We depart Galway today as we head into the last week of our trip. We are going south now on the west side of Ireland.
This was the day scheduled to go to the Cliffs of Moher, a very popular tourist spot with over 1.6 million visitors a year. It’s a massive cliff, rising 700 feet above the waves of the Atlantic. It is part of the UNESCO Global Geopark. There is a walkway at edge of the top of the cliffs that extend 14km with a notable view point at O’Brien’s Tower, built in 1835. We didn’t have the blue sky and sunshine we’ve had other times but it wasn’t too bad!
We had lunch at the café at the Cliff and then departed on the 45 minute drive to Ennis.
The town of Ennis was chosen as a convenient stopping place on the way, but more so because my mother’s maiden name was Ennis. Seems Ennis is not an Irish name. It’s possible it was shortened from MacEnnis, and originated in Scotland. It’s not clear how the Ennis came about for the town’s name but a shopkeeper thought it might have come from the Irish word for island: Inis or Inish. It is surrounded by water though we couldn’t map it out easily, thinking some of it may have been put into culverts.
Ennis also has a Splash – a fancy laundromat with 3 sizes of washing machines and a bunch of dryers. It can be accessed via its app, and you pay be credit card on the app. Very cool. As it’s been a week since the washing was last done, this worked out really well. We got 1 load of stuff washed and dried in less than an hour.
The town is very small and can be walked around in less than 10-15 minutes. Hard to go anywhere without crossing your path. We dropped the laundry at the hotel and found the Ennis Friary. It’s very old, and is maintained by the government. We could see what it looked like from the outside but we were too late to actually pay and go in to get the full story. That’s OK.
We searched google for a restaurant that wasn’t just pub food and meats and found an Asian Fusion one that we just the thing. The proprietor was very chatty and we had a great meal. It was a 10 minute walk from the hotel.
The hotel has quite a history even though it’s only thirty years old. In 1854 a convent was established on the site by several Sisters of Mercy. It expanded over the years to include schools, an orphanage, and local industries. A new chapel—which now serves as the hotel’s Great Hall—was constructed on the grounds in the late 19th century. The Sisters sold the property in 1994 and the site was redeveloped with a portion becoming a museum. The hotel’s striking Great Hall (formerly St. Xavier’s Chapel) retains original vaulted ceilings, oak beams, and soaring stained-glass windows.
