GALWAY – CLIFFS OF MOHER & BURREN DAY TOUR

Galway – Cliffs of Moher & The Burren – Day Tour

Pickup Location – Galway Coach Station

Galway Bay

Taking you along Galway Bay, your first stop is at the fishing village of Kinvara to see Dunguaire Castle.

Dunguaire Castle

Just 300 yards outside the lovely village of Kinvara, Dunguaire Castle (Irish – Caisleán Dún Guaire) is a 16th-century tower house built in 1520 on a rocky outcrop on the southeastern shore of Galway Bay  in County Galway.

The name derives from the Dun of King Guaire, the legendary king of Connacht. Richard Martyn, Mayor of Galway lived here until 1642 and the Martyn’s of Tulira Castle, owned the castle until this century.

Writers, Playwrights & Folklorists

Some of the past inhabitants of the Tulira Castle are Oliver St. John Gogarty, George Bernard Shaw, WB Yeats and Lady Gregory.

Irish High Crosses

We stop at Kilfenora to see the famous Celtic Crosses (Irish High Crosses). Kilfenora (Irish – Cill Fhionnúrach), meaning ‘Church of the Fertile Hillside’ or ‘Church of the White Brow’  since medieval times when it was the episcopal see of the Bishop of Kilfenora, has been known as the “City of the Crosses” for its seven high crosses.

Most of the crosses can now be seen in the Cathedral transept – also known as ‘Lady Chapel‘.

Cliffs of Moher, Co. Clare

“Father Ted”

The TV show Father Ted (1995 – 1998), staring Dormot Morgan as Father Ted, Ardal O’Hanlon as Father Dougal McGuira, Frank Kelly as Father Jack Hackett and Pauline McLynn as Mrs. Doyle.

Also featured supporting actors were Brandan Grace as Father Fintan Stack and Pat Shortt playing Tom, the village idiot, used Kilfenora as an important filming location. This later gave rise to a “Father Ted Festival”, first held in 2007.

Kilfenora

Kilfenora is also the home to the Kilfenora Cathedral that is dedicated to St. Fachtna (St. Fachanan) and the present structure dates to between 1189 and 1200. It was built  on St. Fachtnan’s 6th-century monastery in the so-called transitional style with a nave and a chancel.

Cliffs of Moher

We make our way to the coastal village of Doolin for our lunch stop (cost of lunch not included in tour price), before visiting the 200-metre high, 8kms long Cliffs of Moher.

Doolin

Do0lin is a village on Ireland’s west coast. It is known as a gateway to the ancient sites on the Aran Islands, which are just offshore.  The towering Cliffs of Moher lie southwest of town.

Doolin has a long-standing reputation as the home of Ireland’s traditional music and folk scene, with year round trad sessions in its local pubs and a series of summer gigs, concerts and of course, the popular Doolin Folk Festival!

Doonagore Castle

Less then a mile south of the village is the 16-century tower house, Doonagore Castle. There are stunning views of the surrounding area due to its elevation on the hill.

Enjoy stunning views over the Atlantic Ocean and the Aran Islands and take your time to soak up the natural beauty of the Cliffs of Moher.

Galway Bay

We return via the Coast Road with views of Galway Bay and the Aran Islands, making a short stop to walk on the lunar like landscape of the Burren and take in sights such as Leprechaun Head.

THE BURREN: (Irish, Boireann,”great rock”)

The Burren is home to 75% of Ireland’s native flora & location of numerous ancient monuments many of which we visit including the Gleninsheen Wedge Tomb,

Prehistoric Wedge Tombs

The Tombs are two prehistoric wedge tombs located in the north central area of the Burren. A neck ornament dating from c.800 to 700bc, concealed in one of the limestone grykes is now displayed at the National Museum of Ireland (Kildare Street site) in Dublin.

Amaze at the 5,800 year old Poulnabrone Dolmen and Ballyalban Fairy Fort – home of the little men with green hats and orange beards!

Oremus,
Maria de Petra Fertilis:

“A Burren Prayer”

From Conamara Blues (2000)
by John O’Donohue – (1956 – 2008)

May the praise of rain on stone
Recall the child lost in the heart’s catacomb.

May the light that turns the limestone white
Remind us that our solitude is bright.

May the arrival of gentians in their blue surprise
Bring glimpses of delight to our eyes.

May the wells that dream in the stone
Soothe the eternal that sleeps in our bone.

May the contemplative mind of the mountain
Assure us that nothing is lost or forgotten.

May the antiphon of ocean on stone
Guide the waves of loneliness home.

May the spirits who dwell in the ruin of Corcomroe
Lead our hearts to the one who is beautiful to know.

Go maire na mairbh agus a mbrionglóidí
I bhfoscadh chaoin dílis na Trinóide.*

*May the departed and their dreams ever dwell
In the kind and faithful shelter of the Trinity.

In the Poets words;

The Burren (Irish, Boireann,”great rock”) is, in O’Donohue’s words, “…an ancient kingdom of limestone sculptures carved slowly by rain, wind and time.” It is an area of lunar-like—but surprisingly fertile—landscape on the western coast of Ireland, bounded by the Atlantic Ocean and Galway Bay. O’Donohue was a member of the Burren Action Group which, in the 1990s, opposed the building of a large interpretative center on the spectacular Mullaghmore (Mullach Mór) mountain area of the Burren. They argued that “visitor facilities should be sited in villages – where there are already existing services and where economic benefits can accrue to the local populations – and not in the sensitive core area of the Burren National Park”