Cliffs of Moher

I took a tour bus to the Cliffs of Moher today. Our bus driver, Eamon, was a talker! I can't begin to retain all that he told us about the areas around the Cliffs of Moher. But I do remember a couple of things: Did you know that back in the day, the government used to tax the amount of daylight that came into a home? yeah.. me neither. That's why some of those old stone cottages have such small windows. He also told us about fairy rings. Fairy rings are circles of trees, or rocks. You are never to walk down the middle of one, or break one up in your garden. You simply go around it and let it be. Otherwise you have bad luck and die. I didn't notice him drinking - but he sure did mention it a lot. Here are some pictures of our journey. 

rock walls - these things are fascinating to me - must learn how to do this

happy cows

this green stuff is why the cows are happy

We drove through several little towns and villages, and saw lots of old stone houses that had been left to ruin. We drove through a place called the Burren. The Burren is a hillside of layers and layers of rock, lime stone, and sediment that has built up over the years. It's amazing that anything will grow there. According to Eamon, the farmers would remove the rock from their land and use it to make their homes and surrounding walls. They would then move in tons of seaweed from the ocean into the field as fertilizer and till it into what little soil is there. He told us how they would go into the water at low tide and cut the seaweed, then tie it together in huge bundles and wait for the tide to come in to raise the bundles of seaweed up to the pier so they could load it into their carts. Lots of time and effort into making, what some thought was barren land, into the lush greenery you see in the picture above.

part of the Burren that leads out to the sea

a wee castle

Eamon stopped the tour for a "lunch" break in a place called Doolin. It was a really cute little town right on the water. I ordered a Guinness. The bar tender made me a lucky charm in the foam. I bet he does that for all the tourists.

liquid lunch

Next stop, the Cliffs of Moher. Gorgeous! 

the cracken lives in that cave. that's what Eamon said anyway...

watch out for dumb people

check out how blue the water is. 

There was a path. The lesser road. I had to take it.

this path led to beautiful things

looking down from on top of the cliffs.

Walking on top of the Cliffs of Moher was a bit unnerving. (see warning sign above for dumb people). I really didn't realize just how high about the ocean I was until I saw the seagulls underneath me. There were some folks that were actually sitting on the very edge and taking pictures. (see warning sign above, again, for dumb people). I'm not one to temp fate quite so much, so I kept a safe distance.