Air, Landier, and Sea

When thinking of Ireland, you likely imagine the emerald green plains, rainbows, golf courses, and castles.

While that is all there, Ireland also has some very interesting geology (if you don’t believe me, just ask Mark).

Ireland was once completely covered in ice.

While most of it is now green, in certain regions (like in the Burren, where we visited today), it’s covered in limestone.

The limestone almost looks volcanic, but it is actually carved from the water rather than lava.

We saw the Poulnabrone domen, which is an ancient tomb, built in the Neolithic period (4200 BC-2900 BC).

Archaeologists found 33 people buried there.

There are about 172 domen in Ireland, but this is the most photographed.

It’s hard to imagine this incredibly heavy structure being constructed in the Neolithic age. Well, they had a trick. They actually buried the structure, sliding the piece on top and then I’m dug the whole structure out.

It’s unique design was also intentional. As it allows light to enter the tomb during certain times of day.

While fascinated by the limestone and the domen, we decided it was time to see another castle.

Actually, castle snobbery became a thing on our trip. Uncle Dave was now on the hunt for not just any castle, but one that passed muster.

He developed a very intricate, advanced system of scoring each castle, based on his extensive knowledge of architecture, medieval and Irish history, and (mostly) his own personal opinion.

He called this system “thumbs up or thumbs down”. Although it’s quite complicated, I’ll try to simplify it- a castle he liked got two thumbs up and a castle he didn’t like got two thumbs down.

Mark, being the very attuned guide that he is, discovered a quick way to get two thumbs up from anyone in the Mullen family is to serve them alcohol.

So for this beautiful castle (which was another truly Irish, off-the-beaten-path experience Mark treated us to) Mark brought all the fixings for Irish coffee- from Jameson to whipped cream!

We enjoyed our Irish coffees, each gave the castle two very big thumbs up, and even got to enjoy a visit from a local dog.

We have no idea where the dog came from but he was incredibly friendly and photogenic, and seemed to be aware that Mark had a can of whipped cream in his tote.

We staggered back to the bus and then headed towards the Cliffs of Moher.

It’s honestly hard to describe how breathtaking the Cliffs of Moher are. The pictures are great, but can’t depict how it feels to be in their presence.

The bright green grass dances in the wind above the deepest blue water that sparkles as the sun kisses the surface. Between the two stands striated rocks that appear to be carved by God himself. Truly stunning.