Today we went on another bus tour to the Cliffs of Moher. We were originally going to take a boat out onto the ocean to see the Cliffs from the water, but we learned that the train we needed to take to get there on time for our boat ran only during the summer. In addition, the train back would leave at 1:45, giving us only an hour and a half at the Cliffs. So we had to change our plans, and fortunately our lovely hostel was able to help us get a tour to the Cliffs. The tour took us past a couple castles and an abandoned church or two on the way, so we figured it was worth it.
Whereas Connemara was lots of mountains and sheep, this tour took us to see the Burren, a limestone landscape covering 320 square km. The first stop was a fairy circle, the Ballyalban Fairy Fort, a prehistoric ring-fort or ancient farmers homestead, home to fairies and/or little people. It's a lot of bare rock, really, with short grass growing up in between. Our next stop we saw a portal tomb called the Gleninsheen Wedge Tomb - a tomb that looks like a stone table of some sort. We got to see an abandoned church called the Kilfenora Cathedral and Crosses, also known as "The City of Crosses" because of the abundance of Celtic Crosses that adorn the 6th century monastery. In the cemetery I found several familiar names: O'Briens, O'Donohues, Mcmahon, and Walshe. :-)
We stopped at Doolin for lunch, then we drove for about fifteen minutes to the Cliffs themselves. I must say that the Cliffs of Moher are probably one of the most beautiful thing I have seen - I think I would almost put it on par with the mountain and the hermitage in Assisi. The weather was gorgeous the entire day, and the sun was gleaming on the waters. The Cliffs were stark, darkly contrasting with the blue of the water. You could hear the distant, constant roar of the waves crashing against the rocky walls. The foam from the waves gleamed white. The sunlight danced on the water, dazzling the eye. The seagulls floated through the mist rising off the water like fairies in an enchanted glen, making the cliffs seem all the more magical. There was a harpist set up on the walkway, playing in the background, adding to the mood. I drew a sketch of her, and a sketch of the Cliffs - this one wasn't very good, I fear, but I hope to do a better one when I have a photograph to look off of when I return home. There was a tower called the O'Brien's Tower one could climb for two euro to get a better view of the Cliffs - if that were even humanly possible. I wonder if the O'Brien's who built the tower or inhabited it are a distant relation? I prayed a Chaplet of Divine Mercy at the top of the tower, and the fourth movement of Buxtehude's Membra Jesu Nostri Cantata came to mind : "Surge, amica mea, speciosa mea, et veni: columba mea in foraminibus petrae, in caverna maceriae." -Song of Songs 2:13-14. This translates, "Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away. O my dove, in the clefts of the rock, in the covert of the cliff." Perfect, no? I bought an Irish crucifix made out of turf at the gift store. It's very simple, but it had a person at the base of the cross embracing the wood, which I really liked, and I thought it would be a nice memory along with the Cliffs.
We stopped along the way back to Galway to see the shoreline, then we returned to our hostel. Tonight I think we are going to browse the streets in search of a traditional Irish pub with traditional Irish music. Tomorrow we are exploring Galway!
No comments:
Post a Comment