Day 04

Day 04

THE BURREN

on the way to the burren

I just tried to get to the burial chambers, but had no much luck. It was not difficult to get to the Ballyvaghan. The bus goes following the coast and have some very beautiful sights. The Burren is chain of limestone mountains with a very rocky area with a lot of wildlife. It has been inhabited for quite a while, since it is possible to find remains of stone age people until the iron age, covering thousands of years. It was in the Aillwee, the best known of the Burren caves, that was found evidence of the now extinct bears in Ireland.

In the way it is possible to find stone circles and standing stones around, just lost in the landscape. I’ve been following the road until get to the famous Aillwee cave.



The complex also houses a prey bird project, which includes owls, falcons and eagles. most of the birds are native animals from the Burren. The falcons, eagles and other birds of prey are breed in the center and perform little shows. There is a little zoo in the center too. I am not enthusiast of zoos, but I confess it was beautiful to see those birds close and flying. they have a special relation with the humans.

After that I went to visit the caves in which you got to be in a tour (like everything here...).

the view from outside the cave

The cave that was found in the 40’s by a hunter and its dog, and it was open to public only in mid 70’s. It is one of the biggest natural caves in the whole Europe, and it is only possible to walk around one kilometer of the area inside. It was inside this cave that was found the bear bones which was capital to prove the very existence of the animal. The cave is a world apart: waterfalls, stalagmites, stalactites, weird rocky formations.

After the tour, I realized my time had gone and I had to go back to get the last bus from Ballyvaghan to Galway.

On my way I've found this beautiful ditch and round fort. Would it be an Iron age or early medieval fort? The place was being excavated, but no further information was given so far.

The structure was clear and I figured there are thousands of those in England. It must be almost impossible to excavate all of them and organize this information. That was clear in places like Newgrange and Knowth, where there are so many to dig that some sites are kept closed until the advances of the science can help them better.

After that my time was really short, so I decided to go back to Ballyvaghan, and then to Galway. I could visit the Museum of Galway and see a fine collection of Corraghs, the small boats from people from Ireland. The sillouete of the fishermen carrying the boats is very known around here, and a powerful image. But it wasn’t a very significant day for my research, so maybe tomorrow I have a better luck.

corraghs

the shields of the fourteen tribes of galway

Just beside the Museum there is the famous Spanish Arch, built at the 16th century to protect the city. The name carries a bit of a mystery since there is no proof that it has any spanish relate with it. Maybe it was built to protect the quays from the Spanish Armada.

Spanish Arch

lynch wall