This is the view at dusk through Bishops Gate out to the stone tower, behind which many Protestants lives before the start of the Troubles.
Month: August 2011
Derry is a fun, interesting town and our first stop in Northern Ireland.
Our hostel is only a few blocks away from Bog Land and the site of Bloody Sunday, though we spent our first night walking the old city walls, observing the police presence, and thinking of the looting going on in London and other UK cities.
Some additional shots from the Aran Islands.
Kath and I elected to visit one of the smaller and less developed of the Aran Islands, named Inishmann, for a day.
We walked around the entire island, drank some tea, ate some scones, bought some locally-made sweaters, watched and chatted with the locals every chance we got, and enjoyed the sea breeze.
Simply beautiful country, covered in bogs, erratics (large rocks strewn across fields), cracking hilltops, and loads of sheep, goats, and cows.
We drove (and occasionally even walked) all over the Gaelic-speaking region. Even Elmo was speaking
Gaelic this morning on TV.
The cliffs are amazing, as many have recommended, but I was surprised that they were divided into an ultra-safe area (think: high walls, set away from the edge) and the no-rules-apply area (think: no fences, you can hang out on the 600+ foot edge all you want).
Guess where I spent all my time. 😉
Kath standing on Dunsmore Fort, as we made our way around the Dingle Peninsula.
We found a comfy pub in Tralee and settled into a corner booth, watching the light dim and the locals roll in for the night.
I’m standing at the tip of the Beara Peninsula, with Dursey Island behind me.
The Franciscans built this in the late-12th century, and Cromwell burned it in the 17th.
Magnificent Gothic ruins.
We drove southwest from Skibbereen to Baltimore, down to the western headland.
The locals call this landmark beacon “Lot’s wife.”
At Glendalough, with Kath in the background.
At Glendalough.
An ancient graveyard and cross in Glendalough.
This building is old that the they stopped using it in 1214. Located in Glendalouch, Ireland.