Almost the Cliffs of Moher

Only Cliffs of Moher we got

Our last full day in Galway was meant to be a tour to the famous Cliffs of Moher. It was one of the few things I knew I wanted to do. We woke up early and found a cute café in town where we all had breakfast, than walked through the main square to the tour stop and got on the bus. The drive wasn’t supposed to be terribly long to the Cliffs, but about 30 minutes later, the tour guide said that due to the weather, we weren’t going to be able to go to them. The language he used was gale force winds and because of the structure of the Cliffs, they are extremely dangerous to be on during weather like that. I was pretty devastated, but what can you do? The driver told us he would take us to something called the ’baby cliffs' that he thinks are much prettier anyway.

Along the route, our driver shared lots of information about Ireland history. Many homes (and businesses) in Ireland have thatch roofs which are often times still kept. A thatch roof is one made up of straw, hay or other vegetation. It is meant to help shed the water away so also acts like additional insulation. Because of this, the water fell from the eaves of the thatch roof and dropped to the ground. Well, history tells us that when someone would come up to a house, they would stand near this spot of water - where it dropped - and listen to a conversation that was happening inside the house. Because they were standing where the eaves dropped the water, the phrase eavesdropping - referring to someone who was secretly listening - was born.

Thatch roof

One of the stops on the tour is at a town called Lahinch. Here we wandered the streets, found another bookstore, got some ice cream, and took in the views. From there, we loaded back into the bus and stopped in a small town called Doolin for lunch at McGann's pub. The restaurant is used to the tours coming by, so they have a set menu of so many options to choose. Bryan and I had decided we were now doing a fish and chips tour to find our favorite – so we had to place an order of that here. We felt pretty good saying that with each fish and chips meal, the food got better!

We were required to sit at certain tables for lunch, so the four of us could easily sit together. There happened to be two singles on the tour bus that sat next to each other and we couldn’t help but pretend they were making a love connection! They ordered the same meal (they’re both vegetarians), they’re both going on these solo journeys together and seemed to have a lot in common…..so naturally, we planned their wedding – without them knowing we were doing it. Not many people read these blogs, but maybe they will come across it somehow and report back to us. Ha!

After lunch, we went to the consolation (in my mind) baby cliffs. The color and topography of these

cliffs were really neat, but I have to say, considering how windy it was, I am so glad that we were safe and couldn’t imagine how scary the real Cliffs of Moher might be. The wind was so forceful and loud – I went into mama bear mode. Jonathan wanted to venture out toward the edge of the cliffs and see the views and I kept yelling at him to come back – I was terrified……but he couldn’t hear a peep I was saying because the wind was so loud! Check out this video of Katie almost blowing over just trying to walk around. The weather made it quite an experience to share!

From here, we got back in the bus and our tour guide gave us a long and winding route back to Galway telling stories along the way. We drove through the tiny town of Fanore, which is believed to be where surfing was invested. And he drive us by the 'smallest church in Ireland' which turned out to be just a village well, but the beauty of it had us thinking otherwise!

The driving is where you have to give major kudos to these bus drivers. It is weird enough for us to see the driver on the ‘wrong side of the road’, but these roads they are driving on are backcountry and NARROW. Multiple times, other buses and cars would pass by and we felt like we should suck it in to help them pass…..these busses pass by each other with inches (if that) to spare – it is so impressive! That alone should be it’s own tour. Our driver had a cute passenger to help him along the way.

Fiddler, our co-captain

When we got back to Galway, we all cleaned up and got ready for dinner. While golfing the day before, J&K had learned about a Michelin-guide restaurant called, Kai, that was just a couple of blocks away from us. It sounded delicious and fun, so we made a reservation. They only do seating in two time blocks, so we were happy to get one on short notice. After learning about our Irish friends (the lambs), we decided to have some delicious lamb for dinner and then do a mini repeat of our first night in Galway – drinks and games back at the AirBnb. It had been a busy few days and it was our last night in Galway – off for a new adventure tomorrow – driving our own car in Ireland!