We landed at Shannon Airport sometime after 7 a.m. (1 a.m. on our time.) So the first thing we did was get our rental car so we could go to our first stop, the Cliffs of Moher. That was an adventure. Of all the places I went in Ireland, I would honestly have to say that County Clare had the prettiest roads. They were also really scary to drive on, especially on the first day! They were VERY narrow, and they had rock walls right on the shoulder. The drive there mostly consisted of my dad and I both cringing everytime we met another car and me telling him, "Dad, you're on the wrong side of the road!" or "Dad, you're too close to the wall!" It got better after a few days. But, anyway, these are the Cliffs of Moher. They're pretty amazing. They're not the tallest sea cliffs in Ireland, but still, 700 feet is pretty high. This is the view facing south from the viewpoint. And for my own amusement, I had to take pictures of the other tourists. You see, there are these flagstone walls to keep tourists away from the edges of the cliffs, and a pretty little sign telling tourists that it is not safe to cross those fences. Of course, no one listens. You might see a strip of white rock in some of these pictures. Quite a drop to the bottom from that strip. If you see a little dot on it, that dot is a person. And then I zoomed in to get a shot of the dude out there. He was one of the many people who liked to go right up to the edge and lean over to see how far down it is. Or go take pictures out there. (Including my dad, because I wasn't crossing any fences, no way.) Crazy people. You wouldn't catch me out there, but then, I'm afraid of heights and I've heard about the people who get blown off doing that.
And if you turn around and face north, you see O'Brien's Tower. It's just a small little tower, really. There's a gift shop inside, and if you pay a little money, you can climb to the top and get a look out at the view. There were also muscicians playing along the walkways. One of them was this guy playing a harp-like instrument on the way up to O'Brien's Tower.
And this would be Ennis, Co. Clare. This was the first town we drove through. Isn't it cute? We stayed just a few miles from it in Barefield (I think). We got to know the town center very well while we drove around looking for the friary . . . and around, and around, and around. We gave up. The first day was great, but not a day for too much sight seeing. We tried to find the Burren, but ended up driving in a circle (again) so around 3 p.m. (after we'd been up about 26 hours) we decided to head for the B & B to get some rest. Luckily we'd stumbled across the B & B while we were wandering around lost earlier in the day.
