Robot Claw

Our apartment is large and comfy and, since it’s on the fifth floor has pretty good views from large balconies.

However it also comes with a tenant that we’ve dubbed ‘Old Mate’. S/He’s a seagull, and spends a great deal of time on our back balcony begging for food.

He just sits out there looking at us mostly. Occasionally he sings his seagull song. Rarely he’s joined by a smaller accomplice.

But he also comes right up to the glass!

This is when he gets a little creepy because he looks right at us! “Feed me” he begs (we don’t). “Let me in” he implores (we don’t).

And then he starts banging his beak on the glass!

This is, to be honest, a little disturbing. He wants in badly. Old Mate’s been fed by tenants before and he’s unsure why we ignore him. Banging on the glass has worked for him before, why not now?

He’s been there almost continuously in the mornings and from afternoon until night. Although he’s a bit creepy we’ve grown fond of him. We’ll leave Galway tomorrow, but I don’t think we’ll forget Old Mate quickly 🙂

Today we drove (on a tour bus) about two hours to a port called Doolin from which we boarded a boat destined to Inisheer, the smallest of the three Aran Islands.

It’s s tiny place and you could walk around it in a few hours. In addition to the town itself (population about 250) there is a ruined castle, a wrecked ship, a beach and hundreds upon hundreds of stone walls made of piled limestone rocks.

The walls are fascinating. I’d seen similar in Scotland but never up close. I’m not sure how old they are on the island but in the mainland some are over 4000 years old! And in most cases the rocks aren’t even mortared!

We were on the island – left to our own devices – for about two hours before it was time to head back. But instead of direct to Doolin the boat first took a cruise past the Cliffs of Moher.

These are 700-foot tall cliffs rising from the Atlantic and running about 8 kilometers north and south. Our tour took us up to the top of them as well, for equally stunning views:

Lovely it was. But it was also sunny and hot (especially on the boat) and we’ve now both had an Irish sunburn!

Plus it was a very long day, and twice as exhausting. I think on that note it’s time to close my eyes and have a sleep 🙂

ps. I endured nearly two hours on boats in the Atlantic today without even a whisper of illness! 

Today we took a long trip on two trains to the port town of Galway.

We’ll be here a few days, and have big plans tomorrow. But today was just shopping…

Eating fine cuisine…

And wandering around the tourist area…

We’ve got an apartment here and it’s large and very nice. It also may come with a couple of seagulls who were hanging around on the veranda for hours 🙂

As I said, big plans tomorrow. A 10.5 hour day trip to be precise. Involving boats. Let’s hope I make it through in one piece 🙂

Killarney is on the edge of a national park that has three lakes. Today we visited one of them.

There are a few ways to get to the lake from town; we chose to walk through the forest. It was picture-postcard pretty, mostly alongside a river and with glades containing mossy rocks and roots scattered along the path.

After about an hour of walking we reached Ross Castle, a mostly reconstructed medieval ‘tower castle’ on the shore of the lake.

Boats depart from a pier behind the castle and offer cruises around the lake. Naturally we took one.

It was great. The boat was comfy and warm and the captain/guide told us all about the history of the lake. The views were grand as well, since the lake is bordered by high mountains and scattered with many small islands.

Afterwards we walked along the shore a bit further to the site of a copper mine that dates back almost 2500 years! The mines restarted about 200 years ago but were eventually closed forever due to flooding.

Since we’re off to Galway tomorrow this will be the last photo from Killarney, showing the massive catholic cathedral. Once again the afternoon light here in Ireland makes this look almost monochrome, but I haven’t treated the image in any way.

Early night for us tonight since we’ve got an early (and lengthy) trip tomorrow. See you in Galway!

We took another bus tour today. Our original tour was canceled due to few sign ups, and was to be a combination bus/hike ‘Wild Atlantic Way’ tour. At the last minute we joined a more conventional tour around the Dingle Peninsula, northwest of Killarney.

It’s a good thing the hike was canceled since the weather today was very wet and the winds on the peninsula were near cyclonic! The above was taken at our first stop – Inch Beach – which as you can see wasn’t too inviting. And yet a few brave souls were splashing in the surf, albeit with wetsuits on (or ‘frog suits’ as I’ve now heard two people call them here). We braved the rain and winds for a few photos before hurrying back to the cozy bus 🙂

Dingle was one incredible view after another. Endless patchwork fields full of sheep and cows, sheer cliffs on the Atlantic Ocean side, hills with their tops in the clouds, old ruins dating from 1000 years (or more!) ago. We saw all this and more.

The above was taken near Slea Head, the westernmost part ‘of continental Europe’ as our guide/driver Bronson said. Here the grass goes right up to the very edges of the tall cliffs and sheep and cows look like they’re just one step from doom. The Atlantic churns below as the winds blow the rain horizontally into your face. It reminded me of the coldest and wettest days up on the Newcastle cliffs in the Australian winter… only it’s the middle of summer here. It was wonderful!

The ocean in the above shot is dozens of meters down from the edge of the cliff and the “next port of call is Newfoundland” to quote Brosnan. Whenever I’m in Australia I always make a point to look out across the ocean ‘to America’; today I did similar from the other side.

Our longest stop – for lunch and shopping – was the town of Dingle (from which the area is named). It’s a little town but an important fishing port and has a lovely tourist district near the marina that was just mobbed with tourists. Bronson said that tourism has spiked these last two years due to people (Americans mostly) being afraid of Europe, and unless things slow down its hard to see how these little scenic towns wouldn’t be overwhelmed.

But perhaps they welcome it? Tourism is after all they’re biggest industry in this part of Ireland and the locals are just as welcoming – if not moreso – as in any other place I’ve been.

Apparently it’s standard for tourists to do both The Ring Of Kerry (which we did yesterday) and Dingle Peninsula (today) and then pass judgement on which is best. For me, they were different enough to both be very special, but I think I’d have to give the nod to Dingle. The views are just too good, and seeing them on a day like today just made it that it better.

As Brosnan said: “You don’t need sun for a great day” 🙂