County Galway beyond its capital city offers ruggedly beautiful landscapes, especially through the spectacular Connemara Peninsula, with white beaches, cute villages, craggy hills, and bucolic vales. Offshore isles speckle the horizon - the most evocative being the three mythical, karst-limestone Aran Islands, an hour 15 minutes by ferry from a town called Rossaveal (an hour from Galway city) or ten-minute small-plane hop from Connemara Airport in Inverin. Here on islands like Inisheer (pictured here) most of the 1,200 inhabitants live speaking Gaelic as well as English; ancient stone walls lace the low-slung landscapes, ending in sheer sea cliffs; Bronze- and Iron-Age forts like Dún Aengus, Dún Aonghasa, and Dún Dúchathair as well as more recent ones like 14th-century O'Brien's Castle. Accommodation is available in village bed and breakfasts, guesthouses, small hotels, and "glamping" sites. And finally, as long as you're in this part of Ireland, you really should pop 90 minutes down into County Clare to experience the spectacular Cliffs of Moher.
Read more in my post Galway Is an Irish Charmer - and a 2020 European Capital of Culture.
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