Cliffs of Insanity

Wednesday we decided to do a half day bus tour.  Again Glen and I got our timing wrong. I thought he knew the tours started at either 11 or 11:30.  He thought they began at noon.

We slept in and had a large, late breakfast before Glen tackled his more pressing emails.  I read then finally at 10:45 said I guess we weren't going on the tour.  Glen realized his error so without further adieu, we marched up to the tour office (a block away) and bought tickets to see the Cliffs of Moher (pronounced 'more') on the 11:30 bus.

It began to rain as we left so we were warned we might not see much.  Without thinking I began taking photos from the bus window only to discover later that the tinted glass gave everything a green hue.  Emerald Isle, indeed.

It was a long drive to the cliffs as we crossed the Burren which means 'great rock'.  This limestone formation is barren in areas and grows very little in others.  Cattle, sheep, and donkeys seemed to be the livestock of choice although one pathetic garden did have rather stunted sunflowers.  The bus driver thought this very funny for a rainy place like Ireland.  The rocks are great for building walls and we saw plenty of those.   We also saw fields dedicated to peat harvesting and more castle/forts than I can remember.

When we arrived at the Cliffs of Moher, the rain stopped and the sun tried to pry open the clouds.  Hundreds of folks were there to see the natural beauty of the cliffs but first we took a break at the visitor centre which is cut into the surrounding cliffs so does not detract from the bleak landscape.

The cliffs, made up of shale and sandstone, soar to a maximum of 200 meters (700 feet) above the sea and run 8 km (5 miles) along the coast.  At their midpoint, stands O'Brien's Tower which Sir Cornelius O'Brien built to impress his female visitors (I was impressed).  From here we viewed the natural phenomenon that is the Cliffs of Moher.  They seemed familiar and later I discovered they were featured in the movie, The Princess Bride, a favourite of our family.  There they were called the Cliffs of Insanity.

The cliffs are amazing but the wind could lift you off your feet, it was so strong.  We didn't linger up on the bluffs but I did get lots of pictures.  At one point, as we peered across Galway Bay, we could just see the Aran Islands.  The sun then vanished and the rain began so we made our way back to the bus.

Our next stop was lunch in a tiny town called Doolin, famous for its Irish music (The Russell Brothers hail from here).  We stopped at Fitzpatrick's, a bar/cafeteria where we could get a pint of Guinness and an excellent seafood chowder with rich brown bread.  Bread in Ireland is so delicious and is served with everything from oysters to soup.  It is the land where potato is king.  At Fitzpatrick's the woman ahead of us requested the turkey dinner and not only did she get a huge dollop of mash potatoes, the chef also gave her several boiled potatoes.  Her husband then asked what the soup of the day was and the chef replied, "Amazing!".  I got a laugh out of that.  Don't look for a huge variety of veggies in Ireland.  We had mostly peas and carrots and their salads were a pile of lettuce with perhaps a cucumber slice.

After lunch (it was 3:00 pm when we sat down to eat), we drove to another slab of rock along the coast.  Here, the abbreviated cliffs were covered in scaffolding as a crew had been filming the new Asterix & Obelix movie.  The drop from the ledge we stood on was steep and there were no guard rails holding us back so we took our photos quickly then bundled back onto the bus.

On our return to Galway, we stopped at a small castle.  Dunguaire Castle sits on Galway Bay and as we disembarked a flock of swans came to feed along the shoreline.  The castle is really a tower house built in 1520 but is thought to be the most photographed castle in Ireland.  You must be careful on how you line up your photo, though, as a tiny village, Kinverra, has almost engulfed it. In the summer, the castle is open to tourists but we had to be content just wandering the grounds.  Apparently, if you ask a question at the front gate, the late Lord of the Hynes clan, who built the castle, will provide an answer by the end of the day.  I didn't know this so, even though I stood at the gate, I never thought to ask a question.

We were late getting back to town so by the time we were ready for supper, it was after 8:00 pm.  We decided to go to the closest pub that served oysters.  This was Garvey's Inn on Eyre Square.  We found a seat for two at the back where all was quiet.  Almost too quiet.  We ordered our Guinness and were told the oysters were gone.  Rather than hunt down another place, we ordered regular bar food.  As we were enjoying our meal, a band began to set up nearby.  By 10:00, the place was rocking.  The music was good but we knew we had rise early to do our next tour so left giving those standing around us a place to sit.