Travelogue: "RM" Writes: Ireland Views

Connemara Natl Park


Potato Famine Sculpture

Dublin Street Musicians

(Ed. Note; Double click on pictures for largest view)

Statue of Oscar Wilde

Kylemore Abbey

Kylemore NeoGothic

We enjoyed our trip to Ireland, and it was as interesting as my trip
to
> Iceland. And while it was not as cold, it was cool and wet with
daytime
> temperatures in the 15-18º C range.
>
> Dublin, the capitol city, boasts of having 1,000 pubs; we visited a
few.
> My pictures includes as few pictures from Dublin. Some pictures show
the
> features of the Georgian Architecture. I took pictures of some doors
of
> offices and homes that are near Merrion Square. Merrion Square was
the
> home neighborhood of Oscar Wilde.
>
> On the west coast of Ireland near Galway is the largest of the three
Aran
> Islands, Inis Mor. It is rich in Celtic history. It is only 16 square
> miles (41.44 square kilometers). It is about 9 miles (14.4 km) long
and 2
> miles (3.2 km) wide. Its population is about 800 in the summer time.
>
> The pre-historic Dun Aonghus Fort is on the west coast of Inis Mor.
It was
> built on the cliffs around 2000 B.C. It consists of three dry-stone
> ramparts and the remains of a fourth. The fourth is the outermost at
it
> encloses an area of 11 acres. Outside the second rampart, there is a
> 30-foot ring of upright stones. These stones form a defensive band of
> "chevaux de fries. Visitors traditionally crawl out to the edge of
the
> 800-foot (243-meter) cliff.
>
> To the north of Galway is the Connemara National Park and the nearby
> Kylemore Abbey & Gardens. The Abbey is the Monastic home of the
> Benedictine Order of Nuns in Ireland. The abbey was built in 1866 as
a
> castle by Mitchell Henry. He built it for his his bride.
Unfortunately,
> she died tragically soon after the castle construction was completed.
>
> It has been an Abbey since 1921. The nuns also operate a secondary
> education boarding school for girls (about 60) within the abbey. On
the
> abbey grounds there is miniature Gothic Cathedral and a six-acre
Victorian
> Walled Garden.
>
> There was not enough time to visit the Clifts of Mohr, which is a
popular
> tourist destination.
>
> I am glad too that I again read James Joyce’s the Dubliners and
Ulysses
> before traveling to Ireland. It really helped to set the historical
Irish
> social and cultural scene. I also read a short collection of Oscar
Wilde’s
> quotes.
>