Today was one of our longest days of travel, so unfortunately, we missed out on the hot portion of breakfast, but we still had a variety of options including yogurt, breads, fruits, meat, cheese and so on. This morning's bus ride took us past the South Pole Inn (drive by only) where Pascal told us about Tom Crean, the South Pole explorer.
The conversation of our morning in the coach included fairies, fairy forts, magical wells and "the cure". Even Mark, our coach driver, jumped in to talk about some of these. It was a wonderful conversation! They had some great stories! To shave some time off our travel today we took a ferry across the River Shannon and were able to get out and stretch our legs. |
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The day started off foggy, but the closer we got to the Cliffs of Moher, the thicker the fog seemed to get. Pascal and Mark assured us they had called ahead to order good weather upon our arrival... however, as we pulled into the car park it did not appear to be lightening. Pascal gave us a quick introduction to the area including visitor center (bathrooms), then where to go once we got up to the viewpoint. Just as we arrived at the viewpoint the fog cloaking the cliffs began to lift, just as Pascal and Mark promised! We opted to go left and up to O'Brien's Tower, then decided to take the trail running further along the cliffs. This trail is marked with warning signs asking people to stay away from the edges of the cliff. We enjoyed the
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Our next stop past the Cliffs of Moher was to The Burren, a unique landscape of limestone with fissures that run deep into the rock bed. This moon-like landscape fosters quite a variety of flowers and plants which thrive within these cracks in the stone. Be careful where you step, as stepping in the cracks could result in a badly hurt ankle! Mark helped me find a variety of flowers to photograph during our short visit. Meanwhile he spoke about how this area use to be under water, and currently much of the Burren is used for grazing livestock! The Burren itself spans over 200 square miles!
Back on the bus we drove the rest of the way to our next destination, Galway. |
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Pulling into Galway we were eager to get to our hotel and into our room so that we could freshen up, but ultimately get back on the road in time to spend a little bit of time with my sister, Emily, who was enjoying her last day in Galway at the aquarium! It was a short meeting before it was time to gather with the group to attend dinner. Still, it was nice to see her!
Pascal took us down Quay Street/High Street/William Street. Along the way we stopped for a short history lesson at Lynch Castle before moving onto our delicious dinner at McSwiggan's! It was also a really neat building with multiple levels. |
Our day started with a bus drive to the ferry port so that we could sail to Inishmor. We stopped along the way to admire a beautiful thatched roof pub before continuing onto the ferry.
Now, the trick to enjoying Inishmor is early arrival. We arrived at Rossaveel for the first ferry out. Pascal asked for us to start a timer for 40 minutes from when the boat left, and at around 30 minutes of voyage, he asked for us to utilize the restroom so that when we arrived at Inishmor we are able to hop off, and head straight for the mini vans that took us to Dun Aenghus Fort. It worked! We were the first ones to the vans waiting for eager tourists. We got into the smaller of the two for |
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before the remainder of our group arrived, along with some other visitors. The cliffs here are sheer, and Pascal advised that this was a safer place for us to crawl to the edge and look over if we wished. We got within 2-3 feet of the edge, but didn't feel gutsy enough to look over! The hike back down the hill was much more crowded. By this time there were a couple of children positioned at a couple of bends in the road who were playing instruments.
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Soon enough we were meeting up at the base of the hill at the car park. The vans arrived with another group of passengers, then we loaded up and continued further along the road to Na Seacht d'Teampaill or the Seven Churches and cemetery. There was a wee donkey stationed at the entrance who watched all who ventured by. When we arrived, he looked quite bored, but adorably so! We had some time to explore the cemetery, which was incredible. There were quite a few people wandering around this site. After some time we were back on the road and driving out onto an dirt road where we could see the lighthouse at the end of the island. At this point we turned around and returned to Lower Kilronan, the gateway town to the island.
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