I have been sadly remiss in doing this post. I’m sure everyone is pining away due to that. Where did we leave off?…oh yes, driving. I need to remember that slower traffic stays left and you pass on the right. Talk about messing with your head.
Friday morning the Cousin, the Husband and the Brother (oh, and I) loaded up our trusty Opel and headed towards the Cliffs of Moher. Everyone has said that was a can’t miss site. They are amazing, they are majestic, they are the Cliffs of Insanity (Princess Bride reference. First one I might point out). As we got closer we suspected that we might have a problem..
The cliffs weren’t there. Okay, so they were there – if you hopped a fence and walked too far you would certainly find them – you just couldn’t see them.
There were a lot (LOT) of tour buses, loads of cars…paying €8 per person. And none of us saw the cliffs. We got very wet, very cold, some exercise climbing the stairs – thinking that if we went up higher maybe we could see something. Nothing. So we left.
Next stop on the journey was the Burren. The Burren is this crazy place that looks like you’re on another planet. It is beautiful (if still wet, and we were really cold at this point). Starkly beautiful. Burren in Gaelic translates to rocky place. How clever.
There was one more stop before heading to Galway itself. Our wonderful property manager told us not to miss Kilmacduagh. It was an enormous monastery founded around the 7th century, but mostly in ruins since the 1300s. The tower was restored about 200 years ago. Other than being very cold and wet we very much enjoyed this location.
Enough with the driving around (the Cousin had been popping dramamine like candy). Time to go to Galway! Yay! I loved Galway. Really, this is a fabulous town. In fact, we liked it so much that the next time we come to Ireland (2 yearsish) we plan to stay here. It’s hard to describe what is so likable about it – it just is. You can look anywhere and find photos of it, so I’m going to share a couple of rather pretty ones that one of us (can’t keep straight who took what photo anymore!) took –
This waterway is right on the edge of the old town. So pretty.
Saturday morning we took a walking tour. This is one of the things we try to do whenever we go to a new city, and we try to do it soon after arriving. It really helps to orient us to a place and the local guides are full of great information. It’s usually very easy to find a private walking tour – just look up the city you are going to with the words “private walking tour”. They do vary in price but are usually less than $80. Ray ( https://www.galwaytours.ie ) was our guide for Galway and he did not disappoint. One of my favorite bits of the walk was going into a mall and finding this:
We stayed at the Western Hotel for two nights. Other than the shower was a bit wonky, nice place. One place that we all fell in love with was Pascal Coffee House ( http://www.pascal.ie/ ). So much so that we went there twice on Saturday and had intended to get take away from there on Sunday before we left…and they were closed! Sniff. I did promise to confine food photos to the photo page…go look there:)
Our goal after leaving Galway was the little beach town of Kilkee. That was to be our breakfast stop. Cute town, nice beach. But just south of the town is the beginning of the Cliffs of Kilkee. The weather was a bit overcast, but nothing like what we had when we went to the Cliffs of Moher (for which we are thankful). Now, I’ve seen lots of photos of the Cliffs of Moher and they are impressive. The big thing about those cliffs is how tall they are. The Cliffs of Kilkee aren’t quite as tall. Other than that, I have to say that I would travel to Kilkee again any day over Moher. These cliffs are AMAZING. They are made of slate, so they are a very dark gray, and where the water crashes up against them…wow
We made one last stop before the mad dash back to the Kerry Airport. Down at the end of the peninsula (like, where you can see the water on both sides) is the church of the Little Ark. I won’t go into the story of it here, but you can read this if you’re interested http://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclare/history/kilbaha.htm . It’s worth the trek-
It was a wonderful weekend. Lots of driving and narrow roads. Lots of questioning if Dana (our name for Google Maps) really had any clue where we were going. She never did lead us astray…for which we are grateful. We are also grateful to my sister in law for arranging for the Brother to join us. A fun time was had by all. Although I think the Cousin should consider buying stock in Dramamine before the next trip to see us 😉