Limerick - Cliffs of Moher -Bunratty

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Jury's Inn, Limerick 11th and 12th

King John's Castle has only walls left standing from its Norman Days of glory. It has two tall round towers and a classic Castle shape. Alongside it is Thomond Bridge spanning the Shannon River and crossing over you find the Treaty of Limerick monument. A little bit further along the river front is the house which was once owned by the Lord Mayor in 1916. The date is significant as the uprising occurred then when the Catholics sought to regain their homeland and independence from the Protestant / English invaders. You'll find it easy to locate just look for the bullet holes.

Today we are heading out west to the Cliffs of Moher. Last night at the Glen Tavern some locals warned us not to step beyond the boundary as every year 6 tourists are swept off the cliffs into the fierce seas below by heavy winds. Sadly they have lost their lives.

The rain drizzled down the bus windows making photography impossible. We arrived at about 11am but everything was shrouded in a thick mysterious fog. Great for a horror movie but not so good for tourists. The Visitors Centre looked very inviting and they were screening audio video displays of the cliffs taken in fair weather conditions. The Cliff View Cafe sold cappuccinos but failed to live up to the name as fog and rain blurred any hope of seeing these famous Cliffs. So after a warming drink we intrepid tourists got on with our duties of seeing as much as possible and we headed out to the higher ground and a brief glimpse of the wild sea and cliffs proved possible. They look like the cliffs of our Great ocean Road in Victoria so we could imagine them quite well.

The bus dropped us off at Bunratty Castle for a tour. It is a genuine castle built in 1425 on the site of an earlier wooden castle built circa 1200 which succumbed to termites. Bunratty was the seat of the O'Brien's and saw many fierce battles until the O'Brien's joined the Church of Ireland (Protestant) and retaineId their land ownership. The 10ft walls saw a lot of blood shed up u til then.After Bunratty was purchased and restored the local Irish donated many items to create a replica of times gone by as an educational tool for the public.

Rather soggy from the rain we enjoyed an Irish Whisky at the cafe before returning to Limerick and some rest time.

Onward south tomorrow to the dingle Peninsula and Tralee overnight

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