Cliffs of Moher

Everyone who had previously been to Ireland had told me, "go to the Cliffs of Moher! You will regret it if you don't," so I finally signed up for the Paddywagon bus day tour, and left at 7am this morning for the 7:50 tour. I arrived there around 7:10 - majorly overestimating the time it would take to drive into City Centre...whoops, but all good! I grabbed a water bottle from McDonalds and sat in there listening to music. Not many places are open at 7 in the morning.

Our driver/fearless leader/tour guide, Gavin, picked us up at the tourism office on O'Connel Street, and we began our journey. We drove a couple hours, made a bathroom/coffee stop, and then went to Kinvara Fishing Village to walk around for a few minutes. When I got off the bus, I started talking to this girl named Sunny from Vancouver, who was also on the tour alone. She's studying abroad in Manchester! We pretty much stuck together for the rest of the day.

Gavin proceeded to tell us a little bit about Ireland's history. He also told us a couple of his personal stories: Note: do not say "any craic" in a US airport.

We made a quick stop at Corcomroe Abbey and walked around the cemetery, and then ate at Doolin Village for lunch (good vegetable soup!). Gavin also drove us to these baby cliffs to "warm us up" for the real ones. By then, it was so windy and stormy I was a little nervous for the real cliffs.

Finally, we arrived at the Cliffs of Moher! It was SO WINDY, and if I had an umbrella, I would've flown like Mary Poppins. Sunny and I fought our way through the wind to go walk along the cliffs, while a lot of people on our tour went to the museum instead. We kinda skipped the museum part because walking along the cliffs was so thrilling.

After the cliffs, we made a final stop at Bunratty Castle (for photos), and we walked in the Blarney Woolen Mills store as well. I bought a pair of wool socks, since the ones I bought back in Blarney are a little worn out by now.

When we arrived back in Dublin, I showed Sunny around, since she'll only be here for one more day, and we went to Leo Burdock's fish and chips, which Gavin claimed to be the best fish and chips in Ireland. I got chicken goujons...of course.

I had been putting off going to the Cliffs of Moher because I was gonna wait for Rickey and Hannah or John and Hannah to go with me, but I am actually really glad I did it alone - that way I did not have to depend on anyone to plan it with me, and I could be social with tourists. I think I'm gonna do a couple more day tours solo.