Ireland Day 2 - Limerick & County Clare

On our second day in Ireland, we went on a road trip to County Clare.

On the way we stopped off in Limerick, took a quick walk around, and then did a little grocery shopping at Tescos - picking up picnic supplies for later. We had a coffee and some snacks and then headed to King John's Castle.

Just across for the castle we came across a small church with a cool old graveyard and did a little exploring there.

At King John's Castle we toured around - going up every tower and down every staircase - until we'd seen everything. It was the first castle Brian had ever been to - I think he liked it.

After seeing Limerick, we continued our trip to County Clare to see the Cliffs of Moher. The cliffs are about 600 feet tall, and are a pretty amazing sight. We walked along the cliffs - first on the paved stairway and a bit on the old dirt path. Between Emily and I, we took many, many pictures.

I didn't get a picture of the visitor's center, but it was really cool. It's built completely into the hill so that you can't see anything except a slightly hidden entrance way. It was a little chilly and very windy, so we had our picnic in the car in the parking lot. A crazy bird sat on top of the car next to us and watched us the whole time - I guess it was used to getting food from tourists.

After seeing the cliffs, we went on a driving tour of 'The Burren.' The Burren is a large area of County Clare that is covered in grey rocks and just has a dramatic look to it.

We made it all the way to Ballyvaghan on the coast before turning back towards home. (There was a helpful sign that made it clear we shouldn't continue on...)

Circling back, we went through the Slieve Bloom Mountains, which were near our house, though we didn't linger there for long, since it was starting to get dark.

By the time we got home, we were pretty tired and hungry. Jeff and Emily cooked Fajitas (we'd stopped for ingredients on the way home) and we planned for the next day before getting to bed.