|
O’Looneys Surf, Seafood and Stout pub in the town of Lahinch, Western Ireland, is an appropriate place to begin a tour of The Burren, one of Europe’s wildest and strangest regions.
At O’Looney’s (“No Stag Parties Welcome”, a sign hanging outside warns), you can sip a pint of Guinness contemplatively before setting out to explore a landscape so stony and uninviting that for centuries invading armies left the place well alone.
“Neither water enough to drown a man, nor tree to hang him –- nor soil enough to bury him,” one of Oliver Cromwell’s officers is said to have observed haughtily on inspecting the scenery. He then rode off to plunder richer territory.
Attitudes have changed and today. The Burren, a limestone plateau in County Clare on Ireland’s west coast, draws tourists from all over the world. They come to view Bronze Age burial sites more than 5000 years old, marked by standing stones erected before the Sphinx was a kitten.
The region, officially called Burren National Park, takes its name from the Gaelic term “an bhoireann” (a stony place). Lying to the south of Galway Bay, it extends some 25 miles (40km) from east to west and 15 miles (24km) from north to south -- a vast expanse of fractured grey stone, enlivened by all sort of wildflowers. The Burren’s surface is composed of huge flat limestone rocks called clints, cross-crossed by distinctive fissures known as grykes. Landscapes are little changed since the last Ice Age, although castles, farmhouses, ancient ruins and stone circles have sprung up since. Wild goats stroll an area honeycombed with 53 miles (85km) of natural underground passageways. You won’t see the passageways unless you are a caver or potholer, but you can view dozens of megalithic tombs and Celtic crosses, plus a ruined abbey dating from the 11th Century.
In 1932, a local named Paddy Nolan noticed something gleam in a Burren field. Archaeologists uncovered the Gleninsheen Gorget, dating from about 800AD, now an Irish national treasure housed in Dublin Museum.
Compared to other finds nearby, 800AD is recent. Excavation of a chief’s grave revealed stone-age axes and bone pendants about 5800 years old. Another megalithic tomb, Poulnabrone, contained the remains of more than 20 people, including a newborn baby, buried between 3800 and 3200 BC. That’s older than Stonehenge or the Pyramids.
To get to grips with the Burren in a short time, take a guided tour.
Fertile Rock Study Tours, based in Lahinch, is run by local historian
and agricultural expert Christie Browne, a wiry, white-haired character
who wears open-toed sandals no matter what the weather. Christie took
early retirement from his agricultural job nine years ago to spend more
time at the Burren. He devotes himself to driving visitors - botanists,
historians, geologists, butterfly fanciers and travellers from around
the world - around in a mini-van, explaining how the region’s early
inhabitants lived largely off their wits, subsisting on hazelnuts and
a few meagre crops.
In recent years, the European Union has recognised the Burren as one of
Europe’s unique regions and tourism has grown steadily.
“The EU has been more supportive of The Burren than the Irish,” Christie comments with a smile.
Christie’s van stops at Bridget’s Well, a shrine since pre-Christian times, later converted to a place of Christian pilgrimage. Water drips from a slow waterfall inside a dimly lit grotto festooned with hundreds of little prayers, written in pencil and pen on banknote-sized pieces of paper. Earlier this century, Bridget’s Well was one of the most popular religious sites in Ireland. As worshippers became more sophisticated and package tours to Lourdes grew cheaper, it’s popularity waned.
The Burren’s most awesome sight is the Cliffs of Moher, plunging 65 metres to the sea in a series of massive promontories stretching eight kilometres. Onlookers brave a wicked wind to relish one of Europe’s grandest views.
Nearby, visitors can inspect the remains of a Bronze Age chieftain’s circular stone “ring fort”, typical of many in Ireland. The forts survive, Christie explains, because the stone was never plundered for building material. Superstitious locals believed the rings accursed, built by fairy folk.
The supernatural abounds in these parts. Ghosts are said to haunt Knappogue Castle, erected in 1467 by the powerful MacNamara clan. The castle lets out its large bedrooms to guests these days and the manager is reluctant to admit to apparitions on the premises. On leaving the castle, a road sign reads: “Gallow Hill, Scenic View”. The view was even better from the top of the hangman’s scaffold which once stood there, though viewers didn’t enjoy it for long.
If a visit to The Burren leaves you with a desire to shed 20th-century stresses and get back to your Bronze Age roots, you can always sign up for a Celtic Survival Weekend at nearby Craggaunowen, a recreated Bronze Age village where guests live as their ancestors did, without showers, aspirin, deodorant or other modern luxuries. Accommodation is in thatched huts resembling a rural African settlement - only more primitive. From April to August, actors dressed as Bronze Age warriors storm the palisades. If you enjoy watching Xena the Warrior Princess on television, you’ll just love Craggaunowen.
©2002-2006 TravelMatch
Ltd. Please read Copyright
Disclaimer.
|
|
 |
|