Galway city centre
Oscar Wilde (and an unrelated Estonian Wilde) sits on a bench in Galway
Click any picture to view a larger version.
We started the day by taking a look at Galway City, as our B&B had been a good few miles out beyond the city so we hadn't had a chance to check it out the night before. It struck me as being a vibrant and bustling place, with a lot going on -- although this might also have been down to the fact that they'd just been in the All-Ireland Hurling Finals (where they got beaten by Cork).
Galway city centre
Oscar Wilde (and an unrelated Estonian Wilde) sits on a bench in Galway
Heading south out of Galway City, we missed the turning we were aiming for and ended up cutting cross-country to get back to the coast road. Fortunately for us that we did, however, as in a tiny back-road we came across the massive ruins of Kilmacduagh Abbey and Monastery which we spent a good hour or so investigating.
One of the buildings at Kilmacduagh Abbey site
The round refuge tower at the monastery site. Yes, it really leans like that!
Eventually we found our way back to the coastal road (which had some occasional stunning glimpses out over Galway Bay), and from there we simply had to follow the tourist coaches to find our way to Ailwee Caves.
This area of Ireland is known as the Burren and the landscape is composed of limestone rocks and pavement. Ailwee Cave was discovered by a farmer looking for his lost dog in the 1940s, but he didn't tell anyone about his discovery until 1973! It's now open to the public and is quite impressive, with an underground waterfall. Unfortunately most of our pictures didn't come out too well.
Stalactites at the caves
From outside the cave, up high on the Burren hill, you get a fantastic view
Galway Bay can be seen in the distance from this angle
Leaving Ailwee Cave you simply have to keep following the buses full of tourists and you'll end up at the Cliffs of Moher. These cliffs aren't quite as high as the Slieve League that we visited on Day 5, but because they're accessible to large vehicles they're far better known.
Again, it's hard to convey the full sense of scale by looking at these pictures, but they rise 200m sheer out of the Atlantic Ocean.
First view of the cliffs
Looking towards O'Brien's tower built on the highest cliffs
To gain a sense of scale, try to notice the tiny yellow specks on top of the cliffs.
Each of those is a huge mechanical digger!
Another picture showing the diggers, and the enormous ledge about 60m below the clifftops
After leaving the cliffs we again stuck to the scenic coastal roads, but eventually turned inland heading towards Ennis and Limerick. A few kilometres outside Limerick is the small village of Banratty which has a ruined castle that we visited.
Banratty Castle
We didn't stop at Limerick, but instead hit the main road south towards Cork, stopping on the way to visit the ruins of Mallow Castle.
Mallow Castle
Mallow Castle
After Mallow we sped past Blarney Castle (it was about 7pm by then), then spent about an hour utterly failing to find somewhere to stay in Cork City, before eventually stumbling upon -- completely by accident -- an excellent B&B a few miles outside Cork City.