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Poulnabrone Dolmen, better known as the stone table or portal tomb, sits erect in the middle of a limestone field. Arrive early or late to avoid tour buses.

coast, abandoned since 1953 when its last handful of residents in their spot. Their home. Their community. It’s humbling. It’s
moved to the mainland. There’s very little there now, but a ferry hopeful. We are lucky because these sounds are mute in the
will usher visitors to what is at most, a ghost town. However, no midst of crowds.
ferries run this visit and we must wait to venture closer. In addition to harsh terrain, we continue to face visu-
As dramatic as the ruins and coastline are so is Bur- al reminders of an Irish struggle, including the potato famine
ren National Park – a UNESCO World Heritage Site – in the in the 1840s which was considered the worst in Europe in the
heart of County Clare. Literally, “the rocky place” tugs at your nineteenth century. In Westport, the most chilling reminder of
soul as you drive through a 10-square-mile plateau of limestone. its heartache and victims, The National Famine Memorial, rest-
Rich in historical and archeological discoveries, its most strik- ing alongside Clew Bay across from Croagh Patrick, Ireland’s
ing monument is its Poulnabrone Dolmen, often referred to as holiest mountain. Known as the coffin ship, swirling masts are
a stone table. Here, we are allowed a closer look, teetering on skeletons symbolizing those who attempted to escape suffering
limestone sediments holding tightly to each other in order to but who died on route to the America. Today, dark clouds hov-
maintain balance, and it’s at that moment, we realize our mo- er above as we read inscriptions in silence, trace our fingertips
ment is unique. With only a lone security guard in sight, there over the skeletal figures, and speculate, how even today, hunger
is an eerie silence skipping across the stones, over the hills. It’s plies the world like the Flying Dutchman.
the sound of footsteps and hands, walking and moving in this The juxtaposition of Ireland is true: harsh and breath-
very place we are standing, thousands of years ago, and we are

54 Wine Dine & Travel 2016