Well, I went there today. It's gorgeous.
The five miles of Ireland's western seaboard are perennially among Ireland's top attractions. When the Half-Blood Prince movie was filmed, they chose the Cliffs of Moher for a scene where Dumbledore and Harry went after one of Voldemort's horcruxes. Admittedly, I am a big Harry Potter fan, so forgive me if none of that made any sense to you.
This morning, we woke up early and had a nice Irish breakfast at the B&B. It consisted of some sausages that were considerably softer and chewier than German sausages as well as some nice thick slices of bacon. There was a single egg and a sliced tomato. I ate it all along with some toast, delicious Irish butter, and sugar except the tomatoes. I do not like fresh tomatoes.
Our trip to the Cliffs of Moher was organized by Healy Tours, which sent a bus to pick us up from our B&B. That was very nice to not have to walk all the way to the bus terminal that's at least a mile away.
We had a British bus driver who told us about the history of the area. I chatted him up during one of our pit stops and learned that he's been in the Galway area for the past 35 years after marrying his wife, who was from Ireland. He was quite amusing 'cause he kept chuckling to himself after telling us things he found funny.
One of our first stops was at Danguaire Castle, which is a 16th century castle that is used now for medieval banquets in the summer. Pretty neat.
The region through which we drove is located in Galway County, and it's known as the "Burren." There is plenty of limestone in the region, and it's quite green. The bus stopped at a place where almost all of the bus went on a walk with a local guide for 5€ per person. I wasn't interested, so I stayed behind to go down to an old abbey with about four others and our bus driver. The abbey is now a cemetery.
After we picked everyone back up, we continued driving and soon hit the northern part of the Cliffs of Moher. Our driver called them "the baby cliffs." They are "only" about 100 feet high.
It was quite chilly on the cliffs, so I figured it would only be colder later on. We were getting quite hungry though, so we stopped for lunch at Fitz's Bar in the town of Doolin, where I had leek and potato soup with a ham and veggie sandwich.
From lunch, we continued on toward the main Cliffs of Moher. At the Cliffs, there is a brand-new state-of-the-art visitor center. It's built into the hills and looked pretty nice.
We had one hour at the Cliffs, so we made the most of our time there. I took pictures up and down the Cliffs, including by O'Brien's Tower. I wore my Dream Project t-shirt underneath so I could get a picture at the Cliffs. It was cold though, so I just unzipped my jacket. Nevertheless, outside of the sun being directly over the southern cliffs (making for difficult pictures), the Cliffs of Moher are stunning and beautiful.
By the time I made it back to the bus, I was pretty wiped out. I slept for the last hour or so on the bus. When we got back to Galway, we had dinner at a place called the Front Door. I had their Chicken Pot Pie, which was not very pot pie like, but it was tasty.
We went to a place called Tig Cóilí, where I had a Murphy's beer. It was alright. It's sort of like a Guinness, but a bit more bitter and less "creamy." There was live Irish music there though, which was cool. At one point, a guy sang a song, and the whole bar was supposed to be quiet. In the relative quiet, a girl in the back hiccuped, and the bartender gave her a loud, "Shhh!", which brought on a round of chuckles.
All in all, today was a very productive day of exploring Ireland, and I'm glad I got to see the Cliffs of Moher. Next time, hopefully, I can go down to the water like Dumbledore and Harry. :)
Cheerio,
Sam
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