Croagh Patrick, Connemara, Cliffs of Moher, Kinsale, and the south coast

My Dad arrived on Monday night to visit me for the week. He had a rental car, so I was excited to finally be able to drive somewhere and not have to walk, take a taxi, or a bus.

Here is a picture of a famous hill, Croagh Patrick, located in County Mayo in western Ireland. It is located in the Pilgrim's Path. is a view of Croagh Patrick from a neighboring city Westport. It is named for Saint Patrick, who reputedly fasted on the summit of Croagh Patrick for forty days in the fifth century and built a church at the top of it. Below is a picture of Croagh Patrick from the neighboring city of Westport. My dad and I were going to attempt climbing it, is round trip of 3 and half hours. There is no nice foot path, but rather it is very rocky. I did not feel like taking my chances with dad and having him fall and break his leg or something. I can't drive a stick car, especially with my left hand...so we decided to play it safe and only walk up some of it. And that was exhausting enough!

We decided to swing back down to Galway and drive through Connemara National Park, It is a very mountainous region situated in the heart of the west of Ireland in County Galway. Connemara covers some 2,000 hectares of scenic mountains, expanses of bogs and heaths, and grasslands. Some of the Park's mountains, namely Benbaun, Bencullagh, Benbrack and Muckanaght, are part of the famous Twelve Bens range. The scenery was absolutely beautiful. I could have dealt without the narrow roads and stone walls along the roads, but overall it was amazing. The landscape is extremely rocky, and that is why the roads are so narrow and seem to wind around everywhere. Unfortunately, Dad and I got lost in an Irish speaking part of the Connemara. We eventually figured out where we were, but it was quite scary because we would of had no way to communicate with anyone!

The Cliffs of Moher! An amazing site in County Clare, was another stop along our travels. The set up has changed drastically since I was last there about 8 years ago. There is a historic castle on one of the cliffs, but you do have to travel up a couple of steep hills in order to reach it. It is defintely worth the hike however. We had an amazing view of the Atlantic Ocean, and since it was a clear day we could see the Aran Islands and Galway Bay. It was incredible!

We drove down to the south of Ireland. We went through, which I believe is the second largest city, Cork. We did not stay there long, the traffic was awful...as it is everywhere in Ireland. We visited a town called Kinsale. (I will post pictures of it soon!) It is on the south coast and has a gorgeous harbor. Sailboats fill their harbor! It is known as the Gourment Capitol of Ireland due its plentiful supplies of seafood restaurants. This was my favorite city in Ireland so far!

We continued on our adventure around the south coast of Ireland back up to the town I was living in Listowel. I need to get more pictures from my dad to post on here!