Ireland (Day Six) - Cliffs of Moher and the Aillwee Burren Experience

 

Here we are on my day six of Ireland. That photo up there is the Cliff's of Moher in County Clare - you may recognize the cliffs from Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. The scene where Dumbledore takes Harry to find Tom Riddle's horcrux. 

"Visually spectacular, the Cliffs of Moher sit astride the striking landscape of the Burren on one side and the Wild Atlantic Ocean on the other. Rising out of the Atlantic waters to a height of over 700ft at O’Brien’s Tower and running along the coast of Clare for almost 14 kilometres, or 8 miles, the Cliffs of Moher were formed over 320 million years ago, and today form part of the Burren and Cliffs of Moher UNESCO Global Geopark. The Cliffs of Moher is in a Special Protection Area for Birds and Wildlife. The magnificent Cliffs on the Wild Atlantic Way host major colonies of nesting sea birds and are one of the country’s most important bird-breeding sites."

Source: https://www.cliffsofmoher.ie/about-the-cliffs-of-moher/cliffs-of-moher/at-the-cliffs/

Here are various angles of them:

In the photo above, we can see O’Brien’s Tower. This is actually in the main spot where I took all the photos above that. The last photo we had walked further away - it was so windy though, and me being six months pregnant, we couldn't walk too much further. 

"The tower was built on the cliffs in 1835 by the local landlord and MP Sir Cornelius O’Brien as an observation point for the English tourists who frequented the area at the time.

It is said to have initially served as a teahouse or folly; another version tells of Cornelius building the tower in order to impress the women he was courting!

Whatever the truth, from this vantage point on a clear day you can see the Aran Islands and the Twelve Bens of Connemara across Galway Bay."

Source: https://www.cliffsofmoher.ie/about-the-cliffs-of-moher/cliffs-of-moher/obriens-tower/

The sites weren't just the cliff's and tower though. There were little admirers to see right at our feet - artwork and this cute, crescent-looking moon on the steps. 

This was also right at our feet. Apparently, a lot of tourists like to try and go to the edge of the cliffs. Even when we were there, there was a trail that kept going up the cliffs where they had specifically put signs up for people not to go past since it was dangerous. We didn't go, but it did have me googling around and I found out at the cliffs have been 66 deaths there between 1993 and 2017. 

Here's one picture of the inside of the visitor's center. I only took this because my mom loves puffins - but yes, the cliffs are home to puffins that I unfortunately didn't get to see that day. 

The visitor's center was also in a neat location, right under, and inside of, a hill.

Here were my last two views before leaving that day. The first leads up to the viewpoint of the cliffs. The other is when you look the opposite direction at the town below the cliffs. It was a beautiful sight to see and I'm jealous of the locals who live there.

The cliff's themselves were powerful to look at. The wind and rain really built up the essence of being there and I feel like pictures don't do them justice. 

The next place we went to was the Aillwee Burren Experience. This was in The Burren, County Clare, Ireland. They had a birds of prey center and cave tours.

I didn't get any photos of the actual Birds of Prey show, but afterwards we got to tour some rescued birds in their cages. We have Hedwig in the first photo, a raven in the second (fun fact, the raven was the only bird to have things like dog toys in there with it. They're so smart they need to be entertained) - and there's a nest of wild birds in the last photo.

I got a few good photos from inside Aillwee Cave where we were touring.

This is all stalactite - a tapering structure hanging like an icicle from the roof of a cave, formed of calcium salts deposited by dripping water.

Source: dictionary.com 

Stalagmites are the opposite - it's when it builds from the bottom up. Sometimes stalactite and stalagmite meet and conjoin. 

Here's fossils of a bear who died in the caves - more info on that here. 

You can see some of the walk we went on - over a bridge, up and down some mild slopes. There's some stalactite in the last photo. 

I loved the coloring on some of these rocks.

Spiral staircase up.

A waterfall in the caves. I love this shot with the coloring on the rocks, the waterfall, and the pink (from someone else's flash I'm assuming). 

My last two shots of the caves. It was a neat thing to see and I'm glad we went. At this point our vacation was winding down, so this was something easy to see and there weren't too many people there.

This was the end of my day six. Starting with magnificent Cliffs of Moher and ending with the Aillwee Burren Experience. It was quite the day and I loved it.