Continued from Planning Your Trip to Ireland Part 5

INTO THE WEST
Around the Shannon area, in addition to Limerick and the two castles, there is also the techology town of Ennis, now booming thanks to Ireland being such a huge part of the computer age thanks to Mac computer factories and a very literate, English speaking workforce.
County Clare
Going west out of Ennis, you will visit the unique lunar landscape of the Burren, which is pretty much more granite boulder than grass going all the way to the coast and the spectacular Cliffs of Moher.
When the English began to push into Ireland, they made Catholics leave their land-they were said to be sending them to “Hell or Connaught” (Connaught is the western region of Ireland) because the land was so poor compared to the fertile soil they were being evicted from, that it was considered to be a death sentence. Anyone who has seen the film The Field will have a good idea of what it looks like.
Also famous in County Clare is the town of Ballyvaughan, a sleepy little hamlet with a wonderful international Irish music festival every February and seafood to die for. Then there is the town of Lisdoonvarna, where bachelors and unmwarried women go to be matched.
COUNTY GALWAY
Heading north on the main road from Limerick to you will come to Galway, on the west coast nearly directly opposite the country from Dublin.
Galway is a very vibrant town, a great tourist hub for the more wild parts of Galway County and for the ferries which will take you out to the Aran Islands, where many people still speak Irish and live in a traditional way.
All year round, you’ll find festivals which celebrate the various aspects of Irish culture. The medieval parish church in Galway is the biggest in Ireland, and many medieval stone buildings are still standing throughout the city.
County Galway is full of abbeys, castles, ruins, and the most outstanding seafood and pubs. Oughterard is a lovely town about 8 miles outside of the city if you want to sample the best of earth, sea, river and sky.
The area around Lenane was where they filmed many parts of The Quiet Man, and it is an amazing lough like a fjord, which was why the Vikings decided to settle in this area. There are many Irish speakers in the Gaeltacht to the far west. Clifton is the last point of civilisation, a bustling town full of music, pubs, and fabulous food, before you head still further west to the wilds of Galway.

Continues in Planning Your Trip to Ireland Part 7

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