County Galway - Gort

Moving further up the western side of Ireland we made our way to a smallish town of Gort. Actually we were staying at a farm about 5k from Gort with only a pub and a church. It seems these two go well together in Ireland. A really nice guy named Barry owned the property along with his two dogs Alfie and Tiffany and a cat (name forgotten). He also had a few horses and a pony grazing on the green paddocks. 

We used the cottage as a base to travel to Galway which was lucky for us as they where hosting the Fringe and an Arts festival. We saw art from students at the university and some from a local arts society, buskers in all shapes and sizes and a play put on by the Galway University Cube Theatre called This Is The Day. It was a professional performance and well written script about a women caught in between her childhood fantasy about her First Holy Communion and the reality of life as an adult. The play had snappy dialogue mixed with black humour, set in a church. 

Galway has a University so lots of young people and a vibrant and bohemian atmosphere. We also saw some strange things like men standing and fishing in the main town river for hours and never seeing anything caught. Pubs and shops are full of posters and decorated with quirky items. 

The writer Yeats lived in the area of Gort and with Lady Gregory at Coole Park. She did a lot to nurture Irish art and was a great friend to many of the greats e.g. George Bernard Shaw. We visited Coole Park which has a mixture of woodlands and wetlands in 400 hectares. As the weather has been so warm 30c every day there were lots of families in the park picnicking. We also saw deer grazing and photoed the autographed tree with carvings of the great writers and artists that found this area inspiring. We had a drink in Lady Gregory Hotel which was very classy and up market hotel just out of the town of Gort. 

About 130 k away we travelled to the Connemara National Park and Clifden. In Recess we saw the statue of 'the big man' and a plaque saying in 1887 on this day nothing happened here, which was very much in keeping with the Irish humour. In the National Park we walked some of the trials, I did a small one whilst Cliff continued up to the top of Diamond hill. The towns surrounding were filled with craft and art shops which we found tempting. 

Travelled to the Cliffs of Moher (sounds like something from The Lord of the Rings) in the Burren area. The area was more rocky and barren with a huge car and bus parking area near the Cliffs of Moher. Very spectacular scenery looking down on the sea from the cliffs over 200 metres below. We had brought our lunch so we sat looking over the cliffs eating our picnic. As usual in Ireland you don't go far without hearing folk music and it was lovely to hear the harpist playing while looking out over the cliffs. The visitors centre is built into the hill and houses displays about the area. Very impressive. 

Drove to a town called Ennis for the day to take a look. It was a very hot day for Ireland in fact the weather here is very warm as they don't have any air con or fans so hot day and night. Apparently the weather is so unusual everyone is shocked as it mostly rains all year round and we haven't seen any for just on a month now. Cliff got a hair cut which is all I can remember about the visit. 

Drove across Ireland to Dublin airport to drop off car. A bit stressful trying to make sure we found our way. Free shuttle to hotel and overnight stay to relax before flying to Glasgow. Scotland here we come.