Day 5 - Cliffs of Moher

Another gorgeous day! We have been so very fortunate to have beautiful weather for yesterday's tour of the ring of Kerry and today's trip to the Cliffs of Moher! We head off to the Shannon Ferry which will take us across the River Shannon. 

I took a few pics as we awaited the ferry's arrival of one of the things that has surprised me about Ireland – palm trees!!  There aren't a bunch of them, but they are here!

Once on the ferry we took the 20 min ride and were off into the hills again on our way to the Cliffs of Moher. 

They are a big tourist attraction, but well managed and we enjoyed the sweeping views. Another thing that has surprised me about Ireland is the number of cows! I expected sheep, but I swear we have seen as many cows as sheep! And most of them seem to be lying down. Not sure why that is, but I got a couple of cows who were grazing (or lazing) at the Cliffs of Moher! 

Think of seeing cows outside one of our national monuments.
Next on to our lunch spot, in Coherconnell. After a nice lunch (preceeded by a complimentary shot of Irish Whiskey that had a slice of lemon with a clove in it and was warm and quite smooth!) we were given a sheepdog demo. 

This time in addition to herding sheep, the dogs also herded cattle. They bite the cattle to herd them. It was quite entertaining as one of the dogs was still fairly young and she didn't quite obey as well as she might have.

Next on into the Burren region further – which was very rocky and quite a difficult area for things to grow. But grow they did and it was very beautiful in a different way than the green fields of Ireland we have become used to seeing.

We are staying in Galway for the next two nights. It's a cute little hotel (Westwood House) but the wireless internet apparently can't reach the depths of the hotel – at least not as far as room 205! Oh, that's another interesting item we've discovered in hotels here. The first floor is floor zero, and the second is the first and so on.

Tomorrow we tour Connemara. 

Day 4 - The Ring of Kerry

After a less than restful night's sleep for me - though Bill didn't seem to be bothered - (our room turned out to be over the nightclub which rocked until 2:30 am!) we headed out on a gorgeous morning for our tour of the Ring of Kerry.  Today we had a driver in addition to our guide Mal.  The 125 mile route took us first to view the Gap of Dunloe.  We passed by a cottage with a traditional thatched roof on the way to a stop for some shopping and some Irish coffee.

It's 5:00 somewhere right?  Outside of the shop there were many plants including this Foxglove.

We passed some Ogham stones, erected in honor of folks who have passed on.

We then stopped for some photos along the Dingle Peninsula.  So gorgeous!

We made a stop for lunch at The Moorings, a restaurant in Portmagee.  

Then on to visit the Skellig Experience.  The Skellig Islands are basically two huge rocks out in the Atlantic that were inhabited by Monks who carved over 600 steps into these rocks and inhabited the island in bee hive huts made of rock.  You can barely make out the rock island off the end of the peninsula in this picture.

At another spot along the ring where we stopped for a photo op there was a honey vendor (we were told that you could also ask him for some clear honey... that is really moonshine ... but we did not test that out), a gentleman playing music and tapping his foot on a piece of tin, and a man who had some adorable baby sheep and a baby red deer.  They were 2 and 3 weeks old.  

I have made it a cause to pet a puppy a day in Ireland... and I've been successful.  This was my victim today - so cute!

Then onward where we saw peat being dried to be used for fuel.  We also as you can expect saw a lot of sheep, many with colored paint on them.  It's basically a way of marking the sheep so you know who's they are.  Our guide told us that when they send out the rams they put a different color paint on their underbelly so that when they... shall we say date a lady friend.... she too is marked with his color.

We also saw an official leprechaun crossing!

The final part of the Ring of Kerry drive was extremely curvy and very narrow.  Wow.  Glad we weren't driving it ourselves!

Tomorrow... the Cliffs of Moher!

Day 3 - Cobh, The Blarney Stone and on to Killarney

We awoke to another beautiful, sunny day.  We got in our coach (we have been instructed to not call it a bus) and headed down the road.  Our first stop was a quick view of Dungarven Bay.  Just a quick stretch your legs stop.

Next we were on our way to Queenstown/Cobh - it's called both - to visit the Titanic Experience.  Here the last people to board the Titanic on it's fateful voyage did so.  We were given a card with a name on it, and at the end of the visit we got to find out if our person was saved or not.  Bill got the name of a Reverand who was traveling second class.  I got the name of a woman traveling in third.  My person survived, his didn't.  I think it's an advantage to be a woman as women and children get rescued first!  The town was lovely, and we enjoyed the visit here.

While there we enjoyed a sweet treat!

Here I also took a picture of our coach driver and guide Mal (short for Malachi) and his "assistant" Padraig

Next on to Blarney Castle to kiss the Blarney stone!

The stairs were spiral, tight, and though there were a lot it moved so slowly that the number was not a challenge.  Here is our friend Martin in front of me on the stairs....

And Bill below me

The view from the top was beautiful. 

You have to bend over backwards to kiss it while lying on your back... I got lightheaded!

We saw these in various places, paying honor to the Virgin Mary.

Tomorrow - the Ring of Kerry!