Cliffs and Clifden

We made it to Clifden!
This morning after breakfast in Lahinch, we walked back down to the town, and took pictures of the beach, the surf shop (Lahinch is one of the main surfing meccas in Ireland, it turns out), the restaurant where we ate last night, and the town.  Along the way, we discovered the answer to our mystery about the music last night. We again saw the sign that said "music nightly" - on the side of the building, where it was hidden in shadow after dark.  So we weren't having a joint delusion after all, but it seems it only applies during the tourist season.  Gah!  Moral of the story:  if you go in the off-season, and you want to hear music, you will have to wait for Friday.  Most of the pubs we have seen have music only on the weekends in the winter.

Then we took off for the Cliffs of Moher.  I couldn't believe how many houses have been built on the Liscannor side of the bay since I was here five years ago!  The B&B guy said they are mostly holiday homes, second houses only used part of the year or rented out. Once you get to the Liscannor side, they really block the view of the bay from the road - house after house after house.

It wasn't long before we came across St Brigid's Well, which is just down the road from the Moher Lodge B&B where we stayed on our first visit.  It's still pink (the B&B, I mean, not the well - the well still looks like a phone booth with a nun in it).  Further down the road, we came to where I expected to see the Cliffs of Moher parking lot.  Instead, there were huge cranes, barricades, and fences.  Since April of 2004, it turns out, the Cliffs visitors area has been undergoing a facelift.  They have torn out the old parking lot and visitor center (such as it was), and are building a massive, two-level center into the hill.  When it is finished it will be almost invisible from the front.  They intend to leave the parking area where it is now, across the road.  They have erected a temporary building there, too, that houses a gift shop that you can actually turn around in, as well as nice restrooms and a little restaurant.

Chad was blown away by the Cliffs.  We were up there a long time, looking, and taking pictures.  The new path takes you up to midway between O'Brien's Tower and the corner where you used to turn to get to the tower.  We hadn't been able to go up to the tower in 2001 because of the foot and mouth thing, so it was new to me.  Chad gave in to the cold, wrapping up in multiple layers, gloves, a hat, and his jacket hood.  As I walked back down the hill in front of him, I heard him say, "Now I'm in Ireland!"  Apparently, the west meets his expectations of what Ireland would be, better than the city parts.  He was also really impressed with the Burren.  We drove down the corkscrew road, and into the "moonscape" part, and stopped off in Ballyvaughan, where we had seen the Burren Xposure exhibit in 2001.  To my surprise, that exhibit is now closed, but according to the guy in the gift shop, they are knocking down the wall between the shop and the exhibit, and are going to expand their retail space, but also add plasma screens all around that will display the same information that was formerly in the exhibit.  We had quite a nice conversation.  He had plenty of time, because we were the only ones in the place.  He told us about his expansion plans, and how he wants to add staff, but only local people.  He thinks it's important for tourists (mainly) to hear Irish accents, not, say, Spanish ones, to keep the "Irish charm".  He, too, is dismayed by the overgrowth of the holiday homes.

We continued on through the top of the Burren and through Galway City (actually, kind of around it).  Along the way, we stopped repeatedly to take pictures of the gorgeous mountains, and the sheep in the road.  At one point I let Chad drive, but that only lasted a couple of minutes.  Either he is way braver than I am, or just more trusting - it was just way too scary for me, letting him take the wheel.  Yeesh!

An amusing incident happened between Galway and Clifden.  Chad had gotten out to take a picture and the car window was down.  He reached back in to get the camera, and accidentally bumped the window switch. The window started up automatically, catching his arm at the elbow, and he started yelling, "Stop, stop!" and flapping his arm.  I thought he was joking around, pretending that his arm was stuck - but he wasn't kidding.  The window was actually continuing to try to go up.  I tried to hit the "down" button, but it wouldn't release at first.  I had to shut off the car and restart it to lower the window and release him.  He could have slid his arm up to where the gap was bigger, but he didn't think of it.  I know it's terrible of me, but it was hilarious!  "Augh, augh, stop!"  It didn't even leave a mark.

W were both thrilled to see the sheep roaming free.  I hadn't seen any on our first trip because they were all safely penned in because of the foot and mouth precautions.  I mean, we saw them in fields, but not in the roads.  Finally, we got to Clifden and started looking for a B&B.  The directory listed Sky Road as the address for several of them, so we headed that way to see if we could find one open at this time of year.  We pulled off into a driveway to get out of the way of traffic, and found we were at Atlantic View B&B, which was - surprise, surprise! - open.  And they had a room for us.  And it is gorgeous!  We have a family room with a double bed and two twins in a separate alcove, a sitting area with loveseat, chair and TV, and a huge bathroom with one of those delicious instant-hot-water showers.

After we brought our luggage in, we went back to explore Clifden and find something to eat.  Clifden is so cute!  And the city center streets go around in a one way triangle with angle-in parking - heaven!  We walked around and looked at restaurant menus, finally settling on a bar called EJ King's.  I had something called beef stroganoff vol-au-vants, which turned out to be beef stroganoff in a puff pastry.  Chad had a goodlooking version of nachos - chips, cheese and meat baked in a dish and covered with salsa.  I wish we had a bit more time here, since this is where Mom's family is from, but we must press on.  We are headed up the Sky Road tomorrow, toward Kylemore Abbey, then we'll head south back to Bunratty.  We will be staying near Bunratty tomorrow night, and then on Friday we head home.