County Clare: Cliffs of Moher

On Saturday, I woke up at 6am and got to the bus stop by 6:30am. There were 85 of us going and two buses, one with about 55 people and the other with 30 people. I was on the smaller bus with my friends. The buses were a little late getting there, and we left campus at around 7am. We drove for about an hour and stopped at the Barack Obama rest stop for a bathroom and coffee break. Then we drove for two more hours and got to the Cliffs of Moher at 11:10am. We had about an hour and a half there before we had to be back on the bus. It was extremely windy and foggy when we got there, but we forged ahead and we up to the right path to start. This path was better for taking panoramic pictures of the actual cliffs themselves. Afterwards, we headed to the left path to the actual cliffs. There was a walking path with a stone wall fence but many people climbed over to walk along the cliffs themselves. It was a bit scary seeing how high up we were and how easily someone could fall over. We were very careful, always keeping some distance away from the edge. We took a lot of pictures and then headed to the gift shop. I bought a postcard and a magnet. Then we boarded the bus and headed to lunch in Doolin. We ate at Fitzpatrick’s bar upstairs in our own private room and had Irish stew for lunch. After lunch, we stopped to see the Burren (Irish: Boireann, meaning ‘great rock’). ‘The Burren is a region of County Clare in the southwest of Ireland. It’s a karst landscape that incorporates a vast cracked pavement of glacial-era limestone, cliffs and caves, fossils, rock formations and archaeological sites.’ It was right on the Atlantic coast, so it was extremely windy. After 20 minutes, we headed to the Corcomroe Abbey, which was founded in 1194 by Donal Mor O’Brien, King of Thomond, who built many churches. Then we made our last stop at the Dunguaire Castle, and it was very nice weather by that point in the day. We got back around 8:15pm. Cassie, Fran, Nick, Chris, Adam, and I then walked to O’Dwyers for dinner and drinks. I had fish and chips for dinner, and then a long island iced tea to drink. We all got a Baby Guinness, which is a shot glass of Kahlua and Bailey’s made to look like a Guinness. We got back around 1am and began to watch Deadpool, but then we were pretty tired and went to bed.

Cliffs of Moher

 Irish Stew

 The Burren

 Corcomroe Abbey

Dunguaire Castle

 Fish & Chips

Baby Guinness