Ireland: Cliffs of Moher

Hey guys! How's it going? Almost Mid-August! A couple more weeks and I'll be off to my new home in Madrid! Nerves and excitement starting to kick in but I really can't wait! Getting a bit hectic though, organizing everything, finances, school and stuff! But I'm sure the Spanish lifestyle is something I can adjust to. Siestas, fiestas and all the tapas in between! 
And the Olympics is on! Some exciting stuff. Broken legs. Pools turning green. All in all, the competition is fairly heating up! It's really when the Olympics are on that you become a real professional in the sports you watch "Oh, that dive wasn't great. They'll need a 3.5 somersault" and the like. Here's to Ireland

winning some sort of medal.
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On to the topic of this post. 
In the weekend gone by, with nothing to do on Sunday. My family and myself decided to go out for the afternoon. To do something except becoming part of the furniture. It came down between climbing the reek of Crough Patrick and going out to see the Cliffs of Moher. Now, for someone who has done a project on the Cliffs of Moher in college, up until last Saturday I have never actually visited the Cliffs. So it was decided then that we would head off to the Cliffs in County Clare.
It seemed like a really nice day out. It wasn't too cold out so it seemed like the perfect day to head out cliffside.
Off we went at around noon. My sister, father, grandmother and myself. We we're actually looking forward to spending time away from home. We drove on the N17 from Tuam and headed for Oranmore, through Oranmore,

Clarinbridge, Kilcolgan, Kinvarra, through Ballyvaughan and into Lisdoonvarna, Doolin and Liscannor. The key areas along the Wild Atlantic Way towards the Cliff region. Something cute that was along the way as that every so often, a cool structure made out of tyres was built and designed as flower features along the sides of the road. Teapots, minions and other designs made the road very quirky! The Cliffs themselves are situated on Southwestern section of the Burren, one of the largest Karst landscapes in the world. When driving, its amazing that once you come into Ballyvaughan, that the landscapes changes from the typical Irish rural landscape to this amazing scene of the limestone pavements of the Burren. 
We continued on and it was fun that at a certain part between Ballyvaughan and Doolin, that the climb becomes hectic as it gets bendy. Somewhat of a rally course! Although making me feel a bit queasy, the scenery was still something to admire. The Irish coast is something that you can't experience or imitate anywhere! The closer we got to Doolin and Liscannor, the more grey the sky was getting. We past through Doolin. Doolin is a nice town near the Cliffs. You can get the Park and Ride service from Doolin to the Cliff parking compound, which is a very handy service. It means you wouldn't have too far to travel and you'd be a bit away from the mass crowd

of tourists. It also is, in my opinion, a great place to spend a couple of days. Trips out to the Aran Islands, the Burren and Cliffs are in the surrounding locations, 3 of the top tourist destinations in Ireland.
We made it to the Cliffs. The car park was full with more cars lining up to get in. Amazingly, tickets were cheap! Entrance was €4 for students, so I was impressed to go and check out the Cliffs. We managed to find a parking space. Before stepping out of the car, the sky was still a mild grey colour. So we were expecting it to be windy. We stepped out. And we were hit by a gust of wind. And besides complaining about it, it made for actually unique conditions to go and see the coast.
We walked up through the compound, my poor grandmother finding it hard to not be blown away. We went to the visitor center first. I was actually super impressed by the design of the visitor center and gift shops. They were laced IN

the actual hillside. I've only seen the pictures but we were walking inside a hill. The visitor center was really amazing. When researching the cliffs, I heard of the indoor exhibitions and experiences that I was really excited to check out. Inside, there was the option to stop for a coffee in the Puffin Nest, which was a cute little coffee kiosk or head straight into the exhibitions. Green being a nice glow cast around by the main centerpiece. There were different interactive activities, like looking at the progression of the movement of continents, kids activities, interactive postcards and a display of factoids about the cliffs. We continued on to an area labelled " Ledge Experience".
We went into a dark room that was beginning to fill with people. We took a seat and waiting for something to happen. As more people came in, we watched as the big monitor began playing. We watched as it showed us a birds eye view (Literally) of the Cliffs and the different parts that are worth seeing, including the Puffins, taking a look around the Cliff face at the caves and caverns and everything in between. It was really cool. Looking around, the walls were lined with facts and pictures of the fauna diaspora in the area, which was really cool too. I didn't know Basking sharks were in Ireland at all
We left and spent more time in the main area of the visitor center before heading out towards the Cliffs. As we exited the center, we were met with a powerful wind, Like, I've never felt anything like it in my life. It was so strong. We made our way over to the wall to look at the Cliffs. Let me tell you. It was honestly one of the best things I've seen. Not only was it amazing scenery, but c'mon, a scene from Harry Potter was filmed here, so to say it was magical... I'll just leave that joke there. The wind meant that the waves were choppy against the cliffs. Like, it was pretty amazing to see, and to see the amount of people out on such a windy day to see the amazing landscape.
We looked out at the main edge of the Cliffs from O'Brien's Tower, getting a good scope of the sheer size of these cliffs. What took over 300 million years to form and with earliest records of man being on site over 2,000 years old, the site was also super historical and geographical. They stretch 8 kilometers along the Atlantic coast. 210 Meters tall and offer views of coastal counties, Limerick, Galway and sometimes even parts of Kerry. What was great to see was the amount of foot flow around the cliffs and heritage site but also that the waste

management was top notch. There were rangers monitoring the area, so it was nice to see so many people taking in the fantastic sites. We walked from O'Brien's side up along the cliffs. But could only make it so far, sadly, as it was getting way too windy and I don't trust my balance. Also, someone said "dinner" and I started getting hungry.
We made it back to the car before the mist started getting heavy. We then made the decision that we'll make the way home but once time came that the Kilkenny/Waterford hurling match would start, we would stop for dinner. A safe bet as I was starting to get hungry.
We kept driving until we made it to Ballyvaughan, a nice fishing village. Its position on the coast road, south of Galway Bay and in the Northwest corner of the Burren has built up it's tourism economy significantly. We looked around for a place to eat, passing the Hyland's Burren Hotel. Unfortunately, they were serving lite snacks, all of which were with locally sourced ingredients. We walked down the street to the Wild Atlantic Lodge where they were showing the match. We sat down and were immediately served, which was really great because I'm quite hungry at this stage. "Traditional Fish and Chips" screamed at me. So I had to get it. The wait wasn't even that long! I had time to catch a couple of Pokemon and Instagram what I was doing before the waitress came back out with the food.

Fresh battered fish, fresh cut chips and garden peas. Literally, I inhaled it. I savored and devoured it. And you know me, food is an emotional experience. I followed up the main course with a selection of Ice-cream. Like. I don't know how best to describe the food with anything other than... Yum.
We made it home after the match and literally just spent the evening in a food coma/ Of course periodically splurging with a cup of tea and a couple of digestive biscuits, you know yourself! 

After doing a project on the Cliffs of Moher, I thought I wouldn't be too impressed with the Cliffs. But I have to say. I was actually amazed by what I saw and I can understand why the Cliffs get the attention they are getting. The place should be witnessed by anyone visiting Ireland. Try the food, feel the Clare air on your face and see the amazing structure of Cliffs that took 300 million years to get where they are today. Also, the cave scene from Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince was there! An amazing day, really!

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