went, the tour guide pointed to these two churches nearby and said, "It was recycled."


We then took the ferry across the river Shannon.
 

Another pretty church with a beautiful design on the front, at the town we stopped at for lunch.

We ate lunch at Crotty's Pub.  Look who is still on their cell phones!



As we headed further up the coast to the Cliffs of Moher, we drove through the town of Quilty, in County Clare!  Yes there is a town called Quilty in Ireland and in that town is a Quilty Tavern Bar!  It is most likely pronounced Kilty, and it's name is thought to come from Coillte, meaning woods.  So, it probably has nothing to do with quilts, but I was excited nonetheless :)

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