Day Ten: Giant Cliffs, small world...
Today we drove from Kenmare to Limerick, Ireland. Along the way we stopped at "Ireland's Cutest Village," Adare, Ireland; before heading to the famous Cliffs of Moher. We started our journey with some homemade scones and fresh jam from a Jam a cute little cafe in Kenmare. While on the road we ran into some fellow travelers. We were very impressed that they were obeying to laws of the road and traveling on the correct side.
AdareThis town is known as the "prettiest village in Ireland" although from all my research I can't seem to find who originally titled it that or what official granted the title, but everyone seems to refer to it as that. Maybe it was because the sun was hiding behind the over cast skies that day, or because Jen and I were 10 days in to, what seemed like, a non stop trip (not complaining it was amazing, just tiring) but we were not that impressed with Adare. The giant tourist trap "heritage center" was on one side of the main street and on the other four or five cute thatched roof houses, that had been converted into restaurants and gift shops. They were cute and fun to see how Ireland used to look but as far as we could tell this strip of cottages was it. In my research it looked as though there was more to see. Also, everyone on and their brother was here. Adare's self titled "prettiest village" tourism marking sure did work because there were a ton of tourist. There are quite a few things to see in the surrounding area, castles, museums, etc, even Limerick is close by, so Adare could be a nice spot to stay for a few days and day trip to various locations. It was on our way to Limerick so it was not out of the way, and there is good parking behind the heritage center. A nice stroll down the main street and then back in the car to the Cliffs of Moher.
Cliffs of MoherOne of Ireland's most popular destinations, the Cliffs of Moher are a must see when traveling in the western region of Ireland. The cliffs stretch 5 miles along the Atlantic coast of Ireland and the highest point jets 702 feet up from the water. It is a gorgeous view, and a picture is worth a thousand words, so here's some pictures, although the pictures do not do it justice so go buy a plane ticket and fly over and see it for yourself!
The Cliff of Moher are actually very handicap friendly. Below is a map that shows a walking route that is completely handicap accessible. There are a few steps up to Obrien's Tower but other than that there are wheelchair paths to three vantage points. There are more places you can explore along the Cliffs that are not handicap accessible but I was impressed by how much was.
"It's a small world after all..." as we were walking down the hill from checking out the sights at the Cliffs of Moher someone stopped us at the bottom of the walk and said "are you two from California" we said yes, thinking that maybe we had some look or thing that made us look like we were from California? Then this person said, "are you from Humboldt?" yes we said, then "did you two go to First Covenant Church" yes we said, a little shocked at this point. He introduced himself as Toby Fretas, which was crazy cause in my mind Toby Fretas is a little boy, but I guess its been a while since I saw him. Anyway, we chatted awhile and then gave him a ride back to his hostel in Doolin. He said he saw us in Dublin too but wasn't sure we were from Eureka, but when he saw us today he had to ask. Crazy how small the world is. Wonder if we'll run into anyone else we know?After we dropped Toby off we headed to Limerick and our hotel for the night. We stayed at the Travelodge outside of Limerick, which was very reasonably priced. It had an American style restaurant called Eddie Rockets, that we ate dinner at. Not that we were looking for American food, but we were both pretty tired by now and it was the easiest place to eat at, no driving or finding our way into Limerick. The hotel was also near a grocery store that we went and bought some dessert and irish whiskey at, to toast to our last night in Ireland.
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