Wed, May 4th - Cliffs of Moher, Portal Tomb, Galway - IRELAND

The Cliffs of Moher! 

This place was absolutely beautiful!  It was very misty and would rain off and on the whole time we were there.  I loved taking pictures and wish I had time to take even more.  Just as a side note, that little bitty island out there was where the Harry Potter 6th movie was filmed where Dumbledore and Harry on the island that's it!  So all of us kept calling it Dumbledore's Island :D.  Also these are the cliffs of insanity from Princess Bride, and these cliffs were also filmed in Leap Year!  Just some movie facts for you.  

It was wet, did I say that?  Very, very WET!  Hence why I have my bright yellow poncho on.  So the deal with my face is that the wind totally spat real hard right when we took the picture!  lol! But it was truly fantastical :D

Beth, me and Taibre. They were my Ireland buddies basically :D.  Almost the entire time in Ireland we three hung out together plus Ms. Lindsey M who is the one behind the camera :D I was so just so excited I couldn't stop smiling and I just was skipping everywhere not caring that I was getting wet.  Oh how I love thee Ireland! 

The Portal Tomb!

We didn't stay here really long but it was an interesting stop. The tomb is ancient burial ground of some kind that they have guesses on what they were used for but I don't think they truly do 100% know what is for. One story about going though is that many of us were picking some of the wildflowers that were scattered around the area.  We were trying to do anything disrespectful, but nonetheless some one I'm guessing he keeps an eye on the place came over and started yelling at us!  The ground was sacred and all they ask of visitors is to be respectful of their sacred places and we had to destroy it.  There was a sign that said don't pick the flowers but it was really really small on the sign that talks about the tomb but we seriously didn't see it right away.  I feel terrible for doing that but we honestly didn't realize and we weren't trying to be disrespectful.  After that we all came extremely subdued and just made our way back to the bus.

 Our bus driver, Bart totally made the long drives across Ireland 100% better.  We were truly sorry to say good-bye to him when we went over to Wales.  He was just so knowledgeable about everything we saw and would tell us different myths and legends of the area.  In his adorable Irish accent to of course :) This picture directly above is of a Fairy Fort in Ireland that they believe is where the Tuath'an people or fairy people could enter the world.  Irish folk are definitely superstitious and when Sis. Romney asked if they had ever excavated it he was appalled!  No way!  Apparently no one would dare touch such a place because the beliefs still ran deep even in a largely Catholic population now! 

The beautiful view outside our hostel room down in the street.  This was early morning before they started setting up for all the pubs.  Each cafe or pub also had seating outside that they took down every night and put back up in the morning at some point. 

 My first hostel experience!  It definitely is a change for me going from my private bedroom to rooming with up to 10 girls!  That was crazy.  The first night here of course there were only 4 of us then the others arrived and there were a total of 8.  The second night was harder because I didn't have jet leg anymore plus a couple of our new roommates snored.  I know it isn't their fault but it prevented me from sleeping as well as I could. 

Now that concludes our time staying in Galway!  The following morning we packed everything and left heading to our next adventures!