For our 13th anniversary I took Christy to Ireland, we stayed in Doolin, Co Clare, a hotspot for traditional Irish music. We started with a walking tour of the Burren and Aran Islands.

Nicole thought the trip sounded nice and tried to tag along, we made other arrangements for her.

We stopped at a couple of interesting places on the way from Shannon to Doolin, beginning with the Mooghan Hill fort, one of the largest iron age hill forts in Europe, 3 walls enclosing 27 acres. The sign for the site.

Our rental car, an Opel Astra, the smallest automatic Irish Car Rentals had, (Ireland is right hand drive).

Christy checking out some info about the fort.

A walled enclosure between the middle and inner rings of the fort.

The view from the top of the hill in the innermost ring of Dun an Mhuchain.

We then stopped in the town of Quin to see the ruins of Quin Abbey. Initially a 13 century monastary, then a Norman castle, becoming an abbey in 1402, followed by a troubled history under Henry VIII, Elizabeth I, and Cromwell. A lone friar occupied the abbey ruins until 1820. Here is a view of the abbey from the modern church.

Approaching the Abbey through the headstones.

The imposing tower.

The tower from within the abbey.

An arched window.

Another arched window.

A celtic cross outside of the Abbey.

A tomb in the Abbey.

Graves in the depths of the Abbey

The inner courtyard with buttresses and arches.

The resting place of John "Fireball" MacNamara. A direct descendent of the founder of the Abbey, Sean Buidhe Mac Conmara fought over 60 duels with pistols and swords. The headstone reads, "Erected by Clan MacNamara to the memory of Sean Buidhe "Fireball" MacNamara, Chief of Clan and a 1798 Patriot."

We were pretty tired after Quin Abbey and decided to head for our room in Doolin. We met our tour group and had a gourmet dinner. An after dinner walk along the shore of the Atlantic brought this dark picture with the lighthouse of Inisheer in the distance.

Another from the evening walk, a small stone hermits hut on the rocky island near the pier at Doolin.

Exhausted from the 14 hours of plane flights and touring the countryside we did the only logical thing and retired to the live traditional music session and multiple pints of stout at O'Connors Pub from 10:30 to 1:30 am. Thus ended our first day in Ireland.