Monday, 20 June 2011

The Cliffs of Moher & Arriving in Tralee 6/20

With a drive along many "squiggly" roads, we finally made it to the Cliffs of Moher.  Our guidebook had suggested it was 8 euro a carload, which we thought very reasonable for the touristy attractions, but alas, the 2011 guidebook was wrong - it was actually 6 euro per person, 3 times as expensive for us.  Ahh well!  It turned out to be worth it!

The cliff walks just got better and better at every turn.  We headed straight for the first overlook and were quickly in awe of their height.  It was very difficult to capture the grandeur on film.
 O'Brien's tower was this little castle like structure you could climb for another 2 euro.  Dennis went up, and agreed, as the guidbook said, it wasnt worth the extra cost.  Ahh well!
 This sign made me laugh a little... it was put up on several of the walls, but was really the only deterrant, and like the Aran Islands fortress cliffs, it was very easy to disregard, and NEVER would have been the only thing if this were the USA.
 There was a little fence you could crawl through to get closer to the cliffs on the western side... and of course everyone was, so so did we!  This is a photo of my dad and I standing somewhat close to that edge!
 This is Eric walking out along part of the ridge line of the cliffs.

 We walked back past the tower and up the trail to the other side of the cliffs, headed east.
 The eastern sign also had private property past a rock wall that everyone climbed.  There was a sign posted to try to stop people, but as you can see behind us, plenty of people disobeyed it, and it even seems like there is a path to walk on!
 Immediately we were greeted with awe inspiring views that made it worth walking past the sign.  I hope that with some of the extra euros they make, they will buy up the pathway and make it part of the "attraction" because it was so amazing, even moreso than the area you could "legally" walk.
 A photo of me near the cliff edge.
 Eric found a little shelf overhang that you could hang your legs over the edge of the cliff and got a photo of me soaking up the views.
 A panoramic shot of a set of the cliffs.  A lot of my panoramas didnt stitch right because with the gray weather I was having trouble aligning things.
 Eric flying away in the wind and slight rain.
 Oh, and did I mention that Eric is afraid of heights?  He did fine walking out along the ridge, but definitely stayed away from the edge as much as possible!
 Eric & Dennis in front of the cliffs.
 Eric & Dennis & my dad on one of the overlooks on the illegal path.
 A view of the "end" of the eastern cliffs.  We could have walked all the way to the end, but it was nearly 2:30 and I was getting hungry and thirsty, so we figured it was a good time to head back
 The walk was definitely amazing and well worth the time and money!  Next we were headed onto our B&B in Tralee, but to get there, we took a route that had us crossing the River Shannon Bay by ferry!
 We arrived at Cois Li B&B in the rain, so I didnt get photos yet of their beautifully manicured gardens and amazing flowers out front, but our rooms are very large and spacious and  Dennis & my dad have a Suite!  The largest room they have stayed in!

We were all wiped, so we took naps before heading out for dinner.  We are staying a bit outside of town, so we ended up having to drive into town.  We decided to just try and get some pub food and had heard of Harty's in some of the guidbooks.  Unfortunately, in our drive we didnt see it, but our backup was Kirby's which we found a bit more easily.  It wasn't quite standard pub food, but it ended up being really good.

We ordered Bruschetta and Chicken Liver Pate as Dennis said he really missed getting bread before the meals.  Eric ordered the fried cod & chips, my dad got the burger, I got a steak sandwich, and Dennis got the baked cod.  The flavoring on my steak was amazing.  There were onions and mushrooms, and some sort of semi-sweet red sauce, along with a gravy that was to die for!  Definitely upscale bar food!  Dennis got photos on his iPhone since I forgot my camera, so I will have to post those when he sends them over.

Tomorrow we will likely head to Dingle, and I definitely want to find some more traditional Irish Pub food for dinner :)  Maybe we can hunt down Harty's & some Irish music!

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