Mountains.30
Mountains.29
So that’s Diamond Peak, as we saw it for the very first time upon arriving at the car park for Connemara National Park in northern County Galway. Doesn’t really look all that intimidating, does it? But let me tell you, the wind can bite pretty fiercely up there, as we learned on our stunning but indeed quite challenging and fun walk all the way up, over, and around it. Enjoy these last photos of this quite stunning location…
Islands.49
Herewith all my remaining photos from Inishmore, which happen to all be from the area immediately around what’s probably the island’s most renowned historical site, Dún Aonghasa.
Village Views.69
Cill Rónáin (Killronan) is the main village on the Aran Island of Inishmore, which is the most populous of the islands. Above, the village as seen from across the bay during a walk after the driver and tour guide deposited us back in the village, after showing us the key sites of the western 2/3 of the island in a roughly 3-hour walking and driving tour of various sites I’ve shown you in prior posts. Below, a view as our ferry from Rossaveel approached the dock earlier that morning. In the gallery further down are all the other shots from various parts of the island that might give you a sense of “village” life on this lovely but remote and sparsely-populated island.
Village Views.68
These are mostly from a village I’m pretty sure is called An Spidéal (or Spiddal?), which we passed through en route from Galway city to Rossaveel, shown in the last photo and from which depart the ferries to the Aran Islands. I posted one similar entry while I was still in Ireland, but these remaining photos are so lovely, if so similar, that I hope you won’t mind a similar repeat :-).
Coasting.88
Some final images from the lovely harbor / coastal edge of Galway City, where the River Corrib (after originating more or less at the hotel whose grounds we showed you a few posts ago) meets the sea.
County Views.128
My first three nights in Ireland last November were a bit of a splurge-treat to myself and Nikos, with whom I traveled since he’s now living and working in Dublin. We stayed just outside Galway in a lovely heritage hotel, which aside from quite lovely grounds (and golf course, yes) on the edge of Lough Corrib also boasts two Pullman Dining cars from the original Orient Express train. In fact, two of the cars on which the 1974 movie Murder on the Orient Express was filmed. He took the photos of me with my cocktail (an Irish-themed drink, as I recall) at dinner our first night, before we headed over to the private theater in the main hotel (behind the dining cars, which you see in the photo above) for that evening’s screening of, you guessed it, the 1974 Murder on the Orient Express :-). Staying with my trend of working through all my unposted 2023 photos this month, I’m sharing here every remaining photo taken in and around the grounds of that lovely hotel which I’d gladly visit again, if I again find such a nice off-season deal as we enjoyed this visit.
Mountains.28
2023 also saw my first-ever visit to Ireland, where I learned firsthand a) that all those stories I’d about the narrowness of Irish roads and the frequent presence of sheep on or near the roads were true; b) that even before you reach your destination, simply driving along those roads will expose you to so much beauty that reaching the destination will be just a further exploration of amazingness. These are all on the drive to Connemara National Park in northern County Galway.
Urban Canals.158
Sticking with our theme of rainbows to welcome 2024, I’ll share a few last photos of the Salmon Weir bridge & the River Corrib, which drains from Lough Corrib (largest lake fully inside the RoI, if I recall well) down to the ocean at Galway City.
County Views.127
And now we’re back to County Galway’s lovely Connemara National Park for the rainbows and glimpses of sunshine with which we welcome 2024. May the year bring us all kindness and light in abundance.
Islands.47
Soon, I’ll actually start more carefully sorting and curating my Ireland photos. Any day now, I promise. For now, we’re grouping the relatively-appealing shots I took in a given location into larger posts. Here, a historic and religioussite of importance on Inishmore (Aran Islands) called The Seven Churches / Na Seacht dTeampaill.
City Views.216
(so much world, so little time....) 