Up at 6:30. Luggage to the bus at 7:15. Breakfast at 7:30. Bus pulls out at 8:30. This is the first time we havent had a buffet breakfast, but the menu was still pretty much the same, with the addition of pancakes and French toast. Today I had French toast with fresh fruit and cream cheese.
Our first goal today was The Cliffs of Moher. The Cliffs of Moher run along the west coast of Ireland, in County Clare, for about 8.6 miles. They reach a height of 600 feet at OBriens Tower. It is so beautiful! I even climbed OBriens Tower and took pictures from the top!
One thing i particularly liked about this site is the way they built their gift shop, restaurant, and bathrooms. They were all built into the hillside to be unobtrusive to the look of the area. The gift shop, snack bar, and toilets were on the first floor. The restaurant and more toilets were on the second floor. Once inside it was hard to tell you were underground.
According to our guide, there are 45,000 castles in Ireland. Can you imagine that???? Many of them are in ruins. I try to get a picture of everyone we see but its really hard to do. The castles are either too far away, or up too fast, or they are on the wrong side of the bus!!
Each day we board the bus we try to pick different seats. Some people like to keep the same seats so the tour guide asked them to sit in the back. The front several seats are supposed to rotate. Every day it seems I pick the wrong side if the bus. For two days I sat on the right.everything to get a picture of wax on the left. Today I sat on the leftyou guessed iteverything to photograph was on the right!!!
When you take pictures out the bus window you get the glare from the window and you get the motion from the speed of the bus. So if youre looking closely to the pictures you may see glare
I live the churches and church spires we see. I usually dont see the sign telling the kind of church, but I love seeing the spires. Along with the churches are graveyards. Most of them are very ornate and many contain some very old headstones.
We arrived in Galway around noon and had until 3:30 to eat, shop, and see the sites. I was particularly interested in getting a Claddaugh ring. Claddaugh was a fishing village outside the city walls of Galway. Richard Joyce was an indentured slave trying to get to Nirth America when he was captured by Algerian pirates and sold into slavery. Lucky for him his master was a goldsmith, was kind and taught him his trade.
Fourteen years passed and Richard longed for home and the girl he left behind. During that time Richard stole a little gold at a time and fashioned a ring for his love. It was two hands clasping a heart with a crown overhead. The hands symbolize friendship, the crown loyalty, and the heart love.
We went to the Thomas Dillon store for in Galway who is considered the original Claddaugh ring maker. He made rings for Queen Victoria, Queen Alexandra, and King Edward VII. He was then awarded a royal patent. You can buy Claddaugh rings everywhere but I wanted mine from Dillons.
We ate lunch a a place called Freddys. We shared honey pepperoni pizza and basil French fries. All were delicious. The fries were probably the best weve had on this trip.
We shopped, looked around, boarded the bus and headed to Sligo where we will spend the night. We had a wonderful dinner at our hotel.probably one of the best weve had on this tour!!
Tomorrow we leave Ireland and head to Northern Ireland which is separate from the Republic of Ireland. Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom and uses their money system.the British Pound.goodbye Euros!!
