Trip to Ireland (Part 5 of 5): The Cliffs of Moher and More

Day 6, our last full day in Ireland, was beautiful, windy but beautiful. The rain and clouds had finally passed making way for a spectacular sunny day. We hated leaving Dromoland Castle and all it had to offer but Asia and I were on a quest. Today we were driving to the end of the Earth to stare 700 feet straight down into the Atlantic Ocean below us. The Cliffs of Moher were amazingly beautiful. We slowly made our way along the 3-4 mile trek south along the cliffs from the visitor’s center to Hag’s Head pausing frequently to admire the awe-inspiring views and take some shameless selfies. It was a pleasant hike as very few people venture that far from the center. While there were literally thousands of people crowded around the visitor’s center area, there were only about 10 people including ourselves exploring Hag’s Head and Moher Tower which has stood watch over the Atlantic since the Napoleonic War times.

 

 

 

 

After spending most of the day at the cliffs we headed south toward Limerick, the birthplace of my grandmother. Once in Limerick we found our way to the 13^th century King John’s Castle. Unfortunately it was closed by the time we arrived so we took a few pictures from the River Shannon and street side. Our favorite find was a painting on a building of a scraggly-looking man looking at an ice cream cone while displaying a Hello Kitty tattoo on his neck. Check out the special topping on the ice cream.

After about a twenty minute drive we arrived at our next destination, Glenstal Abbey. We were impressed as soon as we entered the Glenstal Abbey’s grounds. There is a beautiful, small stone chapel at the entrance gate where I met a very friendly white dog. The drive from the gate to the Abbey is roughly a mile long and winds its way through beautiful fields and gardens. We passed a few runners doing their hill workouts and I wanted to join them but I chose to explore the buildings instead. At first glimpse of the Abbey we were amazed at its size; the internet did not do it justice. This place is huge! The Abbey consists of a Benedictine Monastery, a boarding school for boys 13-18, a beautiful church, and various other buildings. It was built in the 1830s and sits on over 500 beautiful acres. Glenstal is home to 40-50 monks at any given time and the school is attended by roughly 200 students each year. To our delight we found the Abbey open so we took the opportunity to give ourselves a self-guided tour. It reminded us of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series. Like at Hogwarts, this building was not without its own surprises as the water in an unoccupied bathroom decided to turn itself on just as passed it. Not to be out done by the plumbing, we also heard piano music coming from a room that we had already toured earlier that contained no piano or speaker system. We kept expecting to see the walls and staircases to start shifting like at Hogwarts but it did not happen. We also toured the church and surrounding grounds as the sun went down. Oh and I can’t forget to mention the ghost-like image at the top of tower standing vigilant over everything (see photo below).  

 

 

 

We made our way back to the M7 highway and drove back to Dublin to our final hotel, the Dunboyle Castle. While it was a very nice hotel, it’s not much of a castle. The original castle was home to the Lord of Dunboyle but was destroyed. The Georgian house that replaced it in 1764 passed through many hands before becoming home to the Good Shepard Sisters Convent in 1955. It was eventually sold and converted into a hotel in 2006. The hotel bar reminded us of what one would expect to find in an upscale Manhattan establishment so we opted to walk into the village to look for a pub instead. To our dismay, the first two pubs we found were locked but luckily we saw a gentleman standing outside a dark doorway for a smoke. The sign on the building said W. Brady Grocer but what we found inside was a fantastic pub. As with every pub we had visited, the bartender was super friendly and between pouring pints we had a great conversation with him about his favorite television series, The Sopranos.

 

While our trip was short, just 6 days in country, we had a great time. We saw a lot of the countryside and met a lot of great people along the way. We definitely want to go back soon because there is so much more to see and experience. Ireland is awesome! For more photos and information, check out my Facebook at Gary Davidson Runs and keep watching http://www.asiagoesplaces.com/.