Ireland day 4 Tralee to Galway

Woke up again in the castle I am going to miss this place - It was such a magical place. We said goodbye to the staff, who were fantastic. but mostly we said goodbye to the dogs. I am fairly confident will have a wolfhound before year’s end.

 We are heading to Galway today and to each local, we say that to, their eyes light up in a way that has us very excited. We got a tip last night from one of the staff at the castle to head to Tarbert and take the ferry across the Shannon estuary to Killimer to save some time and add to the adventure. It is surreal to think 4 days ago what my prowess was with driving in Ireland and now I am getting a car on a boat and crossing a body of water as part of the Wild Atlantic Way, too cool.

 Our stop today, the Cliffs of Moher.

 It is saying something to say the cliffs are breathtaking from the parking lot, but if you can drive a car up to a series of cliffs 700 ft above the ocean created 320 million years ago – it is bound to have that effect. There is an Irish proverb “To be Irish is to stand as tall as the cliffs with a soul as deep as the ocean” and if there is a sentence that captures the spirit of the people and the mystique of the cliffs, that is it. As you might imagine, the cliffs are rich in mythology, stories of mermaids and stolen cloaks, the lost city of Kilstiffen, the warriors of Red Branch, witches, and the leap of foals. You feel every one of those stories here, with the ocean battering the cliffs below and a light fog playing hide and seek with portions of the cliffs it creates a geological siren song.

 Once on the cliffs, there are 800 meters of paved path and we stuck to them looking out to the Aran Islands and Galway Bay, a local even told us you could see Galway itself on clearer days. After we hiked in one direction we opted to head towards O’Brien’s Tower - which is absolutely a must. The tower was constructed in 1835 as an observation point for tourists which is interesting since it has the appearance of being much older. It is also said to have been a teahouse, a folly, or a structure to impress the women Sir Cornelius O’Brien was courting at the time. Whatever the story you must see the views from the tower.

 Most of Ireland has its own soundtrack and the Cliffs of Moher is no different, there are buskers everywhere adding to the feeling you are in a movie.

 Back on the road we stopped in Lisdoovarna outside of Doolin which was a ghost town and the restaurant we found our way into was empty. Usually, that would be a sign to keep going but Angie had a feeling so we stuck around and the proprietor eventually came out to seat us. As it turns out this city is a respite for Ukrainian refugees so there are no rooms available for tourists ostensibly destroying and chance of travelers to stay there while visiting the cliffs. The second-order effects of the decisions of a government and how that impacts the people they are serving are always interesting. The restaurant we are in is called the Ritz Hotel they have an incredible burger which was absolutely worth the stop. Back in the car and on to Galway which is a BUSY city compared to the other cities we have visited:

Speaking of cities visited:

Dublin

Kilkenny

Cashel

Tralee

Dingle

Brandon creek

Tarbert

Kilimer

Doolin

Lisdoonvarna

Galway

We spent the evening touring Galway’s high street district where I got a book from Charlie Byrne’s, a famous booklover’s bookstore. The book I grabbed was about a philosophy teacher with a pet wolf and was surprising in all the ways a book can be.  They were doing a reading there from Pat Dargan from the Royal Institute of Architects about the history of Galway, which meant it was a closed event, so I had to shop quickly. The kids got ice cream from Murphy’s this incredible spot from Dingle and once again there are buskers everywhere, so the city feels alive. It is so fun to see all the different artists and styles of music on the streets and in the pubs. We had a pint at Quay’s (pronounced Keys) or at least I did which I recommend as its one of the places you should drink in Galway. After our drinks, my wife found a long cue for a pizza shop called Dough Bros. As it turns out Dough Bros is one of the top 15 pizza shops in the world, which is a lesson – if you see a long queue at a restaurant you should get in that line and see what happens. I say this because Dough Bros might be the best pizza I’ve ever had. We took our pie to go and ate pizza in Eyre Square while Jack played at the playground before heading back to the hotel so I could read more about owning a wolf while teaching philosophy and the rest could drift off to pizza-induced comas.