The West Coast

We made our way up the west coast of Ireland. Our first stop was the Cliffs of Moher, also known as the Cliffs of Insanity, and lucky for us it was a sunny day (the last time we were there it was pouring horizontal rain). We wanted to get away from the touristy side, so we headed to some other cliffs. There was a huge sign that said, "Do not go past this point," so of course we did! We walked along this dirt path right along the edge of the cliffs. Alex and Megan would lie down on their stomach's every once in awhile and look over the edge - they're the tallest cliffs in all of Europe if that gives you any idea of how high they are!



Then we headed to the Burren, which is a windblown limestone wasteland. The landscape is completely different than the rest of Ireland. We saw the Poulnabrone Dolmen, which is a portal tomb that looks just like a big stone table. Pretty fun! After the Burren, we drove to Gort which is Ireland's little Brazil. We stopped in at a grocery store and Alex was having so much fun buying up all sorts of food that he used to get in Brazil. Alex said that if he were to live in Ireland, he would live there because there are a ton of Brazilians!

We stayed in Galway for a couple of nights, and made a day trip out to the Aran Islands. On our way there we drove by the "Quiet Man" bridge. Then we took a ferry out to the biggest island, Inishmore. We had so much fun there! We rented bikes and rode around the whole island. We rode up to the highest point on the mountain, did some rugged mountain biking through some rocky terrain, and saw a stone fortress that's over 2,000 years old! An added bonus was that we saw some seals playing in the bay. Biking the island is definitely the way to go!

We then made our way up to County Mayo. We went to Cong, which is where the "Quiet Man" cottage is. We did a lot of driving through the country, and it was so beautiful! There are wild rhododendrons growing everywhere. We saw a few memorials dedicated to the people who died from the potato famine, which was kind of somber. We also saw Croagh Patrick, which is the mountain on which St. Patrick cast out snakes from the island. Then we took a slog in the bog! We walked out onto the boglands and played around. You can stand 20 feet away from someone else and if they jump, you can feel the ground shake. Pretty neat!

We'll post soon about our trip to Germany and London!