The Cliffs of Moher and other County Clare Things

I woke up bright and early this morning (okay, it was 8AM, but I'm on vacation!  That's early!) to catch the bus that would bring me to the Cliffs of Moher.  This is something I wanted to make sure I did while in Ireland.  They were maybe an hour and a half south of Galway, but we made many stops along the way for some amazing sightseeing!

We drove through an area called the Burren.  It means "great rock" and rightfully so.  Limestone rocks cover the landscape here.  The area used to be underwater up until the last ice age.  There are fossils in the rocks dating back millions of years as proof to this.  This is a very mountainous region of Ireland as well.  All made of limestone.

Now, for our first stop, we had one of two choices: visit an working Irish farm, or visit some really awesome caves.  Now, I have been to farms, and I have been to caves, but it was such a wonderful morning out it was hard to choose which one to do.

I choose Irish Farm!  This little guy above here, his name is Billy.  He was found up on the mountain when he was only a day old, and the Connolly family rescued him.  He is now six months old and loves showing off.  There is tape on his horns because he like to head-butt (all in good fun!).  

The farm was in County Clare in the village of Oughtmama (Ucht Mama).  And as I said, it ended up being a beautiful morning!  And it's a good thing I wore my sneakers, because that huge hill in the background of the second picture I posted above, I climbed that.  And it's a lot higher than it looks!

We had two tour guides, both who work on the farm.  The farm has been in the family since 1720.  I think it is a great idea to offer tours, especially because of the unusual area surrounding it.  The one guy knew his stuff!  He has degrees in Irish heritage and archeology.  And it was nice to get some fresh air and away from the craziness of Galway.  Oh yeah.  The Galway races start tomorrow, that's why it's NUTS here.  I really know how to pick them!  London during the Queen's jubilee and Wimbledon, Cornwall on the busiest holiday weekend in the UK, Scotland during the Scottish Open.  It is all making sense now, though, the amount of people out everywhere.  The Galway Races are also why the bars are open till 2AM here as well.  So some peace and quiet was well needed by this point in my journey.

So up we went.  All the way to the top of the hill.  

 

At the top was a fairy tree.  Now, these are not the flying-around-fairies you see in Disney movies.  No.  Ireland has their own legend.  Fairies were very pale people who lived underground.  It is said that they can only come to the surface through a Hawthorn tree.  People leave things tied up to these trees in hopes of gaining good luck, or forgetting past stresses.  It is also said to be very bad luck to cut down one of these trees.  Our guide told us that, not to long ago, there was a new road being made and there was one of these fairy trees in the middle of where the road was supposed to be.  The person in charge said to just cut it down, but all the workers refused.  So, therefor, a new plan was devised so that the road would wind around the tree.  You will randomly see one lonely tree in the middle of nowhere.  You can bet it is a fairy tree.

So, we are at the top!

Hey it's me!  And what a view we had!  It also started to rain a bit while we were up there, which was wired with it being sunny and basically no clouds over us.  Apparently that happens a lot here.  

Here is a dry wall, called so because no cement or any type of mortar is used.  They are used to divide up the land.  They are made of limestone because the land is covered with this rock.  The walls were made as a way to remove the rocks to make way for farmland.  Now, the soil is not very deep here, so most of the farms are cattle farms.  You see sheep and horses as well.  In the wintertime, farmers move their herd up to the hills so that the grass below has a chance to grow.  And vice versa during the warm months.  Limestone holds in the heat very well, and this area sees a mild climate, and hardly any snow. 

     

Once we climbed back down, we headed into Granny's Kitchen for some fresh baked goodies!

Fresh from the oven and still hot!  All in all, I think I made the right choice is choosing to visit the farm over the caves.  Once the bus picked us back up, it was straight on to the Cliffs of Moher.  We were hoping to beat the rain that was forecast to come.  Now, we were all truly blessed to see the views we got to see today.  Our driver told us that most of the time it is too cloudy, or the fog is bad, and people end up buying postcards because they couldn't see the cliffs.  But there was no need for that today!

It was like mother nature wanted me to be able to see this amazingly, beautiful sight because right behind us....this:

Got to love the unpredictable weather in Ireland.  But on we went!  We traveled to the village of Doolin to stop at Fitzpatrick's Bar for lunch.  I had some delicious Irish Stew.

 
  

Now that's just confusing!

After lunch, we began our journey back to Galway.  We took the scenic route along the coast line.  We also made two quick stops along the way.

Thatched cottage

Overall, I had a great time!  It was 8 fun packed hours or hiking hillsides, climbing cliffs, and walking around limestone beaches.  I learned a lot about this area known as the Burren.  One thing I loved were all the ruins in the area.  Ruins of castles, churches, and on the farm there were ancient ruins from Christian settlers from over 900 years ago!  You don't see anything that old back home.  And I love that it is still there, however little it is.  To me it's shows a since of pride in where you come from.  They don't just bulldoze it to the ground and build a parking lot over it.  It is kept almost as a reminder.  It's a way of not forgetting.  It's keeps the history alive.