Cliffs of Moher and The Burren

Saturday, Caitlyn and I joined a tour bus and ventured down the coast to the Cliffs of Moher. The weather was beautiful and the sky was clear. On our way to the Cliffs our tour guide brought us to several stops along the way.

 We saw The Burren which was really cool. I didn't realize that it was a dessert of rocks that covered  A LOT of acreage. We got to walk along the Burren and it was pretty tricky. The rocks weren't flat and there were spaces and holes between them. We had to watch our step, it would have been easy to break a leg or fall in between the rocks. In the Burren there were old tombs that were over a thousand years old. They didn't look like tombs that you might expect though. There would be 2-3 rocks standing up like the legs of table and then a large rock on top to look like a large hut. We couldn't get close to the old tombs, they were roped off. But we could take pictures and continue walking through the Burren.

Portal Tomb

We got back on the bus and continued our tour through the Burren and the small villages that lined Galway County's coast. There were a lot of sheep and cows everywhere, and the tour guide was even surprised to see a small flock of llamas. I guess llamas are rare in Ireland, they are imported from Peru. He also went on to say how they are friendly and quirky. Friendly, NO. Quirky, YES. Ha ha, I remember my grandparents and their llamas. They had great spitting aim!!

We stopped in Doolin for a quick lunch. We went to a small pub called O'Connor's. The food was delicious. I got the seafood chowder and I could not believe how much fresh seafood was in it! Back home, you are lucky to get anything besides potato and a few pieces of fish.

Moving on, the bus ride from the pub to the Cliffs was only about 20 minutes. The weather continued to stay lovely and the temperature got warmer too! The bus pulled up to the Cliffs and we all clambered out to stretch our legs. I had to go back and get my sunglasses, having the sun out here is a rarity and I was surprised at myself for having remembered my shades.

Caitlyn and I headed out to the Cliffs immediately. There was only a small stretch of fenced land where we were "allowed" to stand. But if you walked a little further there was a break in the fence and a sign warning tourists of the dangers of trespassing. We decided to chance it and hopped the fence.

Once you get over the fence, you follow a narrow path that goes on for about and hour and half. We didn't have enough time to go along the whole path so we only walked about a third of the coast along the Cliffs. I couldn't believe how close the path was to the edge! I was afraid to get close in case the ground fell out beneath me! Fortunately there were a few spots where you could get on your stomach and crawl and look down over the edge.

This was my first view of the Cliffs. It was so beautiful and the clear weather made it that much better! I couldn't believe how lucky we were to have gotten such great weather. Ireland isn't known for their sunshine and warm weather =] This was taken before we jumped the fence. You can see that you can't get close to the edge, but the view was amazing. You could see almost the whole length of the Cliffs. We only walked to the second one sticking out I believe, it's a good hike!

We continued our trek through the Cliffs to try and get some close up shots of the rocks and the water crashing up against the Cliffs. We continued along the path and I found a nice spot for a picture. After Caitlyn took the photo, an Irish woman came up to me and told me that 8 people had already died this year from falling off the Cliffs and a few of them had fallen where I had just been sitting. THANKS LADY FOR SCARING ME! I wasn't sure if she was being serious or not, but I moved.

Here's the spot the lady freaked me out at

We walked a bit further along this side of the Cliffs, but we turned around and walked back the other way to check out the other coast. There was also a small castle where you could climb to the top and check out the view from 360 degrees. We also found out that this side of the Cliffs wasn't as exciting, the water wasn't crashing along the rocks and the Cliffs were smaller and less dangerous, therefore less fun!

We only had an hour and a half to check out the Cliffs, so we headed back to the bus to continue the rest of the tour. We headed back along the coast and made a few short stops to take a few last tourist-scenic pictures before the ride back to Galway. The last stop was my favorite. It was more of the Burren but it was right along side of the water and Cliffs and it was beautiful.

The Cliffs here were a lot smaller, I could have lived if I decided to jump...

All in all it was a great day! We met some great people from all over the world on the tour, our tour guide had a great sense of humor and the weather was perfect! I got to spend the day and this experience with a great friend and it's something I will remember for a long time. I would recommend visiting the Cliffs to anyone, it was a great experience with a little adventure as well.

London this weekend! And my 21st birthday!! Look out London =]