The Burren

I visited the Burren region (nominated as cultural landscape) two times during the car trips around the western coast of Ireland. We did a short stop at Cliffs of Moher (beautiful but very touristy site) and headed to the north towards Galway. The landscape of Burren is distinct to other parts of Ireland and immediately recginzable because of huge plateaus of grey limestone.

First feature I visited in the area was Poulnabrone dolmen that is quite touristy place. The dolmen is nice but it does not deserve the inscription to WHS. So, I was not convinced about the outstanding qualities of the Burren at all. The landscape around the cost is nice, full of farms and beautiful views, but still not exceptional. My opinion has changed during my visit to the core zone of the national park (photo). The karstic landscape is simply beautiful and fascinating. You can find fossils of corals or seashell almost in every stone. Further, I can admit that the grassy and stony landscape is there also due to the thousands years-lasting human impact...

All in all, now I can imagine the inscription of the Burren as the cultural landscape, because it is different as compared to other karstic regions I have visited.

The Burren is quite interesting to see the contrast with the surrounding green landscape. There are Neolithic remains (dolmens) in very good condition. However, I believe this is a very interesting national heritage site and not a WHS.