EUROPE BLOG May 15th, 2023 - CLIFFS OF MOHER

5/15/23- We leave the hotel around noon and drive an hour to the Cliffs of Moher. This has been something on my list of places to see for some time now and it just so happens that the sky is blue and the sun is out. It does rain a bit on the way there, but only in spurts and clears up very fast. The hardest areas are actually the narrow roads as I maneuver from on-coming traffic and the occasional bus.

Arriving around 1:15pm, we pay the fee to park (12 Euros per person) and walk across the road to the Visitor Center. There are some local craft huts along the way and a much larger souvenir store inside that we visit, but our focus is on the cliffs so we don’t doddle too long.

Once at the viewpoint, I’m already very happy. The sky couldn’t be any clearer, and the cliffs are simply breathtaking. The wind is pretty strong, which causes us to wear our jackets though, and there are quite a few tourists around.

We dart off South to walk along the cliffs, unsure of how far we plan to go. The hike is modest, with some uphill and stairs, but overall not too bad for us as we walk over barriers meant to shy away the less advantaged. The farther we go, the less people we see and soon we feel like we’re the only ones around. I follow Kelvin’s lead, unsure how far he’s willing to go, which turns into a 5 kilometer (2.5 hour) hike to the far reaches of the cliffs around Moher Tower at Hag’s Head. 

Taking a small break, we now have to trek back to the Visitor Center. Our stomachs are rumbling but surprisingly our legs feel great, and the wind is cooling us off from the sun. I also see a wedding about to start on our walk back as the groom shows up in a decked out car. I did contemplate staying and taking some photos, but didn’t want to take up the entire afternoon.

Finally, we reach our starting point and even though our legs can feel the brunt, we march up a path of stairs to the lookout point at the top of O’Brien’s Tower. The view is quite nice but it doesn’t take long before we head to our car.

With some time to kill before sunset, we drive 10 kilometers to the small town of Doolin. Here we find a place to eat (Riverside Bistro), which I order the Seafood pasta and let me say it’s absolutely fantastic. It’s full of cod, muscles and tiny shrimp with each bite having a mouth-watering buttery taste to it. Quite possibly the best food I’ve had on this long trip so far.

Not far up the road is a small strip of colored houses that we briefly stop at, and then drive back to the cliffs. It’s now around 8pm and sunset is not until 9:30pm, so we hit up the interactive displays at the Visitor Center (which is quite informative), warm up in our car for about half an hour before finally seeing the sun fall below the horizon.

It takes another hour to get to our hotel where we practically dive into our beds, relieved to finally be able to rest.