Recently updated on July 1st, 2025 at 04:39 pm
Half way through our Irish Highlights trip and we were on our way north to the Cliffs of Moher. Not far into our journey we stopped at a little gift shop and were presented with complimentary Irish Coffees at the door! Oh my soul, Irish Coffee at 9am! You’ve got to love the Irish!!
We headed off again, bound for the ferry which took us (and our coach) on the short trip across the Shannon River. We then drove on through very pretty countryside, not as rugged as yesterday, but lovely mountains, farms, isolated houses and small villages. We saw a few traditional thatched houses, an amazing golf course, an area famed for its surfing.
We got to the Cliffs of Moher in time for a walk around before lunch. The cliffs were absolutely stunning! We thoroughly enjoyed our walk around the viewing area, seeing the cliffs and views over Galway Bay. And the interactive exhibition at the visitors centre was amazing.
Then it was off to our hotel just outside Limerick. We freshened up and then boarded the coach for our optional excursion to a traditional Irish ceilidh (pronounced kaylee) at nearby Bunratty Castle.
We had a lovely evening. On arrival we were given the choice of a glass of mead – very delicious honeyed wine or Bailey’s on ice. The menu was good – three courses of traditional Irish food and a great big jug of red wine (surprisingly good)and another of white wine for each table. Between courses we were entertained with Irish dancing and singing. It was a really fun show. We got back on the coach and serenaded our Travel Director, Geraldine (bless her!) with various Irish songs… luckily it was a fairly short ride back to the hotel!
Next morning, we went back to Bunratty Castle for a tour of the castle led by the dearest little elderly Irish man who I am convinced was a leprechaun in a past life! Then we were free to browse around the castle and the folk park.
The folk park was absolutely amazing! It is an authentic replica of an Irish village from the 1800s. Some of the cottages were brought stone-by-stone from other places and reconstructed there. There were farm cottages of all sorts, one a poor tenant farmer’s cottage with the cattle stall in the house! There was a school house, a doctor’s surgery, a blacksmith’s shop, a pub and village shops. There were turf fires lit in the grates, animals wandering about, and in some of the exhibits, actors playing the roles of the people who would have lived there. Really, really awesome!
From here, we headed to Galway where our first stop was the beautiful Galway Cathedral. A really beautiful building, it had probably the most impressive stained glass window I’ve ever seen.
After lunch in the town, we just had to have a drink at a pub called “Richardson’s”! Then it was time to head for Dublin. Along the way Geraldine chatted about various things, but what I found really interesting were the tales she told us about Irish superstitions.
I find this kind of stuff deeply fascinating! She showed us the piece of highway that was shifted a couple of metres to the right because otherwise it would have meant taking out a particular hawthorn tree, an act that would have “upset the faeries”. She then showed us a real Hidden Treasure – a faerie’s rath – a circle of hawthorn trees believed to be a special place for the faeries.
We arrived in Dublin and went straight to the “Nancy Hands Pub” for our farewell dinner. It’s a lovely atmospheric pub and we had a really good supper there. It was hard to believe our trip was already at an end! I thoroughly enjoyed it. Geraldine was an excellent Travel Director – professional, efficient, knowledgeable and friendly. She clearly knows exactly what she is doing. And our Driver was brilliant getting the coach down some very narrow, windy roads!
Gill Richardson – South Africa