We anchored today off the city of Galway in County Clare, Ireland. It’s midway up the Atlantic Coast of the Republic of Ireland. I’ve never been to this side. This is the stepping off point to see the Cliffs of Moher, stunning sea cliffs that I’ve seen in many National Geographic and PBS documentaries, so I had booked a tour to see them.
We were scheduled to assemble in the Grand Salon at 8:45 AM to tender ashore as a group. As everyone knows I’m a late riser so this was a real chore for me, but I was there. Unfortunately, there must have been some snags in the tendering process because we didn’t get going until nearly an hour late. I would have loved to stay in bed an hour longer. Oh, well!
After the long delay we went ashore, boarded our bus and took off. (As an aside which I think I’ve mentioned before, I can’t sleep on a plane but put me on a bus and I doze off within five minutes.) All that I saw of the city of Galway were the brief glimpses leaving the waterfront and returning later in the day and nothing looked particularly memorable.
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| The Town Crier of Galway greeted us as we got off the tender with a proclamation welcoming us and declaring us Irishmen for the day. |
We drove through the countryside into the neighboring County Clare to arrive at the Cliffs of Moher. It was about an hour and a half drive. Our guide Peter talked the whole time giving us information about the area and its history. Of course, like all of Ireland the places we passed through were under British rule for hundreds of years, many of which were contentious. I’ve only heard the Irish version of the stories, but I believe that the English were not good rulers and masters and the Irish were treated very poorly. At times the latter were forced en masse to move from their ancestral homes so that their British absentee landlords could appropriate and farm their land. But that’s not what I was here to see and learn about today.
As we rode along through the countryside I did notice that despite Ireland being known as “the Emerald Isle” it didn’t look especially green today. Apparently like much of Europe, Ireland has been going through an extended warm summer with less rain than usual. Hence, the fields and grasses looked brown and at best pale green. Excessive heat can be relative depending on what’s usual and our guide told us that in County Clare and Galway when the temperature is higher than 72° F a heat alert is declared. Today we were at 72.4°. I also noticed that the terrain is quite rocky so that interspersed in fields there are large rocks and boulders. Our guide told us that it’s difficult land to farm for that reason, and it’s even difficult to build houses because when attempting to dig to build a foundation the rock layer is close to the surface. Another thing I found interesting is that as we drove along we would occasionally pass a tumbled-down and abandoned house made of stones. These are called “famine houses” and were ramshackle structures made of mud and stone in which whole families lived along with any farm animals they might have during the famine years of the great potato famine in the 19th century. Many were abandoned when the great Irish migration to North America began. Now it’s against the law to tear them down and they serve as a reminder of an unhappy chapter in Irish history.
These next are several photos of the countryside we rode through on our way to the cliffs. While the fields were still green, they looked no where near as lush as they did when I was here earlier this year.
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| An old castle along the way |
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| This village we passed is typical of what villages along the water look like with colorful row houses along the waterfront. |
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| Some happy cows enjoying a little siesta |
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| More Irish countryside |
Eventually we arrived at the Cliffs of Moher which are part of a Geopark. There is a visitor center built into a hillside and paths winding their way up to the top of the cliffs. The cliffs lie at the edge of the Atlantic coast and stretch for about 9 miles. At their highest point near O’Brien’s Tower they reach their maximum height of just over 700 feet. They consist of layers of shale and sandstone sediment which have accrued over millennia as the ice receded following the Ice Age and erosion carried sediment down rivers and streams. The cliffs quite literally are nearly vertical to the ocean below. From the heights you can see the waves crashing below and as a result of the wave and wind action there are portions which are unstable and will go crashing down into the sea below. The rock walls are great nesting places for a variety of birds. We didn’t have the opportunity but apparently one of the best ways to see the cliffs is by boat. From the sea our guide told us one can get the best sense of their full majesty and also be able to see the variety of puffins, razorbills and other birds nesting in the rocks. Along the base of the cliffs there is also a large population of marine life, including seals, porpoises, dolphins and whales.
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| These are the Cliffs of Moher. The pictures don't really do justice to quite how dramatic they are. |
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| O'Brien's Tower at the top of promontory where there is an excellent viewing platform. |
It’s a pretty steep walk going up to the top of the cliffs, but fortunately for those of us not as fit as we once were, there are golf cart shuttles to take you up! I hitched a ride up and down. At the top by O’Brien’s Tower I walked around and could see the majesty of the coast. It was a cloudy day (thankfully not raining!) and at the top very windy and quite chilly. The view was as impressive as I thought it would be. These cliffs are among the highest in Europe. I took my pictures and then shuttled down because I was getting pretty cold.
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| My friend Stephanie got this photo of me riding up in the golf cart so I couldn't even pretend I hiked up. |
We had an opportunity to look in the visitor center and browse in the gift shop and then we headed out (after one terribly rude woman came back to the bus nearly 15 minutes late) to drive to the nearby village of Lisdoonvarna where we were to have tea and scones and a musical interlude in a café.
If you’ve watched any Hallmark Channel movies you may know of this place. In September Lisdoonvarna holds the annual Matchmaker’s Festival with activities centered at the Matchmaker’s Bar. Approximately 60,000 visitors come each year to participate in activities ranging from matchmaking (of course) to dancing and live music concerts. I can’t remember the name of the movie but when I saw the place I remembered seeing the show.
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| This bus in the parking lot at the Cliffs just tickled me. |
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| One of many pubs we passed. This one was celebrating 20 years of the "Galway Hooker" and I have to wonder what or who that is. |
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| I love all the flower boxes and baskets festooning these places. |
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| The Matchmaker's Bar which is the headquarters of the annual festival |
We had a lovely scone and some great tea in the café. While we enjoyed our snack a young Italian woman played us some classical pieces. I was expecting some Irish music, but I guess for that we would have had to go to a pub and had a pint of Guiness. I think I preferred the tea and scone.
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| These two lovely copper statues graced the tiny little square in Lisdoonvarna where we waited for our coach. |
Ireland has many folktales and legends. Years ago when Katie and I visited we heard the one about Finn McCool when we went to the Giant’s Causeway. On our ride back to Galway Peter, who clearly has kissed the Blarney Stone because he liked to talk, told us about Lonegan, the king of County Clare who had donkey ears. A long time ago Lonegan the king had donkey ears which he kept secret from the whole world by wearing a crown and keeping his hair cut so it covered and hid the ears. When he got a haircut he would execute the barber so his secret wouldn’t be divulged. Being a barber became known to be a dangerous profession despite people not knowing why. A young lad named Donnel wanted to be a barber and trained and became quite accomplished. Lonegan ordered Donnel to come and cut his hair. Donnel’s mother who didn’t want to lose her beloved son went to the palace and began basically pitching a fit, wailing, moaning and carrying on so that everyone there had to plug their ears to drown out the noise. The king asked what the horrible racket was and was told that Donnel’s mum didn’t want her son to cut the king’s hair for fear of never seeing him again. The king promised he wouldn’t have the son killed if he swore to keep his secret from any human being. So Donnel cut Lonegan’s hair and became privy to the secret of the donkey ears. The king kept his word and sent Donnel on his way. Unfortunately Donnel was terribly bothered having this terrible knowledge and began to waste away. His mother tried to get him to divulge the secret, but her son kept his promise even though it was making him ill. His mum told him to go down to the river and tell the secret to a tree since that wasn’t a human. Donnel did that and shared his secret with a willow tree along the banks of the river and felt greatly relieved. Soon after a passing Irish harpist came along, saw the fine willow tree, and cut a few branches to make a new harp. The harpist came to the King’s palace and was invited to play for King Lonegan. As he started to strum his harp it began to play on its own accord and sang “Oh, the king has donkey ears, the king has donkey ears!” Lonegan’s secret was revealed to the world by the loose “lips” of the harp and he had to uncover his strange ears for everyone to see. I think the tale had a happy ending because the king no longer had to go to great lengths to hide his ears and no more barbers had to die. Now aren’t you glad you know this Irish tale?
In conclusion, after rambling on so much, it was a very nice and entertaining day, even though I had to get up at the crack of dawn (by my standards at least). TTFN!
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