Ireland 6/27/09 - 7/4/09


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Portrush to Derry to Galway 6/28

After a good night's sleep, we began day two of our journey. From Portrush we headed west along the coast to the Downhill House and Mussenden Temple. These buildings were built in the 18th century for the Bishop of Derry. The buildings themselves were interesting, but the highlights were the gardens near the entrance gate and the views out toward the ocean from the temple. As the inscription on the temple says, "Tis pleasant, safely to behold from shore/ The rolling ship, and hear the tempest roar."

In Derry, also known as Londonderry, we had lunch and walked the walls of the old city. It is the only remaining completely intact walled city in Ireland. The walls are roughly 1 mile around and vary in height between 12 and 35 feet. Despite several seiges, the walls were never breached.

From Derry we drove south-west through the Blue Stack mountains to Westport. We tried to eat dinner at Matt Malloy's Pub, but it turned out that they don't serve food. The place we did eat dinner wasn't very good. from there we headed south to Galway. After settling in to our hotel, we spent the evening at the Spanish Arch, a nearby bar with live music and, of course, Guinness.

Mussenden Temple Downhill House Bishop's Garden Bishop's Garden Bishop's Garden
Walls of Derry Derry Cannon Derry Cannon Plaque British Influence Cool Mountain

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