The Burren and the Cliffs of Moher

On our full day in Galway we took a tour of the burren and the cliffs of moher.  The tour took up most of the day and we got to see some pretty cool stuff.  We drove by a castle, the ruins of a castle mostly.  The first stop though was a family farm located in the burren.  The burren is basically this rocky area made up of limestone.  So you’d think it would be kind of barren and desolate but there’s actually a lot of plant life that grows there that usually only grow in alpine and Mediterranean climates, but they happen to grow here as well.  And so that is the setting for the tour we went on and the land we were exploring just happens to belong to the tour guide and/or his family which is pretty cool.  And for an added bit of fun his name was John Connolly. 

So John showed us around the farm.  We saw some cows and some sheep.  And it’s springtime so there was lots baby cows and baby sheep as well.  And then we were off hiking up the rocky path of the burren area.  He pointed out some flowers that we starting to bloom and we also saw a fairy tree.  People used to come to the tree and would tie something like a ribbon or a piece of string to the tree and it would symbolize leaving their problems on the tree.  Kinda cool.  I didn’t have anything to tie on there though.  From on top of the hill you could also see the ruins of this abbey that was built back in the 12^th century.  You can also see the ruins of these 3 churches in the area called 7 churches.  There were only ever 3 churches there…but the celts like the number 7.  It’s a good number.  So they call it 7 churches.  The Irish seem to have lots of fun stories like that.

After we finished up outside we went into the little cottage on the property where they have some cute sitting rooms and sell fabulous and award winning homemade cakes and coffee and tea and all that good stuff.  I got this really awesome cheesecake.  And then we sat in there and ate and listened to John sing some old Irish song.  It was a lot of fun.  And once we had finished eating and drinking we went back outside and got to see a puppy they had bought recently, it was just 13 weeks old, a cavalier king charles spaniel named coco.  There was also a little lamb that is just a couple weeks old whose mother rejected it so now they are bottle feeding it.  Then it was time to get back on the bus and move on to the next destination, the highlight of the tour, the cliffs of moher.

The cliffs are basically one of the biggest deal sort of things to see in Ireland.  One of the most visited places in the country.  They’ve also been seen in the princess bride and harry potter and the half blood.  They’re basically beautiful and breathtaking and no pictures I could have taken would have been able to convey the reality of standing on them and looking out on the water down below.  It’s just truly indescribable. 

All too soon though our time at the cliffs was over.  And then it was back on the bus and off to a nearby town where we stopped for lunch at a local pub/bar place.  I got some good vegetable soup and some brown bread.  Then we were off again.  We saw a famous dulman with a name I can’t remember.  Basically it’s an ancient tomb of sorts where archeologists or whoever studies that kind of thing found evidence that around 30 people were buried in this place and there’s these big stones set up to mark the place, kind of reminiscent of Stonehenge but on a much smaller scale.

At this point we were making our way back to Galway City.  We got to see some more beautiful irish countryside.  And then we passed by the castle we passed at the beginning of the day but this time the tide was in so we got to see it surrounded by water which was pretty cool.  Basically it was a pretty awesome first full day in Ireland.

By the time we got back it was early evening so we wandered through the city and looked in some shops and things like that.  Luckily it was a Thursday so that means late night shopping.  Thursdays and Fridays are the only days that the stores are open past 6 here.  It’s really weird and definitely very different from spain where the stores are always open til 9 or 10. 

Another fun Ireland fact to leave you with.  Our bus driver told us about the 3 different types of weather they have in Ireland.  1. It has rained.  2. It is raining.  3. It is going to rain.

And we believe it.  We’ve experienced it.  It’s not really a matter of if it will rain.  It’s only a matter of when it will rain.  Luckily though we haven’t really got stuck in it when it’s coming down really hard or anything.  Just a light fall of rain now and then that usually only lasts a few minutes.  Not anything to complain about.

But anyway, more Ireland fun to come.