Dublin, Day 3 - Cliffs of Moher and ABC's of Ireland

Day 3 in Dublin, Ireland. January 27, 2013
         On Sunday, Claire and I got up super early so that we could go to the Cliffs of Moher with Paddywagon Tours. I am so glad that we did this tour, it was so much fun! And I personally feel like going to Dublin and not seeing the countryside or coast is like going to Denver, Colorado and not visiting the Rocky Mountains!! 

Our very Irish bus...you couldn't miss it!

         So, we found where the bus was picking up from and got on. We met our funny tour guide Marc, and on the way out of Dublin he told us some Irish history. He also told us the very important ABC's of Ireland (not really that important): Another bloody church, another bloody cathedral, another bloody castle. Well, from our adventures in Dublin and this trip we found out that this is so true! We stopped at a truck stop 30 minutes outside of Dublin, and I got apple juice and Nutri-Grain bars, my favorite! Nutri-Grain bars are the best, but I haven't seen them in Madrid. After our quick breakfast we drove about 2 hours to reach our first destination.
          Our first stop was a castle (ABC's of Ireland!) called Dunguaire Castle. It is a 16th century castle, is pretty close to the city of Galway, and sits on Galway Bay. It was absolutely gorgeous! It seems like it could be in a movie. In the summer you can go in and climb up the tower, but in the winter it is closed, so we just saw the outside of it. Apparently if you stand at the entrance and ask a question, you will know the answer by the end of the day. 

Dunguaire Castle

 

 

 

Front of Dunguaire Castle

     You might be able to tell from the pictures, but it was raining off and on the entire day. So some of my pictures are sunny and some of them it looks like it is about to storm. But, whenever we got off the bus it wasn't raining, and it would rain while we were driving to our next location....we got lucky! Apparently the day before it was raining the entire day. 
         Our next stop was an abbey...not in the ABC's of Ireland, but it is kind of like a church. Corcomroe Abbey was built in the 12th century, but later fell into disrepair. Many churches and castles were destroyed by the English when they were trying to take control of Ireland, a lot by Lord Oliver Cromwell in the mid 1600s. They wanted to destroy the Irish culture, and punish them for being Catholic and speaking Gaelic. Later, a roof was put on to cover the altar and the king that is buried there, King Conor O'Brien, or in Gaelic, Conor na Siudane Ua Briain. When our tour guide Marc was telling us about this abbey, he said make sure not to lean on the walls or anything as it may fall apart...I don't think it was that close to falling a part! Many tombs and gravestones are now in the abbey, as well as outside, most with the Celctic Cross.

Corcomroe Abbey, from the side.

King Conor O'Brien's tomb

        Our next stop was the mini-Cliffs! It was so windy there, but the view was pretty! These cliffs were very small compared to the real Cliffs of Moher, which we found out later. Marc told us the reason why the tour stops here is because you can get pretty close to the edge, unlike at the Cliffs where there is a 4 ft rock wall so you won't fall off. We could kind of see the city of Galway on the other side of the coast, and we could kind of see the Aran Islands: Inis Mór, Inis Meáin and Inis Óirr. In English they are Big Island, Middle Island, and South Island...how original.

Mini-Cliffs!

 

You could see how the salty ocean water weathered away the limestone...how neat is that?!

             Then it was time for lunch! We stopped at Fitzgerald's which had a restaurant and hotel and ate seafood chowder. Marc told us it was like the best seafood chowder in Ireland, or something like that. I am not sure if it is, but it was pretty good! And really warm after the windy and cold mini-Cliffs.

Seafood chowder at Fitzgerald's. Even Ireland has lemon Fanta! The US needs to bring that back.

               We then continued on our way, and as we went along Marc pointed out famine farms and walls that were built during the famine. Famine farms were often small with a small cottage for the family (often a lot of people) to stay in. The farming area was divided into different areas, but did not cover much land. Famine walls were built during the famine in the mid 1850s. The British government helped the Irish out by having work houses and building stone walls. The Irish people worked all day building these walls, and then got paid in food. 

Famine wall and farm, taken from the bus when it was raining.

          Then we finally made it to the Cliffs of Moher! Before we got off of the bus, Marc told us to take a certain path that eventually led to a part of the Cliffs where there was no wall. The 4 ft stone wall was put up a few years ago, after there was increase of people accidentally falling off the Cliffs, which is really scary! The wind is so strong that it could push someone over the edge, and some places the Cliffs could be unstable. We tried to find the place where he was talking about, but there was a really big pool of water blocking our way, and we weren't sure how deep it was, and didn't want to get all muddy! We did see a guy go up there, so it was possible. Even with the walls, it was absolutely gorgeous! These Cliffs were so much bigger than the mini-Cliffs! When we got there, the weather was really nice and sunny, but then it turned quickly and got windy.

Sign in multiple languages...although I think the pictures at the top explain it all...don't climb over the stone wall or else you will fall off the Cliffs!

 

 

 

 

 

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince? Claire and I kept trying to find the place on the Cliffs where they filmed the scene of Harry and Dumbledore going into a cave trying to find a horcrux.

    

Some sun and blue sky at the Cliffs of Moher. Absolutely beautiful.

 

And another castle...this one was built by England so it wasn't destroyed.

        After a 2 hour drive back to Dublin, that wrapped up our day tour of the Cliffs of Moher. It was so much fun and I was so glad Claire and I choose to do the trip! It was well worth it. We got back to Dublin and met up with the rest of the group and ate at O'Donoghue's, a little pub close to our hostel and the Temple Bar area. I had fish and chips (again) and it was really good! We went back to our hostel to take showers and pack up for our early flight out of Dublin to Madrd. 
     I would say it was a very successful trip to Ireland, and I want to go back! I definitely could spend more time there, maybe in the summer months when it wasn't so rainy! But I loved that everyone was very friendly and didn't care what you were wearing (unlike in Madrid). 
And to end my blog posts about my trip to Ireland, here is a traditional Gaelic Blessing:

May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face;
the rains fall soft upon your fields and until we meet again,
may God hold you in the palm of His hand.   

      

 Cheers!