Sunday tour to Cliffs of Moher

After a sleeping as late as we dared, we ate some breakfast and headed in to Galway to catch a tour bus going to the Cliffs of Moher. The drive in was beautiful. I'm sure we drove by land characteristic of the Burren, if we weren't driving through the Burren itself. I guess I should suggest that they have a narrator for the bus ride if at all feasible, because there were plenty of towns and landscapes I'm sure I'd love to have heard more about. The drive in was also a drive up, and I couldn't sit by the window. It was far enough to look down from the bus window when we weren't on the edge of a mountain, dizzying when we were.

We enjoyed the drizzly weather, and even the rain shower that hit while we were up there, but it wasn't so great for getting photos. 

Something we saw on the bus ride up the mountains. Google info says that it's in Kinvarra, County Galway.

Another shot from the bus along the way

We made it!

Here are some of my best shots, taken from some of the higher places I reached. I wimped out of climbing to the top of the tower.

And a couple of short videos:

Joseph, Chelsea and Emma climbed the stairs to the top of the tower:

And here are some shots I took of the photos inside the Visitors' Center, because that was the only way I was going to get any sunshine-y shots:

And here's a little info and some art featuring the birds that hang out around here. We saw some puffins in the distance. Again, not my photos.

The bus driver had asked us to all be back by a quarter to four, but something was wrong with the engine, so we sat in the bus for an hour and a half, waiting for that to get sorted. On the way back, we saw a rainbow. The arch seemed shallower than those of rainbows we're used to seeing. Was it because we were closer to the North Pole than we're used to being? It also seemed like it would be somehow easier to find the end of that rainbow. We marveled, all week long, at the lateness of the onset of dusk.

Took this picture on the car ride back to our cottage, from Galway to somewhere near Quin. Noted the time. Not sure how I did that, but I wrote it in with my finger.

Day 3: Rendez-Vous with more Larrews!

Joseph, Chelsea and Emma arrived pretty early Saturday morning. We had just finished getting dressed and eating some breakfast when Cliff got a WhatsApp text from Joseph. We walked out to meet them as they walked toward the hotel entrance from the parking lot, then detoured to find a place with coffee and baked goods. Checkout wasn't until noon, fortunately, so we hung out a little longer in our lovely little room overlooking the Liffey and let our latest Larrew arrivals settle in and do a bit of recoup from the plane ride.

Upon checking out and trying to fit our luggage in the rental car Joseph had picked up, we discovered that we needed a bigger rental vehicle, so we found the nearest EuropeCar, hoping for a mini-van or something bigger. They didn't have mini-vans. Come to think of it, I'm not sure I ever saw a mini-van while I was in Ireland. But we switched for a Jaguar which had a slightly wider body than the SUV initially acquired, and we were able to fit all the luggage, because of the wider body and because the airline had misplaced Emma's stroller and would be bringing it to us in County Clare when they located it. After a stop at McDonald's for Emma and a stop at Starbucks for some of the grown-ups, we were en route to our cottage in County Clare!

Unaccustomed to this steering wheel placement! This shot is a bit deceptive--Joseph did most of the driving, not Cliff, seen here.

Those camera shots through the car window while riding along never quite measure up to what you thought you were photographing, do they? Here's one that came a little closer.

All the road signs show English names and Gaelic names. Fáilte! (Welcome!)

Two-way road?

Finally, after checking in at East Clare Golf Villages, we found our way to Dangan Lodge Cottage, #1.

Lots of petunias!

View from our back porch

We settled into our rooms, folks who wanted showers got showered, we met the owner/manager (he was watering all the flowers). He was very welcoming, and wanted to make sure that we'd found the cell phone left in the unit for our use while we were there. The cottages are a bit off the beaten path, and I can well imagine that travelers have sometimes had to call to figure out how to get back, or just to make sure that the GPS wasn't leading them astray. Coincidentally, we found the GPS coordinates for the cottages listed in the welcome portfolio. Later on, we figured out that, when coming from Dublin, it's best to stay on the M (motorway) roads as much as possible, instead of taking the back roads where Google Maps led us. Not that the back roads aren't scenic, it was just a lot of driving on very narrow two-way country roads. Driving on the left. Steering wheel on the right. Narrow roads with stone walls, walls often camouflaged with plant growth. We may or may not have left a patch of scraped paint on the front passenger door.

Joseph's wallet was missing. We later found out that he'd left it at the car rental place in Dublin (they sent him an email), but in the meantime we each took a turn or two or three scouring the car, and Joseph froze all his cards. They would be able to use Chelsea's in the meantime, and we were all ready to go find the restaurant that we'd heard about from the lady at reception.

The Abbey Tavern.

I have to pause as I think about how much I enjoyed that experience.

I enjoyed the plate that I ordered, some sort of creamy pasta, tagliatelle, if I remember correctly. BUT, the plate that Chelsea ordered, a garlic vegetable bake--oh my gosh! And, as if to remind her that she wasn't dreaming, and was really in Ireland, the plate came with TWO baked potatoes on the side.  And while we were waiting, the server brought a plate full of bread with a bowl of the best butter I've ever tasted in almost six decades of living. I slipped off the vegan wagon a few times while we were on vacation, must admit. Probably more than I would have if I hadn't tasted that butter.

And here's a couple of pictures of Quin Abbey, across the street from the tavern.

We walked closer after dinner, and wandered around the graveyard. Joseph and Chelsea went through a door and into part of the building, but the sun was starting to set, and I'm not comfortable wandering near crypts close to sundown. There are some lovely photos of this place out there on the internet. Just put Quin Abbey, County Clare, Ireland in a Google search window. I just did. Ah well, traveler's regret--should have gone back and gotten a closer look earlier in the day during the week.

All in all, cramped car, driving in and from Dublin, wandering where Google Maps was taking us, lost wallet, and everything, we were a happy, well-fed bunch. We stopped at a little convenience store for a couple of necessities and niceties, then tried to find our way back to the cottage. Oops. A little bit of a challenge. We made sure to drop pins in our Google Maps apps after we finally made it back, referring to the aforementioned GPS coordinates provided in the aforementioned welcome portfolio.

Went to bed sometime after midnight, looking forward to visiting the Cliffs of Moher after a good night's sleep, and a morning of sleeping late.