Cliffs of Moher

Our final day of Galway was once more spent away from the city.  We took a bus tour to the Cliffs of Moher and Burren and stopped at a cave with a stuffed bear.

To begin we left the B&B and headed to town for the bus tour.  Having had to rely on the unreliable Dublin bus to take me to Trinity for the first couple weeks of SSP has completely jaded me for Irish bus services.  So we left at maybe 9:05 and I was a little anxious we wouldn't actually make it there, ie that the bus wouldn't show up.  Galway buses, however, are much more dependable than Dublin buses and we made it with significant time to spare.

We saw all sorts of cool things from the bus, like ancient abbeys and church ruins with trees growing in them, as well as Dungarie Castle, a noted place to visit on the 7th grade geography imaginary vacation assignment I found cleaning my room a couple days before I left.

Western Ireland in all its stony glory

cool tree-ruins

We got to the cliffs which were very beautiful.  In the middle stretch there are walls, but you can step right over the barrier on the left or through the fence on the right to get to the far edges.  Having a slight fear of heights, walking along the precipitous edge was a little frightening.

everyone was doing it...

Down.  As close to the edge I would go.

This is the little barrier you hopped over.  Look how green Ireland is! I still haven't gotten over it.

Irish warning signs, oh my.

Safe again on the right side of the barrier

And there were cows right up on the peak of the hills next to the cliffs.  And the tourist center is buried like a hobbit dwelling in the hill so it doesn't obstruct the landscape.

We hopped back on the bus and visited a 5,000 year old passage tomb.

Then we got to this cave.  My standard for caves is the Luray Caverns which look like this:

So it's really an unfair vantage point.  Nonetheless, this cave had a stuffed bear on the outside:

and a door:

bear bones:

I guess Ireland doesn't have bears(?), so it's excited about the remains of the extinct European brown bear.

A very disturbing stuffed bear.

It's unfair to compare, but less than impressive stalactites.

The ceiling was kind of cool though, carved from the way and the rate at which the ice melted.

It also had a pretty cool waterfall inside, which saved it as a tour.

Then I wasn't feeling well.  We had a quit photo stop to get out and see Dungarie Castle.  Our tour guide was great and very concerned about getting us back in time for the train.  We made it back in great time, and altogether it was a fantastic trip.