County Clare

This past weekend, we went to County Clare to see the Burren, the Aran Islands and see the Cliffs of Moher! We spent the weekend in a hostel in the little town of Lisdonvarna, which is known for its being the name of a Christy Moore song, being a spa town, and being home to a huge Matchmaking festival that lasts the entire month of September!
On our way down to the hostel, we stopped in to see the Rock of Cashel, a great castle, built on a large limestone rock and overlooks a lot of the country side. Once we got to the hostel and got the rooms sorted everyone set off to explore, get dinner, or in my case go golfing! A group of us headed out to a nearby pitch and put golf course in Doolin. It was a great little course, and had a beautiful view of the Cliffs of Moher! I can now say I have golfed in Ireland, and experienced "Irish Rough" first hand. It's not easy! I also had the unfortunate experience of landing in a water hazard. Although I'm sure that this isn't the most conventional one, only in Ireland I suppose! Other than that, it was lovely!
On Saturday we went to Aran Island, and walked around there. Many people took bikes or rode in a van to explore the island, but I decided I just wanted to walk around a bit after I had lunch. We found some old abandoned churches, as well as some gorgeous views of the bay and the island. There are so many stone walls all around the island, separating it out into little pastures and yards, it gives the island a sort of character. I loved the walls, they were so simple, yet really functional and sturdy. We then caught our ferry back to Doolin, to spend the rest of the day around town and then went to a local pub for some music and to relax. The pub was pretty crowded, there were a few locals, however it was mostly those of us from Mercyhurst, and a group of Dutch women who were traveling together and also staying at our hostel. The drummer in the band was also the bartender, so whenever someone wanted a drink he stopped playing and got up to go to the bar. The other musicians would just carry on without him. It was nice traditional music, with no vocals, just instruments.
On Sunday, we loaded up early in the morning for our bus tour around the Burren and over to the Cliffs of Moher. The Burren is an amazing landscape, there isn't really anything like it that I have ever seen. It was formed by the glaciers as they passed over the land and deposited huge boulders and scraping away the dirt to reveal limestone rocks. It's looks a bit lunar actually! Much later that afternoon we finally arrived at the Cliffs of Moher! It had been beautiful all day, blue skies, sunshine, warm weather and a little breeze. However, that all changed as soon as we got to the Cliffs of Moher. When we arrived, a fog bank had rolled in cloaking the cliffs in a mysterious gray-white blanket. It was too bad the fog never lifted, but I enjoyed seeing the cliffs in the fog. I figured that's how they look ninety percent of the time, so I got an authentic experience. Although you couldn't see all the cliffs at once, you could see the two cliffs nearest you on either side. This provided an element of surprise, as you walked along the edge suddenly a massive gray and green mass was looming in front of you. What is really amazing is that the cliffs were at one time completely submersed in water and were actually on the ocean floor! I am really glad I have seen them now, and I loved every minute of it. Walking along them as you could hear the ocean crash into the side of the cliff, and saw the cloud thin out and reveal the next cliff. It was a great day. Oh and lest I forget, it was Dr. Reed's birthday! So everywhere we stopped, we would sing a happy birthday song for Dr. Reed. So all in all, it was a great day to end an even better weekend!
Slainte!