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ADVENTURES IN IRELAND |
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THE 
OF WESTERN COUNTY CLARE, IRELAND
Taken from Home
At Firsts Ireland
Activity Guide
From the moonscape wilderness of the Burren
to the great drama of Ireland's Atlantic wall at the
Cliffs of Moher, western County Clare is primitive
Ireland at its natural best, and most surprising.
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THE POULNABRONE DOLMEN:
WHO SET THE TABLE ON THE BURREN? |
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Photos © Home At First
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County Clare extends from the
western Atlantic coast of Ireland to the center of the Republic of Ireland. Its eastern
and southern borders are the waterways of the Shannon River, longest in Ireland. Along the
Shannon and its principal lake, Lough Derg, County Clare is fertile, green, and dotted
with prosperous towns. In pretty Killaloe town, overlooking the point where the Shannon
flows out of Lough Derg to begin its journey west to the Atlantic,
HOME AT FIRST has guest cottages.
THE BURREN
Western County Clare is
different. A high, rocky plateau rises from the ocean which assaults it with great winds
and waves. Part of this plateau, called
THE BURREN,
is largely a wilderness of rocky outcroppings, in some eyes more reminiscent of a
moonscape than the lush pastoral greens of Ireland.
Here is a region to
visit if you enjoy wild, unusual, remarkable, surprising, even other-worldly scenery. The
flora, archaeology, geology, legends and history of this unique and mysterious area are
explained at the Burren Centre in Kilfenora. The
Burren Centre is open daily from March 15
through October from at least 10AM5PM. You can eat at the center's tea
room or stop for a light snack or a hearty meal at
nearby Vaughan’s Pub.
Before leaving Kilfenora, be sure to visit the cathedral grounds, site of several still
standing high crosses and other medieval artifacts and architecture.
There is history and prehistory
here. Among the rocks protruding across the treeless Burren is the
Poulnabrone
Dolmen prehistoric standing stone
table. The dolmen is a 6,000-year-old
burial marker and the most famous of the many prehistoric monuments
here. It may not be Stonehenge, but the Poulnabrone Dolmen is a mystery
in mysterious place. Who erected it and why here in such a barren
wilderness are questions that remain unanswered.
Not all the mysteries of the
Burren are above ground. Below the Burren is Ailwee
Cave, one of the oldest and most
extensive in Ireland. A
tour guide shows you through the underground passages into the heart of this recently
discovered cave.
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THE
CLIFFS OF MOHER
Most famous among the dramatic, unusual, and
even powerfully eerie landscapes of western County Clare are the
CLIFFS OF MOHER about an hour's drive southwest from the Ailwee Cave along
the fabulous Atlantic coast road west and south. The cliffs form the great western wall of
Ireland just south of Galway Bay. They are exposed to the full wrath of the Atlantic Ocean
and are worth a visit particularly on a breezy day. The sheer cliffs extend from
Hag’s Head in the south, where they are 400 feet high, to O’Brian’s Tower
in the north, where they reach a height of 656 feet. Between these two points are five
miles of generally flat plateau. The best views can be had at O’Brian’s Tower,
where, on a clear day, you can get a fine view of the Aran Islands which guard the
entrance to Galway Bay.
To golfers, a more noted
landmark is further along the coast. One of Ireland's great links courses,
Lahinch,
is along the coast road not far from the Cliffs of Moher. |
THE CLIFFS OF MOHER:
IRELAND'S ATLANTIC WALL |
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beauty, and the vagaries of Atlantic weather can suddenly change the mood and the
challenge of the course from friendly to fierce. The mystery at Lahinch, of course, is
which mood will the course exhibit the day you play. |
THE CHARACTER OF RURAL IRELAND |
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CITIZEN FROM
COUNTY
CLARE |
There
is no mystery about the quality of the food and the character of the Irish who reside in
County Clare. The choices of dining are almost endless, ranging from sumptuous banquets in
medieval castles to pub grub with live Irish music, to fine dining in elegant restaurants
featuring the best of seafood, Irish meats, inland produce and dairy items. The Irish
character in County Clare is that made legendary by
William
Butler Yeats, himself an Irish legend. The Protestant Dubliner fell in love with Ireland's rural western counties. In
its downtrodden, impoverished peasantry Yates saw something that impressed him, and his
writings of Irish myth, beauty, and mystery bestowed dignity on a people that had been
treated as cultural inferiors on two continents. In the Irish vernacular Yeats heard music
and poetry. In the impoverished, empty land he saw poetic beauty. In the styles of the
common Irish he saw a harmony with the land, an ease and grace in the face of daunting
challenges from Nature and |
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foreign domination. W. B. Yates, like America’s Walt
Whitman and Carl Sandberg, saw nobility in the commonplace. His songs of praise of his
adopted home and its natives have earned both the attention of the world, and won Yates
the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1923. |
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This article is taken from
HOME AT
FIRST’s 100+ page comprehensive
"Ireland Activity Guide".
The only way to get your copy is to
travel with HOME AT FIRST to Ireland.
You can explore the mysteries of western County Clare
as
part of your travels in Central Ireland with
HOME AT FIRST.
More information about HOME AT FIRST's travel program to:
CENTRAL
IRELAND. |
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