Cliffs of Moher… Ireland

We sign up for a day trip out of Dublin to see the Irish countryside and the amazing Cliffs of Moher on the County Clare Atlantic coast. It is a UNESCO site,  awarded for its dramatic sea-front cliffs.To do this long trip by car hire is super costly, so we are told to check the Paddywagon coach service company. We book and arrive at the allocated street location in front of Bewley’s Coffee stop, possibly the best coffee in Ireland.

The Paddywagon turns up and Alfie greets us. From the minute he starts talking he is fun, lively and engaging.This guide for the day is a bit of a comedian, entertainer and witty historian. He gives his stories of Oscar Wilde, who happens to be my Irish hero and my go to man. 

After a few hours we get to the little harbour of fishing boats and we board one and take the most scenic boat ride, looking up at the towering Cliffs of Moher. 120 to 214 metres high. There are fourteen kilometres of cliffs facing the Ocean. The bird life is active and on the cliff sides there are over 30,000 razorbills  couples nesting . We pass the rock tower , at 67 metre tall and the Sea Stack  and Sea Stump rock formations. 

Returning to the harbour, we are taken by the Paddywagon to the top of the cliffs. It is July and windy, we walk for over an hour. Our guide takes us to the O’Brien Centre, which is a stone built tower from 1835 . This information centre gives details on the location, the history and animal/ bird life .  There was a fort nearby which was demolished in 1808.

The journey home to Dublin has a pit stop at the Barrack Obama   Plaza shopping mall. His great granddad lived in the nearby village of Moneygall...

Our comedian guide gives us the low down on the suicide numbers, eg: those who jumped off the cliff. Sixty six in twenty four years.

I stupidly ask why they do not have some memorial to those who chose to leave early. The guide tells us they do not want to promote the fact, as it will likely increase the numbers going forward. We are two out of a possible one and a half million visitors to these cliffs this year. Amazingly 41% are from the USA. Maybe not so crazy when you consider thirty six million  Americans are of Irish origin. Most of the movie , “The Harry Potter  Half-Blood Prince “, was filmed in this amazing cliff area. 

The journey home to Dublin has a pit stop at the Barrack Obama   Plaza shopping mall. His great granddad lived in the nearby village of Moneygall.

It is ten o’clock and we set off back to our homely little hotel in the pub district of Dublin. I am not sure but the whole of Dublin is actually the pub district. There are said to be 772 pubs in  Dublin . The city is not as safe as it used to be with growing migrant numbers and increasing  cost of living issues. Sounds  familiar .