Saturday, June 9, 2007

Celtic Royal - The Final Leg

Armand and I are currently in Ennis, a charming place with winding lanes. The town is also renowned for its painted shopfronts and folk music festivals. It has been a wonderful, educational trip. So far, one of my favourites is our day tour in Belfast. It was a very enlightening experience; however, I think, the trip to Belfast is a separate blog on its own.









Kylemore Abbey, a lakeside castle which is a romantic, Gothic Revival fantasy type of castle. It was built by Mitchell Henry as a present for his wife (geez, around 19th century!). The nuns now run the abbey as a girls' boarding and day school.



















Armand and I posing at the Grianan of Ailigh (west of the City of Londonderry). It is a circular stone structure, measuring 77 ft. in diameter and is believed to have been built as a pagan temple around the 5th century BC. Very windy on top of the structure!









The grave of W.B. Yeates, a famous Irish writer of wistful, melancholic poetry...















Sunset in Westport, a quaint coastal town.




I find it quite enjoyable to have longer daytime as it does not get dark in Ireland until 10:30 pm or 11 pm!






The breathtaking views of the Cliffs of Moher! It has a height of 200 m (650 ft) out of the sea and extending for 8 km (5 miles). The sheer rock face, with its layers of black shale and sandstone, provides sheltered ledges where sea birds nest!

















Typical day in Dublin downtown road - a scooter, a double decker bus and a bicycle!


I miss my scooter when I saw this lovely female rider scooting around the city of Dublin!







Ha'Penny Bridge (originally named the Wellington Bridge) but now officially called the "Liffey Bridge". It opened in 1816, the bridge got its better known nickname from the halfpenny toll that was levied on it up until 1919.