The Cliffs of Moher

After the spending the morning in The Burren we headed to the Cliffs of Moher. On the way there we stopped at the Clare Jam Company, a must for anyone needing gifts. This place was great. It is just a little shop that sales lots of different types of jam and chutney. It is very reasonable priced and the stuff tastes great! No artificial anything, just sugar and fruit. Then we went to the cliffs. We apparently picked a bad year. They are building this huge visitors center, which is supposed to blend into the country side and look like a hill, but this year it is just a portable type building and a huge parking lot. They charge admission to the parking lot but not to the actual cliffs. It is only 2 Euro to park in the lot, so we did. Then it is a long hike up to the top of the Cliffs. The first half of the cliffs are developed. The path has been paved and the old goat trail has been marked off. So you really cant get close enough to fall off. The wall is about four feet tall, so you can take photographs, but sitting on it is difficult, which I assume is the point. There are also stairs that provide ample seating. So, on this path you can essentially walk the first U, or at least three fourths of it. As you get to the end of the path there is sign that asks people not to cross, which everyone promptly crosses over and continues on. This path is much closer to the edge of the cliff, and is much more of a path than anything. It is a lot more obvious from this place that the land is just flat and then you fall 700ft to a very cold and turbulent sea. Not so much fun for someone with vertigo. I was doing okay until Devin decided he needed to look over the edge, and then other people sat down on the actual cliffs with their feet hanging over. I lost it there, I had to leave, that was just too much. Every year people fall off of these cliffs, so tell me, why would anyone sit on them!!! They were beautiful, and we only made it to two of them, but as it went on the path got sketchier and it just didnt seem safe. So we hiked back to the car. It was a nice outing. The Cliffs are amazing, however, this is the most touristed site in Ireland , so from that perspective it sucked. There were people everywhere and all sorts of goofy tourist stuff. Reminded me of the Plaza in Santa Fe an awful lot. We then went to the town of Doolin for dinner. We ate at McDermotts pub, which I deleted the picture of unfortunately. We didnt actually eat dinner, just some fries, but we met some nice peoplea couple from Australia and a couple from Bavaria and listened to two different local bands, both of which were really good. The couple from Bavaria was hilarious, the woman didnt speak much English, but man could she drink and then she would giggle, it was hilarious. The Australians were teachers who were spending a year traveling the world. I wish teachers in America got paid enough to do that!