Ireland: Day 1 - Cliffs of Moher

I thought getting up at 7:30 in Rome was tough, but that was nothing compared to our first day in Ireland.  I was awake at 5:45, running around the hostel in an attempt to get ready.  I barely had any time to straighten my hair, but I needed it because when I woke up my bangs were flipped up in every direction possible.    We were on the road, walking towards our tour stop by 6:20.

We had booked the Paddywagon Tour day trip to the Blarney Castle, and it turns out that Jessica, Abbey, Bailey, and myself were the only ones on the trip.  Everyone else was heading for the Cliffs of Moher.  We climbed aboard our tour bus and were off by 7 AM.  Our first stop was in a small town so people could grab breakfast and a toilet.  That's when our tour guide, Eric, approached us.  He said we had the choice to go to Blarney or to go to the Cliffs.  He made a case for the cliffs saying that it would be a great day for the cliffs, but an odd day for the castle, and that if we went to the castle we were basically going to kiss a stone that was covered with the slobber of hundreds of thousands of people.  We had heard this before, but somehow, coming from our Irish tour guide it seemed to sink in more, and we decided to change our minds and go to the cliffs instead.

On our way to the castle we stopped at Limerick to take some pictures of the Treaty Stone and the castle that was across the river.  It was a very quick stop before we were on our way again.  We took another short photo stop at the Blarney Woolen Mills to see a castle and check out the gift shop.  I got my Ireland shot glass there.  This time, when we left, we were off to the Cliffs of Moher.

The treaty stone.

The signs are in Gaelic and English.

It's hard to describe just how beautiful Ireland is.  We saw the country on the perfect day.  There was a blue sky, rolling clouds and small breeze.  Absolutely gorgeous.  I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.  Easily, Ireland has become my favorite country.  The people are friendly, the country is beautiful, and you don't have to go to far to find water.  Absolutely picturesque.

This guy is just playing a round of golf by a ten pound castle ruin left by Cornwall.  No big deal.

The Cliffs are the the number two tourist attraction in Ireland, right behind the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin, and that's probably only because it takes a more of a trek to get to the cliffs, but trust me, once you are there, you won't regret it.  My friend Shay asked me how many times I could take a picture of the same rock.  When the rocks are the Cliffs of Moher, I could take pictures for the rest of my life.

I added this one to freak out my mom.

Another pic that is sure to freak out my Mom.

We left the cliffs and headed along the coast towards the a small town called Doolin for lunch, if we wanted it.  Our stop was the Fitzpatrick Bar, and there I had my first taste of Jameson.  I tried to get Smithwicks (an Irish lager) but they were out, so Jameson it was.  That's when our tour guide approached us.  He said since we were good sports about changing our tour he was going to hook us up with free tickets to the Guinness Storehouse.  Bonus!  How can we pass that up?

From Doolin we traveled north up the coast to what is known as the Burren Code.  It's an area where all the rock from the ocean floor has been pushed up to the surface after millions of years of pressure and movement from the tectonic plates.  Another great view.  From there we left and went back to Dublin, making just one more short stop.

Me at the Burren Code.

We were back in Dublin at around 7:30 PM, and although we were pretty wiped from the hectic day, we still had the night to experience.  I was told before going to Dublin that it is a "stag and hen" place, meaning bachelors and bachelorettes.  They weren't kidding.  The girls and myself made up our own sort of pub crawl for the night.  The first place we went was hopping, but left after one drink.  The second place was really popular as well, but seemed like more a business after-hours sort of place, and the service was quite frankly a little rude.  Bailey tried to order an Irish car bomb in a round about way so as not to say "car bomb" but the server said, "A car bomb?  We don't do that shit here.  Only the real ones."  Buzz kill!  So we left.

We then walked around until we found the VAT House.  That place was ready to party.  Inside we were joined by no less than three bachelorette parties.  One took the cake though.  The women all wore shirts that said, "1 bride, 9 hens, and No cocks.  Dublin 2010."  Clever if you ask me.  The women were between the ages of 38-43 but they knew how to have a good time.  But they weren't staying there the whole night, so when the bachelorettes left, so did we.  Our next & last choice was completely random but they had live music, no cover, and a very convincing door man.  There we met some CUTE English cousins their with their dads celebrating one of the fathers birthdays.  We had so much fun talking with them, but sadly the night had to come to a close.

It's pretty clear that you go to the country for beauty and serenity and Dublin for a party.  I would go back to Ireland in a heartbeat if given the chance, and hopefully someday I will.  We still have one day left to go in Ireland, so stay tuned, because that will be my next post.

Pip Pip Cheerio!