Cliffs of Moher and the Burren

Josh, Dani, Marit, and I all got up early and biked to Eyre Square to catch our tour bus for the day. After a bit of confusion, we found it and got settled in for our trip to the Cliffs of Moher and the Burren. Our tour guide, Billy, was quite funny and very knowledgeable, which helped make the trip better. The bus itself was decently comfortable, and the only bad part of the ride was the jerky/swaying motion it made while we were winding through the narrow roads. But I didn't puke, so that was good. The area we were traveling through, the Burren, is a section of Ireland covered in limestone hills where very different plants and animals live. We found out that it is the same type of land that's on the Aran Islands, which we went to last weekend. As we drove through the area, we could see the large mountains and the odd landscape, but it was gorgeous (Pictures of the Burren can be seen here).


Our first stop on the journey was Aillwee Caves, discovered randomly by an old Irish man walking his dog in the 1960s. Apparently, the dog chased a rabbit down the hole, and when the man followed he found this cave. Pretty nifty, but it sounds similar to discovery of caves back in the US. Mom, Dad - didn't we go to a cave discovered in the same fashion out West? Regardless, the caves were pretty neat. There was just one path, but it had a nice waterfall inside, as well as a frozen one. I managed to avoid hitting my head on any of the narrow ceilings (yay!) and was glad I brought a jacket, since the temperature dropped inside. We all grabbed some sandwiches at the shop to hold us over til lunch, and boarded the bus again.



We then picked up a group of people who had left us earlier for a hike through the Burren in Ballyvaughan, and got out to look at the church they had. It was pretty cool looking, even for a regular church. The weirdest bit about it was the fact that the inside was completely modernized. Just didn't seem right to have yellow walls inside a stone church.


From there, we made a stop at Poulnabrone Dolmen, which is an ancient stone t0mb that is up to 5,000 years old. It's a very small thing, seemingly insignificant, but cool nonetheless. We walked around it and took pictures, but it was a quick stop - only 10 minutes - because the society that preserves that sort of thing here is trying to reduce the amount of wear and tear the area gets.


On our way to the next stop - the Cliffs of Moher, we passed through a couple of villages. One of these - Lisdonvarna - is reknown for its Matchmaking Festival, which happens every September, and and also has famous spring wells with water that's supposed to cure various ailments. We also passed by a castle that was owned by a woman who had four husbands, all of whom died by "accident". It was quite amusing to listen to the tale from the tour guide. Clever woman? Or evil? Haha.

We made our big stop soon after, at the Cliffs of Moher, and got out to walk around for an hour. Unfortunately, it was quite rainy when we left the bus, but it cleared up soon enough and we got some excellent photos (found here). There were some amusing warning signs on the walls, and we even found a pirate cove (lol). We walked along the edge (don't worry Mom, there was a wall) to get some good shots, and wandered toward an old watchtower and then back up the other side. Here, we ignored a "No Trespassing" sign (with everyone else, mind you), to get some excellent photos. Mom might not want to see those, though. We headed back to the bus soon after and stopped off at Doolin for lunch. The pub wasn't all that bad, but I wish I would've had more time to explore the city. It's supposed to be great.


There was a short stop on the way back, as we took the coast road, for pictures next to some other cliffs. It was nifty, and had some great views. From there, we rode even farther and made our final stop at Dunguaire Castle for pictures. They have medieval banquets here most nights, but they run rather expensive (45 Euro a pop). We might do it later, but I've already been to medieval times. The castle was neat, though. After a bit longer, we made it back to Galway and Eyre Square, picked up our bikes, and headed home.


When we got home, we pretty much lounged around for a bit, watching TV. Shelby called me and came over for a bit before we went out to dinner with Niamh and Dave. The four of us hit up a Thai food place near the Spanish Arch off Shop Street. It was excellent! From there, we parted ways. All the UREKA students and I are supposed to go bowling soon, so I better get ready for that. Cheers!