Cliffs of Moher/Burren Tour

**Just a fair warning before you delve into this blog... it will be long! Yesterday was so incredible so I will probably have a ton to say! Ok, where to begin?

Mathilda, Manuela, Lorena, Eva & I (those are the girls in my house right now...I'm not sure if I have said their names before) planned a trip on Sunday to go to Galway and then take a tour to the Cliffs of Moher. I was stoked because these were top of my list coming to Ireland! So, at the bright and early hour of 6:45 we caught a bus to Galway. The ride was about 2.5 hours so I just listened to music and slept a little. When we got to Galway we only had about 45 minutes until we had to catch our tour bus so we found a cute little cafe to grab an espresso (which I discovered I don't really like) and, at least for me, a second breakfast before starting our journey.

I loved our tour guide right off the bat. He was funny and entertaining, and of course the Irish accent only made it that much better. I felt kind of bad for the other girls who don't understand as much English because they were probably getting annoyed with his hours upon hours of rambling and story telling...but I enjoyed it. Anyway, here is the route we took:

I absolutely love the green hills and stone walls!

This is a fairy tree. People tie ribbons and leave offerings here for the fairies or spirits asking for healing, good health, and other well wishes.

12th century church that was absolutely beautiful! 

Burial ground inside the church

Galway Bay. The tide was down so many boats in the area were just on solid ground but by the time we came back it had risen and they were floating.

Fairy Fort. It's the same idea as a fairy tree but it's in a circular area of trees

Offerings for the fairies

This guy was making necklaces with your name written in an ancient Celtic language

Tomb where the remains of at least 33 people were found

And finally.....the beautiful, amazing, gorgeous, incredible, stunning, breathtaking Cliffs of Moher!!

I could go on and on about this beautiful sight. I was so amazed by the beauty of it all I just wanted to cry. Pictures do not even begin to capture the amazing sight that is before you when you are standing above the ocean and looking out and around at these magnificent geological structures (which I'm sure Josh could tell me all about!) I was so sad that we only had about 1.5 hour to spend because they are so grand that you could spend that time just walking around one part of them. I wanted to just sit and soak it all in for hours...but I also wanted to walk around and get all the different views. I think I have found my new favorite place. I just can't even begin to explain how intense and wonderful it was. I get emotional just looking at the pictures again and thinking about it. After hours upon hours on a bus, to finally stop and have this in front of you was just incredible. There were two paths that could be taken along the cliffs...one pathway had a stone wall as a guard and was a bit further back and then there was a pathway that was right along the cliff edges that had no barrier. We decided to take this path which was super scary because of my extreme fear of heights but we felt like it was the right way to go. It was awesome to look down and see all of the boats going along. It would be really cool to see the cliffs from that view also...next time. I could just keep talking about the cliffs because they were just absolutely stunning, but I will stop now and move on to the rest of the tour. I will end this by saying that I will return one day and I hope to bring friends and family because this is a sight they should see...I really wish everyone could have been with me here! 

Ok, moving on...at the cliffs I bought myself a ring at the cliffs. The stone is Connemara Marble which is only found in a remote area of Ireland and the trinity symbol on either side is a well known Celtic symbol

My next favorite part of the tour (and it was probably because I missed the cliffs as soon as we left) were the Ballyreen Cliffs. They weren't as grand and majestic as Moher, but they were still beautiful nonetheless and the vertigo wasn't quite as bad 

The rest of the drive back was pretty quiet...a lot of people fell asleep. We drove back up along the coast which was beautiful. This spot is called leprechaun's head because if you look carefully you can kind of make a leprechaun's face...the two holes are the eyes...

 This is one of my favorite pictures from the tour! This, I believe, is Dunguaire Castle. When we drove past in the morning the tide was down so the ground was all brown and not very pretty...by the time we came back it was so beautiful. Oh my gosh. I was just overwhelmed with all of the beauty and splendor that I came across on this tour. It was a super long day, and the bus was uncomfortable at times, but I would really recommend this to anyone who wants to see a ton of wonderful sights! (Plus it only cost 20 euro which is maybe about $23 or $24 for the entire day!) Anyway, if you made it through this blog, thank you! I have gotten really positive comments from people so I'm really glad everyone is enjoying it! I know I said I wanted to do this all alone, but I really kind of wish I could have had all my loved ones with me for this tour...everyone deserves to see this beauty!