Page 324 - Lonely Planet Europe’s Best Trips (Travel Guide)

real pleasures along here are the that standards don’t al- the stunning stone fort
villages – the likes of Kilfenora ways hold up to those in perched perilously on the
and Lisdoonvarna are great for some of the less-trampled island’s towering cliffs.
a pit stop and even a session of villages in Clare. Powerful swells pound
traditional music. the 60m-high cliff face.
4 p361 A complete lack of rails
8 Doolin The Drive » Ferries from or other modern addi-
Doolin to Inishmór take about
tions that would spoil
Doolin is renowned as a 90 minutes to make the this amazing ancient
centre of Irish tradi- crossing. site means that you can
tional music, but it’s also not only go right up to
known for its setting – TRIP HIGHLIGHT the cliff’s edge but also
6km north of the Cliffs of potentially fall to your
Moher – and down near 9 Inishmór doom below quite easily.
the ever-unsettled sea, A step (and boat- or When it’s uncrowded,
the land is windblown, plane-ride) beyond you can’t help but feel
with huge rocks exposed the desolate beauty of the extraordinary energy
by the long-vanished Connemara are the Aran that must have been har-
topsoil. Islands. Most visitors are nessed to build this vast
Many musicians live in satisfied to explore only site.
the area, and they have Inishmór (Árainn) and The arid landscape
a symbiotic relationship its main attraction, Dún west of Kilronan (Cill
IRELAND 23 THE LONG WAY ROuND
with the tourists: each Aengus (Dún Aonghasa; Rónáin), Inishmór’s main
desires the other and www.heritageireland.ie/en/ settlement, is dominated
each year things grow west/dunaonghasa/; adult/ by stone walls, boulders,
a little larger. But given child €4/2; h9.30am-6pm scattered buildings and
the heavy concentration Apr-Oct, 9.30am-4pm Nov-Mar, the odd patch of deep-
of visitors, it’s inevitable closed Mon & Tue Jan & Feb), green grass and potato
plants.
DOOLIN’S MUSIC PUBS 4 p327, p361
The Drive » Once you’re
Doolin’s three main music pubs (others are recent back on terra firma at Doolin,
interlopers) are, in order of importance to the music it’s 223km to Dingle via the N85
scene: through Ennis as far as Limerick
McGann’s (www.mcgannspubdoolin.com; Roadford; City. The N69 will take you into
h10am-12.30am, kitchen 10am-9.30pm) McGann’s has all County Kerry as far as Tralee,
the classic touches of a full-on Irish music pub; the beyond which it’s 50km on the
N86 to Dingle.
action often spills out onto the street. The food here
is the best of the trio.
Gus O’Connor’s Pub (www.gusoconnorspubdoolin.net; a Dingle
Fisherstreet; h9am-midnight) Right on the water, this Unlike the Ring of Kerry,
sprawling favourite packs them in and has a rollicking where the cliffs tend to
atmosphere when the music and drinking are in full dominate the ocean, it’s
swing. the ocean that domi-
MacDiarmada’s (Roadford; hbar 11am-midnight, kitchen nates the smaller Dingle
9am-9.30pm) Also known as McDermott’s, this simple Peninsula. The opal-blue
red-and-white old pub can be the rowdy favourite of waters surrounding the
locals. When the fiddles get going, it can seem like a promontory’s multihued
scene out of a John Ford movie.

322