A Laddie and A Lassie In Scotland and Ireland: Galway and Dingle

Day 10 & 11 – Galway and Dingle

On our first full day on the west coast, we woke up early, ready to see some sights near Galway City. We decided to drive to the famous Cliffs of Moher, even though it looked like it might rain (what else is new?). It was a lovely hour drive, and much of it was right along the water. On the way, we passed Dunguaire Castle in Kinvara and decided to take a look. The castle was built in 1520 and basically the same family lived there for centuries. In the 1950’s, a woman bought the castle and restored it completely while living there. The castle is called a “Tower House” because it is a fortified residence rather than a castle for military purposes. It was built during a time of relative peace in Ireland. It cost us about 6 Euros each to go inside and tour the four different floors. During the evening the castle hosts medieval banquets complete with a show for about 45 Euros…a bit too steep for us! The rooms were interesting to see, but the best views were from the top of the castle. You could walk out onto the roof; there was about a foot of walking space all around the perimeter of the roof and the views of the surrounding area were awesome!

We hopped back in the car and made another pit stop to eat lunch right next to what Chris likes to call a “mossy bog”…he pretty much calls all grass in Ireland a mossy bog, but I think he might have gotten this one right. Because it was Ireland, there were three horses magically frolicking in the misty grass, not caring that we were near them. Our last stop on the way to the Cliffs came when we happened to drive past something called "The Burren" which is a very interesting landscape made of limestone rock formations. Over time, rain has created thousands of channels between the rocks. Green grasses grown in these channels. It looks very cool in person…not sure you can get the real effect through pictures.

When we finally reached the Cliffs of Moher it had started to spit rain and was pretty windy. We paid the 6 Euro entrance fee, which gets you in to the main visitor/exhibition center. Chris again miscalculated how chilly the weather would be and wore shorts and a t-shirt. I let him borrow my raincoat (it was a tight fit!) but he couldn’t raise his arms in it or keep the hood on his head. He also bought a neon orange rain poncho from the visitor center because of the rain. It was a good look!

The Cliffs are very beautiful even on an overcast day. Since it was rainy, there was kind of a mist around them, just how you expect the landscape in Ireland to look. The highest cliff is 214 meters high, and they range for 8 km over the Atlantic Ocean. They are one of Ireland’s biggest tourist attractions, and apparently it doesn’t matter what the weather is like, because there were tons of tourists there. The Cliffs have appeared in movies like Princess Bride, one of the Harry Potter flicks, and Leap Year, which I watched about 600 times before coming to Ireland.

We walked along the cement path that runs near the cliffs and took some good photos. Then I noticed that there were many people actually walking on top of the cliffs and thought that was a good idea! You actually have to leave the guardrail area and walk on a tiny footpath. Since it was raining, the path was pure mud and there are absolutely no guard rails on the cliffs. Chris was going to take a picture of me on top of the closest cliff. I walked very slowly on the muddy path, slipping and sliding and trying to make room for people coming the other way. I got about 15 feet down the path when my umbrella was caught by a gust a wind and I almost floated away like Mary Poppins. I turned right around and went back to safety…I am no daredevil! It would be better to walk on the Cliffs on a non-muddy day. As I turned the corner to safety I noticed a plaque on the wall that says “In memory of all those who have lost their lives on the Cliffs of Moher”…Yikes! Chris had run over to meet me since he saw my umbrella almost fly away, and we walked to the visitor centre instead. They have an exhibition set up about how the cliffs were formed and what wildlife lives on the cliffs. By the time we decided to leave, the rain was falling down in sheets and we were glad we missed most of it. It still didn’t stop other tourists from checking out the cliffs though!

The next morning we said goodbye to Galway and checked out of our hotel. We were going to Dingle, the place that I had been dying to see our whole trip. On the way, we stopped in Limerick to have lunch. We sat down in Flannery’s Pub and were served by a nice old Irish man (Mr. Flannery?). He and another old Irish man chatted us up about where we were from, and where we were going. They told us some scary stories about people falling off of the Cliffs of Moher. When the man sitting to our right heard we were going to Dingle, he gave us some recommendations of things to see and bars to go to. We quite enjoyed our chat with the Irishmen, but we had to get on the road. Flannery’s Pub was our single Limerick experience, but it was a good one!

On the way to Dingle, you have two choices: take the safe road or drive up The Conor Pass, a single lane road up the side of a mountain. It is the highest mountain pass in Ireland, and is full of twists and turns. There are many little spots where one car has to pull as far over as possible to let another car through. We had to pull the side window in so that it wouldn’t be knocked off when we went along the mountain. Large vehicles like campers and trucks are not allowed on the pass, and there are signs in about 5 languages saying “Turn Back Now!” on your way up. This kind of made us nervous. Later, we heard a story about how a few years ago, a trucker drove up the pass and actually got stuck. He had to get a crane to come and lift him down the side of the mountain, one level at a time! The Conor Pass supposedly gives you an amazing view of the Dingle Peninsula, however when we were there, it was completely foggy…at the highest point we could see about one car length in front of us! It was all very exciting!

Finally we reached the outskirts of Dingle, and made a stop at the Dingle Brewing Company, which just celebrated its one year anniversary. Right now, they brew one beer called Crean’s Lager, named after Tom Crean, a famous Irish explorer. We went on a tour of the brewery and they have a display all about his life, which is very interesting. The beer was pretty good too!

When we reached the main part of Dingle town, I was in heaven. It is the best little town, with buildings painted bright colours and only about four main streets. It was the only town on our whole trip where we had no trouble finding our hotel! There are all kinds of shops and pubs lining the main street (called Main Street). We were worried that our hostel, The Hideout Hostel would be a little scary, however we were pleasantly surprised and we had a very pretty room (yes, on top of a pub/restaurant). We immediately set out to explore Dingle and did not get far before something caught my eye: Fungi the Dingle Dolphin boat tours. I had read about Fungi before, as it is one of very few Trip Advisor attractions in Dingle! It said that Fungi was a dolphin who for some reason just stuck around the Dingle Bay and liked to say hello to people. I couldn’t wait to get a look at Fungi…along with many other 6 year olds! Chris later told me that this is like the sixth Fungi dolphin and they keep the Fungis in captivity for a few months and train them on how to act around the boats…talk about raining on my parade! I am choosing not to believe that! Anyways, we hopped on the last boat tour of the day just in time. The views of the coastline are spectacular from the boat, even without the famous dolphin. Finally, one child yelled out, “There’s Fungi!” and everyone raced to one side of the boat to see him jump out of the water. He later swam right along side the boat. I was so happy, and I think Chris enjoyed himself too…lol. He edged out a 9 year old along the side of the boat so that he could get a good video of Fungi.

When our tour was done, we went in search of a good pint. We finally came across one of the bars that the man in Limerick had recommended: Foxy John’s Bar and Hardware….yes, bar AND hardware. It operates as a hardware store during the day, and a bar after hours….it is SO awesome! You can actually sit at the hardware counter next to batteries and nails and stuff and drink your beer. There is also a real bar across from the hardware desk. According to the Limerick man, Foxy John is a bit of an alcoholic. This was my favourite bar of the trip. The bartender was young (family of Foxy John) and talked to us the whole time. In the back of the store, a Scottish wedding party had come in and were having some drinks. When the father of the groom came up to the bar, I said congratulations to him and he bought Chris and me another pint of Guinness! When he left, he hugged and kissed me…methinks he had a lot to drink…however we did notice that Scots are amazingly friendly. Travellers to Dingle MUST visit Foxy John’s!

When we left there, we headed to a Chinese place for a good dinner, and then to The Dingle Pub to hear some live music. The musician was a singer/guitar player and he played Irish songs all night long. The scene got a little wild when a hen party came in and started belting out all the songs and dancing around. This concluded our first Dingle night and if I had an extra day to spend in anyplace I think I would choose Dingle! It was just what I expected in a little Irish town, and such a beautiful place because it’s surrounded by water.

Dunguaire Castle