Friday, August 2, 2013

Cliffs of Moher - Friday July 12, 2013


                “My name is Ray. Ray of sunshine, Ray Charles, anyway you can remember that my name is Ray will do.” This was the opening statement of our Galway Tour Guide for the Cliffs of Mohr, so obviously we were in for a day full of beautiful views and giggles. Ray was full of funny stories. When parts of the walls lining the street were broken down, he called it the Guinness Wall. He also had a whole montage on sheep. The mountain sheep, the black faced and white faced sheep, the hippee sheep, the killer sheep, and the suicidal sheep all live in Ireland. After tons of Ray’s stories, we arrived at Dunguaire Castle in Kinvara. We did not go into the castle but instead walked around the grounds. From there we went to a place called the burrens. The burrens means (rocky grounds; literally the ground is solid rock. The Poulnabrone Dolmen is the wedge tomb that we were able to see while on the grounds. It is estimated to have 20 people buried there and it dates back some 5800 years ago. We drove through Lisdoovarna, which is a adorable little town that is famous for their “Matchmaking Festival’ in September. We finally got to the Cliffs of Mohrr and the view was INCREDIBLE! One can hike left or right on the Cliffs; we decided to go left and walk on the path with no guard rails… living on the edge. The Cliffs of Mohrr are 8 km long and the Harry Potter: [The Half Blood Prince] was filmed there. We had panini’s for lunch at the café on the bottom level of the visitor’s center, and then the pictures and views continued for hours. We could not have chosen a better day to visit! When we arrived back in Galway, we had a delicious meal at The Spanish Arch restaurant. I had the fried calamari, Alex had the lamb, and Andrew had the Guinness stew… all were delicious; we practically licked our plates. We walked back to our accommodations by the river trying to find the perfect engagement spot. We ended our night watching comedy videos with all of our friends. Perfect day!