Cliffs of Moher and Western Ireland

This past weekend, a friend of mine from France, Anne-Sophie, came to visit Dublin.  While we were thinking of things to do while she was in Ireland, she mentioned finding a day tour to County Clare, on the west coast of Ireland, to see the Cliffs of Moher.  So, this past Sunday, we got up early and met up with our tour bus at 6:45 am and set out for County Clare, which is about a three and a half hour trip by bus.

On the way, we drove through the city of Limerick, the third largest city in Ireland, and we stopped to see Bunratty Castle.

Limerick, with St. John's Castle in the bottom left

Bunratty Castle

The River Shannon, the longest river in Ireland

After those stops (and a few coffee/tea breaks), we finally made it to the cliffs, which were probably one of the nicest natural sites that I have ever visited.  Our bus driver joked that there are four seasons in Ireland, but on the cliffs, you can experience six seasons in one day.  He wasn't joking.  In the hour-plus that we spent on the cliffs, it was sunny, cloudy, raining, and there were wind gusts that literally swept people off of their feet.  The Cliffs themselves were magnificent, and the pictures do not do them justice. At their highest point, the stand over 800 feet tall, rising out of the rocky coast of the Atlantic Ocean.  There was a tower on the highest cliff, called O'Brien's tower, which gave a nice vantage point to look from.  In the distance, you could see the Aran Islands, a group of islands of the coast where Irish is still the language of everyday use, and where the famous Aran Sweaters originated.  I learned that each family in the Aran Islands would have a specific design for knitting sweaters, which made identification of lost love ones who died fishing at sea easier.  The cliffs might seem familiar, and you might recall a scene in the sixth Harry Potter film where Harry and Dumbledore search for a horcrux in a sea cave under a cliff.  That was filmed at this site.  Anyway, here are some pictures from the top of the cliffs:

On the way back, we drove through the Burren, a unique geological region filled with karst, a type of stone, and were a type of self-draining lake unique to Ireland is found.  There are literally miles of stone-covered fields and mountains.

It was a very long and tiring day, but it was a lot of fun.  If you ever find yourself in Ireland, definitely check out the cliffs.  Like I said, the pictures do not do them justice, and do not capture just how dramatic the drop off is.  Anne-Sophie flew home today, and instead of working on my dissertation presentation for this Thursday, I am writing this entry and thinking about my trip next weekend to Stockholm.  Hopefully, all will go well.