We got into Dublin early Wednesday morning (we left the UK on a 6:00 am flight) picked up our rental car and headed West. After visiting Ireland last year I got home and felt like we missed out on some great sites in Western Ireland so that is where we spent our time this trip. We spent our first full day in Ireland near the Cliffs of Moher. The Flakes recommended a trip out to Aran Island and it turned into a lovely day trip. We made one
quick stop for groceries and ended up barely making our ferry in Doolin. Mark loves exploring grocery stores in foreign countries. I do too but not to the extent that he does. We pulled into the parking lot with only 10 minutes to spare and could not find an open spot anywhere. Time was ticking away so Mark went to the top of the parking lot and pulled into a handicapped spot. We stopped at the first booth we came too, discovered they were not the group we booked with and they kindly told us where to go. Mark explained the situation after checking in at the right booth and the guys asked if we had paid for parking yet, we had not. He said give me your keys and 2 Euros I'll take care of it. So Mark did. Talk about great customer service. We ran down the gangway and hopped on the ferry with not even a minute to spare.
I do not love boat rides and this one started out pretty choppy. As we got farther from the harbor the water calmed down quite a bit which was helpful. The ferry was around 45 minutes and when we got to the other side of the harbor we really lucked out and the sun came out and warmed us up and made the water a beautiful shade of blue. The Aran Islands are well known for a few things. There is an old ship that crashed in a storm there in 1960 which Jared absolutely loved. He would have spent all our time on the island there. O'Briens Castle sits at the top of a hill and there are tons of amazingly well put together rock walls. We considered renting bikes and riding around but there were some steep streets which would have been tricky for us all but would have really frustrated Lydia so instead we hired a horse and cart to drive us around. It was a good way to see the island. The driver thought we were ripping him off and didn't hesitate to tell us but not only were we polite we shared our biscuits with him. I wish he would have just said no instead of being rude after agreeing to the price we gave before we even started. It really left a sour taste in my mouth.
These walls were all over the island.
Mark really loved them. They were very impressive.
O'Briens Castle: When we talked about going back to Ireland Jared and Lydia both wanted to explore and if possible climb on ruins so this did that pretty well.
We enjoyed exploring the ship and castle and ended our time on the island at the beach. I did not let them get more than their feet wet much to Lydia's dismay but they loved playing in the sand. We got some delicious fresh fish and chips from a food truck and also a huge crepe to share. We got back on our ferry with time to spare and enjoyed the view of the Cliffs of Moher on our way back to the other side.
We were able to pick up our car keys at the ferry office and head over to the Cliffs of Moher. When we were planning our trip to the Cliffs we had read online that it was best to go in the evening as it would be less crowded. We arrived there just after 6:00 and it didn't feel crowded at all. We were lucky again and got to enjoy the cliffs with the sun shining on them which was beautiful. There were quite a few posted signs advising people to please not take risks when taking pictures. There is even a memorial there for the people who have died there. No one in our family struggles with heights but we made sure to stay far away from the edges. It is a lovely place to walk around and really well maintained. The sheerness of the rocks and the amazing color of the water were breathtaking.
From what I read, this cave, or one like it at the Cliffs of Moher was the one used in the Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince where he and Dumbledore are looking for horcruxes. The Princess Bride was also filmed here.
After exploring the Cliffs, (I think Mark could have stayed there all day) we started heading toward our air bnb in Limerick. On the way we stopped in a charming town called Ennis. The downtown area was full of colorful and old buildings and they had beautiful overflowing flower baskets everywhere. It was so picturesque. It was also mostly shut down which made taking pictures easy but finding a place to eat tricky. We got there around 8:00 and most the town had shut down for the evening. It was a nice town to walk around.
As we were driving around County Clare I could not help but notice these amazing hydrangeas. There were huge bushes of them in every shade imaginable all over the place. I became slightly obsessed with them and have who knows how many pictures of bushes like this but they make me so happy when I see them. We had hydrangeas on top of our wedding cake so I am slightly attached to them. I had never seen such full and varying shades before.
Ennis, so charming.
We made it to our air bnb around 9:30. Unfortunately we got there and could not get in. The owner told us the key was in the mail slot on the door. Sadly when the mailman pushed a newspaper in the slot he knocked the keys onto the ground. We had no phone service or internet and ended up asking a neighbor to borrow their phone. He was very kind and patient and the owner made it over with the spare key in about 15 minutes. We were so lucky we found a helpful person to ask and the owner was nearby. It was a bare bones sort of place which was fine. We were not going to spend much time there anyway. It was clean and we all fell right to asleep. Poor Mark had been up since 3:45 and driven us all over the place. I can't remember if Lydia slept or not but Jared and I had slept a bit in the car throughout the day. Actually she did not sleep in the car at all but slept on the ferry on the way back which was good for her. It was a long day but when you only have 2 days you have to make the most of your time!
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