Cliffs of Moher and Galway

We have had a busy past couple of days!  Lots of driving.  We left Dingle and drove to Galway, along the south west part of the country.  This part of the country is very traditional Irish, they have the highest concentration of Gaelic speaking population, all the road sings are in Gaelic, even the radio stations are in Gaelic!

We took a car ferry

And drove up to the Cliffs of Moher... which are A-Mazing!  It's just like you see in the pictures! We had a bright sunny day to take lots of pictures!

The cliffs rise 700ft above the sea, at the tallest point.  Around the visitors center there are rock guards rails.  If you hike south along the cliffs the guard rails disappear.  And people are standing WAAAAY too close to the edge.  It makes you feel light headed to peak over the edge.  Of course Rick was one that got waaaaaay too close,

He found a spot to sit on the edge and eventually talked me into it.... I'll never do it again.  It was terrifying.

Then we hit Galway for the night.  Lots of live music and college kids

The next day we hit the Aran Islands.  They are a set of three islands (one big and two smaller ones) off the coast of Galway, settled thousands of years ago.  Currently, 700 people live on the big island, Inishmoor.  They all speak Gaelic.  There is a 3000 year old fort on Inishmoor called Dun Aengus. The fort is built of stone walls and backs up to a high cliff.  Similar to Cliffs of Moher, but at the highest point the cliffs are 350ft above sea level.  Rick had to look over the edge of this one too:

It was interesting to see how Irish island people live.  The island is cold, windy, lots of rocks, one sand beach.  The main industry is tourism.  They also are known for knitting wool- sweaters, scarves, blankets, mittens. I bought a head band off the sweetest Aran woman.  While she sewed a flower on it for me, she told me she came to the islands from the mainland 40 years ago when she married her husband.  She said she loved it here and she would never leave. 

Today we are moving on to Drougheada to see pre-chrisitan forts and huts.  It's 30 minutes north of Dublin.  Then on Thursday we move to our LAST stop, Dublin.