Hazel Mountain Chocolate is a small, family-run artisan “bean to bar” chocolate maker, in the Burren area about an hour from Galway (on a farm that's been owned by the family for 300 years). They gave us a delightful (and delicious) tour of their one-room chocolate manufacturing facility, with lots of tasting from...well, bean to bar. We picked up a few items, and will most definitely be ordering from them online. Highly recommended!
After the very filling chocolate experience, there were two nearby sights for us to explore. One was the truly fantastic Corcomroe Abbey, which was filled with arches, windows, old gravestones, naves, and incredible carvings; the other was Dungaire Castle (more of a fortified mansion) in the town of Kinvarra, which was just OK as it's largely refurbished and used for those touristic medieval banquet events, so it didn't have the kind of ancient ruin cachet that we enjoy - but is situated at a really cool location with great views from the top, and so worth the quick stop.
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| Corcomroe Abbey, founded 1194 (not sure why two portions of roof have been restored) |
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| Dungaire Castle, 1520 |
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| View from the top |
The bright full moon over Galway Bay actually woke me up last night, so I went out on our balcony for a picture.
We’re a bit spoiled when it comes to local, small aquariums, in light of our many visits to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. But we decided to give the Galway Atlantaquaria a try, as our time in Galway draws near to an end. I’d characterize it as quaint, with smallish fish tanks and displays, and it’s just a little rough around the edges. We did appreciate the overview of western Ireland/Atlantic species of sea life, including the rather large Conger eel. And, they had an ancient log canoe found in a bog, which is being preserved in fresh water there - purportedly 5,000 years old. Overall, it was a nice little diversion.
Monday has been kind of a laidback, sleep-in, and pack-up day for the most part, since we leave for Sligo tomorrow morning. We did go to nearby Barna Woods for an easy hike, then drove to the small town of Bearna and went for a short walk on the (short) pier. Dinner was at Blackrock Cottage, and it was really noteworthy - finally, some robust flavor and even some real spice in an Irish meal! I only wish we had discovered it earlier during our time in Galway. A lovely rainbow over Galway Bay greeted us on the walk back to our apartment.
On our way to Sligo today we stopped to explore Carrowkeel, a megalithic passage tomb site. It was one of those drives where the road gets smaller and smaller, until you're on little more than a horse path, just hoping there's no oncoming cars, then you park and walk a couple of miles. Very much off the beaten path, which makes it all the more special. And this was quite extraordinary. We visited three of the tombs (out of maybe a dozen in the area, one of the largest concentrations in Europe), one of which we could actually enter, and stand up. And get out of the rain. And commune with thoughts of those who built it. And eat our sandwiches. All in a structure put together in 3500 BC. These particular passage tombs have not been reconstructed, as some other more-famous ones have. We were by ourselves (aside from some sheep looking at us like we're crazy), in the drizzling rain, at the top of a 1,000 foot hill with a panoramic view, and sitting inside a passage tomb. Crazy. And fantastic. Later we checked in to the B&B in Sligo, and they kindly had left a little candy and tiny American flags on the bed - it's the 4th of July! Very thoughtful.
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| View from inside, looking to the entrance |
Eileen’s video showing the interior cruciform shape of the tomb
A very full day today, starting with the Carrowmore megalithic cemetery (as opposed to yesterday’s Carrowkeel passage tombs), featuring cairns and stone circles. Again, more than 5,000 years old - remarkable. Then, to the Creevelea Friary, built in 1508, with a bunch of great structures and carvings. We moved on to Parkes Castle, mostly 17th century, which had a few nice turret features. Finally, Sligo Abbey, built in 1252, which is filled with fantastic artistic carvings from medieval to gothic to renaissance. Sensory overload!
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| This depicts St. Francis of Assisi, preaching to birds… |
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| Personally, I question the usefulness of a “woven” pottery coffee cup…seems like it wouldn’t hold liquid too well |
On Friday we drove to Belfast to visit the Titanic Experience. It was pretty cool, lots of audio and video elements, even a 'ride' taking you through the building of the ship, and lots of information about the search to find the wreck (with a video of the wreckage under glass, on the floor - very effective). It also did a good job of bringing the personal element into the story, by focusing on a few individuals involved in building the Titanic or as passengers on the ship, and had some great voice-overs of actual survivors. A highlight was the artifacts, including the violin that was reportedly played as the ship was sinking, and a recovered deck chair and life vest. And the building itself is beautiful, located on the very site where the ship was built and launched. Although our energy was waning, we had some time after that and so we visited the small Ulster Museum (also in Belfast) and enjoyed a bit of contemporary art.
Saturday - we drove to the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge on the northern coast of Northern Ireland, however the bridge was not open due to high winds. Apparently they close it when the gusts are at 35 mph, and this morning it was at 38, so...still, very happy to have gone there and seen this beautiful area!
BTW one thing about Northern Ireland - they do things in miles, not kilometers, so in addition to navigating the sometimes complicated or difficult roads (albeit less difficult than the southern west coast roads), I have to do math at the same time to make sure I'm hitting the right mph? Lucky Eileen is here as my co-pilot.
Anyway, after the rope bridge we went to the famous Giant's Causeway. I have mixed feelings about this 'attraction.' On the one hand it is a truly incredible natural feature; the down side is that there were hundreds of people crawling all over it! The challenge for me was to get some pictures without humans in them. And I am concerned for the long-term health of the site, with a reported half-million visitors (that's one million feet, people!) clomping all over it each year.
Tomorrow we go to Athlone, in central Ireland, for just one night, really just a layover on the way to Kilkenny for a harp festival concert at Kilkenny Castle.
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