Cliffs of Moher and More!

As the crack of dawn arrived all too quickly once more, Rachel and I groggily made our way to Maynooth Station so we could catch a train to connect with a bus that would take us to Galway (opposite coast of Dublin). Now for those of you who have traveled via bus before, what I'm about to say may sound all too familiar. Our bus was nearly full, and some girl about my age was sprawled across 5 seats in the back. They were literally the only seats left. So we go back and the woman in front of us who also needed a seat kindly nudged her and asked her if she could sit down. Apparently that annoyed the Queen of the Back Seat as she rolled her eyes and slid over to the corner to commiserate with her friend in the seat in front of her. As we took our seats we noticed a smell emanating from the Queen's nest. Apparently her highness' feet were just too sore for shoes as her odorous feet began permeating the confined air space of our chosen method of transport. As you could imagine it was a long drive to Galway. However by the time we arrived our fortunes began to turn.

When we got off the bus to transfer to yet another bus for our tour of western Ireland, we found that there were only 6-8 other people on our bus. We quickly grabbed a seat towards the back and departed towards Ailwee Caves. I started loving the guy who had originally found the caves right away because when he found them, he didn't bother to tell anybody for almost 30 years! He just used them as a quiet get away for him and his dog. It was only once he was feeling too tired to explore them anymore that he passed the secret on to archaeologists who explored it and reinforced it so visitors such as ourselves could pass through safely. On to the cave itself, it had an indoor waterfall and is another one of the darkest places in the world! And this time it was not interrupted by the light of cell phones and cameras. Simply glorious.

Our next few stops were various sites in the Burren landscape. This is a very rural part of Ireland and it is gorgeous. We saw rolling fields of green grass and rock for as far as the eye could see. Animals were grazing and it was all moving at about my speed. As we watched the cows and sheep peacefully chew the cudd (shoutout to Fr. Bly!) we came across an ancient tomb that looked like a sort of smaller version of Stonehenge. Of course seeing all the stones scattered about the ground I was inclined to play a game of lava to get too and from the tomb in the middle!

Our next stop was the main attraction: The Cliffs of Moher. It was another cold windy day on the Irish coast, but that didn't stop us from exploring the gorgeous landscape in front of us. Not much else to say about it other than "Wow!" so here are the photos!

After the Cliffs our driver took us on a beautiful trip down the coastline. There were even more cliffs to be had and we had the opportunity once more to get out and explore. This time we were able to go right up to the edge and even climb down in to a few crevices our driver knew about in the rock. Yet another Irish treasure of breathtaking beauty! Oh and there was even a llama farm! Because when your girlfriend crosses an ocean to see you, what better place to see than a llama farm! Am I right?!

  

This would be our final attraction for the Irish portion of our journey. After a full weekend that left us exhausted and well traveled, by the time we arrived back in Dublin there were less than 6 hours before we were due to be on our flights to Roma! Plenty more to come so as they say in the business, "standby for news!"