Farewell Ireland

Geokaun Dawn

Valencia Island Light

A Lonely House

St. Finian's Church

Gougane Barra Sunrise

It has been an amazing ten day journey through the southwest corner of Ireland. 3238 photographs later (and the majority of those fair to middlin' and not worth printing), I have come away with a much different take on this country than I had previously. For all its economic woes, Ireland is vibrant, upbeat, and full of genuinely friendly people.

It is also confusing for non-Irish speaking visitors. To promote the language, all signs (with the exception of STOP signs) are in Irish, a form of gaelic, with english subtitles below. Thankfully, Peter Cox, our tour leader, is fluent and was able to navigate quite easily through this word maze.

The weather has been far wetter than normal for this time of year, but as there was not much we could do about it, we forged ahead. Only three out of ten days were sunny, whereas it should have been the reverse. At least everything was green as expected.

It was an interesting group, quite amiable and amicable, with two glaring exceptions, a couple from Los Angeles (actually the wife really wasn't too bad) who, as Peter so politely put it "some people are simply self-absorbed." Demanding, oblivious to all needs but their own, and indeed blind to much of the scenery passing by the bus as we traveled from one beautiful destination to another, they were highly unpleasant. Oh well, the rest of us got on famously!

So back to my wonderful wife and the comforts of home. I'm sorry to not have posted more images, however high speed internet has been quite rare and getting a slew of photos out was more than the system usually could bear.

Cheers,

Steve