Our Day at the Cliffs of Moher

So we're back. We survived two weeks of vacation and are settling back into our normal routines at home. Sadly once we hit the New York portion of our trip maintaining the blog was a bit more difficult that we anticipated. However, since we are indeed back (and now have the time), I still want to post some of the exploits of our trip.

The lone activity that was included in our travel package for Ireland was admission into the Cliffs of Moher national park. The cliffs lie on the western coast of Ireland and were about an hour and half drive south of Galway where we were staying. At their highest point along the 5 mile coastline, the cliffs plunge 700 feet into the ocean (about 270 feet higher than the First Hawaiian Center in downtown Honolulu). The best way to describe them would probably be that they're the Irish version of the Na Pali coast on Kaua‘i.


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Rather than go on and on in writing about how cool our experience was, I thought a better way to convey just how majestic the cliffs were is to just show you with a bunch of photos . . .

A view of the southern range of the Cliffs of Moher. This was from our starting point which was a short walk away from the visitor's center.

Yes, even in Ireland tourists don't respect warning signs. For a good portion along the cliffs near the visitor's center, there is a barrier put up that discourages people from going to the edge.

A lookout along the southern edge with O'Brien's Tower in the background.

At one point things got a little precarious as the trail became flooded.

At a certain point quite a ways away from the visitor's center, there is no more barrier and you can actually get up close and personal with the cliffs.

Photo taken further up the trail, but still in the same spot.

Heading up to the northside of the cliffs from the visitor's center . . .

Starting our way along the cliffs north of the visitor's center; we were confronted with a large number of steps.

Approaching O'Brien's Tower.

Sadly O'Brien's Tower isn't some long standing ancient Irish fort. Though it was built in 1835,  it was built to accomodate visitors to the cliffs. Yes, even back then they had tourists.

A view of the southern extension of the cliffs from the lookout at O'Brien's Tower. 

And our way back down we encountered the steps again; though this time the trip down wasn't as bad.

Though we were outside the entire time, we weren't that cold since we were bundled up and walking most of the time.

The cliffs were really a majestic sight to behond and I hope you can get an idea of that from our photos. All in all it was a pretty awesome day at the Cliffs of Moher.