Ireland: Cliffs of Moher, The Burren, Limerick

Trip Date: July 30

After a day in Atlanta, I was ready to get to Ireland. We were just about to start boarding in ATL, headed for JFK, when the flight crew made the announcement that we needed to board as quickly as possible to get up in the air as quickly as possible. Why? JFK flight control had issued a ground stop earlier in the day at the New York airport, meaning that no flights were coming in or leaving, unless they were already in the air. Moments before we starting boarding, JFK lifted the ground stop, but it was possible they would issue another one, so we needed to at least get up in the air, in which case JFK could not stop us from landing. Surprisingly, boarding the plane went really well! Everyone was quick and people realized that they could create more space in the overhead bins if they put their roll-on suitcases in with the short end first instead of the wide end! But then the captain told us that we were 15th in line to taxi out to the runway and we would be delayed half an hour.

I didn't think I was going to make it to Ireland on time, which was crucial because my brother and his girlfriend, Sarah, were going to pick me up from the Shannon Airport at 9:25am Ireland time. We didn't really have a back-up plan. Nevertheless, once we got to JFK I had to switch airplanes, praying that my luggage would make the switch as well, and immediately boarded my next plane. Everything seemed to be going okay there, too, but then the auxiliary power cut out and we were left without air conditioning for about 15 minutes and the plane started to heat up, along with peoples' patiences. But after a while we were up in the air and I was officially Ireland-bound!

I landed at Shannon Airport early and with perfect timing too! My brother, Ryan, and Sarah just pulled up to the airport as I was coming out of customs. We jumped in their little Renault four-seater and started our day off with some good old-fashioned sightseeing. A few hours north of Shannon is one of Ireland's most spectacular natural attractions: the Cliffs of Moher. These cliffs, rising nearly 400 feet up out of the ocean are a staggering sight! Sandstone and shale make up these rocks and provide a nesting ground for various sea birds including gulls and puffins (but I didn't see any of those). Access to the Cliffs has been built up excessively since the last time I was here in 2001. Then, you just drove up to a small cabin that was the Visitor Center and you walk up a narrow, but paved, path to an observation platform next to a small castle-tower. But now, you pay €4-6 for parking and access to a behemoth Visitor Center, resembling a gigantic hobbit-house, built into the side of a hill. A series of wide stairs and safety railings keep you from getting too close to the edge. But, if you want, you can follow other tourists and hop the fence to the private property next door and walk along the edge to get stunning views of the cliffs and if you're really daring, go out to rock outcrops jutting over the edge. We learned that Ryan has a significant fear of heights and it took some goading on our part, but we finally got him out near the edge. While now over-touristy and expensive, the Cliffs are not to be missed!

Cliffs of Moher

 

 

The Aryn Islands seen from the Cliffs

 

Ryan and Sarah on a rock ledge 400 feet up from the ocean!

Me, looking 400 feet down to the ocean

After the Cliffs, we drove along the coast a little ways toward Doolin and down a narrow country road to the town of Ballyvaughn, where we then turned south and drove through the Burren. The Burren is a totally desolate landscape with minimal amounts of vegetation and nearly entirely exposed sequences of limestone. In fact, as far as we could see, there was nearly nothing but limestone. Again, windy roads seemed to be the norm for Ireland and we eventually came to the site of the Poulnabrone Dolmen.


The Poulnabrone Dolmen is one of Ireland's best preserved Portal Tombs of the Neolithic Age, some 6,000 years ago. According to on-site documentation, at that time, the glaciers Europe carved the landscape down to the limestone we saw all around us and open pine forests and grasslands were fully intact. The Portal Tomb is about 10 feet tall with thin slabs of stone providing the wall support for a 12-foot long, 1.5 ton limestone slab. It was used as a burial site for upwards of 30 individuals who were placed there about 5,000 years ago, as well as ceremonies and rituals. Because of its proximity to the Cliffs of Moher, the Poulnabrone Dolmen is heavily frequented by tour buses and it's best to visit the site earlier in the day and later in the afternoon. Luckily, there is no fee for this site!

Poulnabrone Dolmen

Deep, narrow limestone troughs are normal for this landscape. Rain, which is slightly acidic, slowly dissolves the 320 million year old limestone in typical karst landscape fashion. The rock platforms you see are called "clints" and the troughs are called "grikes".

 

Beautiful vegetation seen at the Poulnabrone Dolmen. Nearly 70% of all Ireland's native vegetation can be found in the Burren.

Once back in the car, we needed to finish off our day by driving all the way down to the little southwestern town of Bantry, which is no easy task as most of the roads going that way are narrow, windy, and lined with stone walls and hedges, leaving you very little wiggle room if you come across a car (or God forbid, a tour bus) going the opposite direction! Along the way, though, we stopped in the city of Limerick, Ireland's third largest city (190,000 people). This is the city brought to life in the memoirs of Frank McCourt in his book, Angela's Ashes. While less grimy of a city nowadays, row houses and narrow alleyways are still common, as they are in every Irish town. A deeper history of Engligh invasion and rule is also present here, but we didn't have enough time to see much as time was short and we still had a few hours to get to Bantry.

Part of the city of Limerick viewed across the River Shannon.

View of St. Munchins Church and a bridge over the river

The day I arrived was a Bank Holiday, similar to any of our national holidays, where everything is shut down in some way or other. For us, we were getting hungry but none of the pubs were serving anything but some sandwiches, so we at least stopped for a quick pint at a pub and I had my first Irish Pint: a Beamish Irish Stout. But with no food, we drove on and tried the next town which had some pubs, but again, no one was serving food. Thankfully a helpful pub owner directed us to a place for dinner where we got some simple, but decidedly Irish food.

I don't recall much of the rest of the drive because I definitely fell asleep in the back of the car, still trying to adjust to the new time zone. But I woke up to Sarah trying to decipher the directions we were given to get to "Agma," the cottage we were renting. My dad's wife, Britta, had been there before, so they knew where they were going, but for us, it was like solving a puzzle:

As you come into Bantry you will pass the Opel dealership and an anchor and the Westlodge Hotel will be on your right, but take the first road going west, south of the hotel. You will pass a church that is now an art studio and continue until you see what appears to be a factory of sorts and then pass a house with green trim. Take the next road to the left, even though it looks like a driveway. Go up a hill and down a hill and up another hill. Go straight where it looks as if you would turn left to find Agma.

Well, we took the right road, but were unsure how far down it we had to go until we would find what looks like a factory. What appeared to be a factory was in fact a small industrial farm and the house with green trim was really nothing more than a house with a small shed that had a green roof... It was around 9:30pm and the sun was setting when we found what we thought was the road that went up, down, and up again, but we stopped for a few photos of a beautiful sunset setting over the Beara Peninsula to our north and finally pulled into the driveway. The rest of the family was already there and were very happy to see us. They weren't sure if we were lost somewhere or if we could make any sense of the directions. They even positioned themselves in town for a few hours, hoping that maybe we would see them if we got that far. But all was well and we all took an evening walk around the countryside and returned to some pizza while Carl, Britta's son got a peat fire going in the fireplace.