CATHERCONNELL, County Clare, Ireland.
Have you ever arranged a trip somewhere, planned to hit a few minor attractions along the way, then ended up fascinated with the minor attraction but not enough time to explore it? The Burren was like that for me. The Burren is what I'd expect the surface of the moon to look like if you added undergrowth. Mile after mile of formations cover the earth, parts of it flat like pavement, parts horizontal slabs with picturesque fissures, as if a giant mountain had poured molton lava that had hardened, but the Burren formations consist of limestone.
The area extends over about 139 square miles in County Clare, north of Shannon Airport, and I'd planned an overnight at a B&B about an hour from the airport. We would drive through the Burren on the way to the B&B, then the next morning drive on to Clifden on the Atlantic coast, further north in County Galway, where we were spending a week.
Many prehistoric relics.
The landscape of the area intrigued us enough so that we retraced out route on the way back, visiting the Burren Center, where exhibits and a film (which the staff pronounced fil-em) detail the archeology, geology, legends and history of the area. Then we hit the backroads and sought out the 1500 year old Catherconnell Stone Fort and the Poulnabrone portal tomb, dating between 3800 and 3200 B.C. We were expecting a typical tourist area, with parking. Instead, we spotted the dolman in a sort of rock field, had to pull off to the side of the road for lack of any parking area, and walked to it through a field that resembled a rock-strewn beach at low tide. It's size was a bit disappointing to me, for I'd seen a similar one in Wales that was twice as large.
Area one of the most intact archeological landscapes of Europe.
The Burren is one of the most intact archeological landscapes of Europe and was attractive country to prehistoric people. It is a world made of stone: man made stone walls and enclosures, ruined stone houses of all types and ages, churches, castles and monuments that record a continuous history.
Photos top to bottom
One of the many stone house ruins scattered through the landscape in The Burren
Poulnabrone dolman
Have you ever arranged a trip somewhere, planned to hit a few minor attractions along the way, then ended up fascinated with the minor attraction but not enough time to explore it? The Burren was like that for me. The Burren is what I'd expect the surface of the moon to look like if you added undergrowth. Mile after mile of formations cover the earth, parts of it flat like pavement, parts horizontal slabs with picturesque fissures, as if a giant mountain had poured molton lava that had hardened, but the Burren formations consist of limestone.
The area extends over about 139 square miles in County Clare, north of Shannon Airport, and I'd planned an overnight at a B&B about an hour from the airport. We would drive through the Burren on the way to the B&B, then the next morning drive on to Clifden on the Atlantic coast, further north in County Galway, where we were spending a week.
Many prehistoric relics.
The landscape of the area intrigued us enough so that we retraced out route on the way back, visiting the Burren Center, where exhibits and a film (which the staff pronounced fil-em) detail the archeology, geology, legends and history of the area. Then we hit the backroads and sought out the 1500 year old Catherconnell Stone Fort and the Poulnabrone portal tomb, dating between 3800 and 3200 B.C. We were expecting a typical tourist area, with parking. Instead, we spotted the dolman in a sort of rock field, had to pull off to the side of the road for lack of any parking area, and walked to it through a field that resembled a rock-strewn beach at low tide. It's size was a bit disappointing to me, for I'd seen a similar one in Wales that was twice as large.
Area one of the most intact archeological landscapes of Europe.
The Burren is one of the most intact archeological landscapes of Europe and was attractive country to prehistoric people. It is a world made of stone: man made stone walls and enclosures, ruined stone houses of all types and ages, churches, castles and monuments that record a continuous history.
Photos top to bottom
One of the many stone house ruins scattered through the landscape in The Burren
Poulnabrone dolman
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