Day 7 Overview:
- Breakfast at VRBO
- Cliffs of Mohr
- Burren National Park
- Dublin
- Dinner at The Old Schoolhouse in Swords
We were not in a rush to get out the door today since we were planning on hitting only two sites, and then making the drive across Ireland back to Dublin. The sunrise across the fields from our house was vibrant and a beautiful way to start our morning and last full day in Ireland. We tried to use up as much of our food as we could, which we did a pretty good job of. We made sandwiches for lunch, eggs and leftovers for breakfast, and only ended up having to pack some chips, bread, jam, and butter as extra items. We still had some of the snacks we had started the trip with (beef sticks, granola bites, and mini trail mix packs). The house had an espresso maker. Eric showed Edmund how to use it to make himself some espresso in the morning. We had to pack up our items again. Right before we left, Emmalyn got her stuffed animal stuck in the gutter outside. Luckily, Eric is tall and was able to get it out for her.
beautiful sunrise
espresso maker
Cliffs of Mohr
Site - https://www.cliffsofmoher.ie/
We headed toward the Cliffs of Mohr, which are about a 30 minute drive north of where we were. This was one of the sites that I had seen in pictures for years and had always wanted to go to. I purchased tickets for the cliffs before we left the house since there are specific times you are supposed to enter, with earlier times being slightly less expensive. It was supposed to rain all day, which is unfortunate, but overall we couldn't complain about the weather. It has been overall fairly nice for Ireland with only scattered rain during the day. The visitor center is tucked into the hillside and looks a bit like a Hobbit hole. There is an interactive area that tells about the history of the cliffs. We walked through it briefly, but it was busy and we knew the cliffs were only going to get busier if we waiting so we made our way upstairs and out to the cliffs. Rick Steve's recommended going to the north for the best views so we only walked that portion of the cliffs. They were beautiful rising above the ocean. I had read that it was windy there and the wind whipped across the ocean and across the tops of the cliffs. It was also rainy and we were all chilled from the walk. We hiked to the end of the path, which was probably only a quarter of a mile. We enjoyed the views of the stark drop off of the cliffs rising out of the misty rain and plunging to the waves crashing into their base. The viewing tower wasn't open, so we weren't able to go inside. There were a lot of other tourists there and it was busy walking along the path. We were all cold by the time we made our way back to the visitors center. We decided not to walk the south loop. We might have if it had been nicer weather. We went back inside the welcome center and Eric bought the kids hot chocolate from the cafe. We then went and watched the 4D Cliff Experience which was a computer animated show that highlighted the different animals you can find near the cliffs. We stopped at some of the tourist shops that were tucked into the hill outside of the welcome center where Emmalyn found a small glass puffin to use up the rest of her money.
cliffs of moher
cliffs of moher
cliffs of moher
cliffs of moher viewing tower
cliffs of moher
cliffs of moher
cliffs of moher
cliffs of moher
cliffs of moher
Burren National Park
Site - https://www.nationalparks.ie/burren/
We then made our way to Burren National Park. My cell phone plan ran out of money so I couldn't use it as a GPS today. I had put enough on my plan before I left, but didn't think about my plan also taking my monthly fee out of it so it took up my last two days of usage. We tried following the directions I had printed from Google Maps before I left. While I put the correct address in for the trailheads, it didn't take us to the Welcome Center, which would have been nice to stop at. We walked the orange trail which was an easy hike through rocky forested area. It reminded me of a fairy garden with all of the moss and ivy covered rocks. It was still raining pretty hard, so we were glad to have our waterproof shoes and rain jackets. After walking the orange trail, we walked towards the purple trail in order to get a closer look at the rocky part of the Burren. We went through a gate and climbed up on a rocky area to enjoy the views of the Burren. It was a really unique ecosystem with all of the crags and rock outcroppings. Worried that someone might turn an ankle or slip because of all of the rain on the rocks, we climbed down and headed back to the car all soggy.
Burren National Park
Burren National Park
Burren National Park
Burren National Park
Burren National Park
Burren National Park
Burren National Park
Burren National Park
Burren National Park
Burren National Park
Burren National Park
Burren National Park
Burren National Park
We had packed sandwiches for lunch and we ate them in the car on the drive back to Dublin. It was only a couple of hours, but we were all feeling tired, damp, and a bit muddy at this point. We made it into Dublin around 4:30 pm and checked into our hotel, The Clayton Hotel. The hotel was right by the airport so we would be ready for our 12 pm flight tomorrow. We were excited to get connecting rooms at the hotel so we could easily move between the two hotel rooms. The kids had never seen this before and found it to be funny, like we were going into a closet in the hotel room but it was the adjoining room. We decided to travel to Swords for dinner since there were not many restaurants by the airport.
Swords
Site - https://www.fingal.ie/visitor/locations/swords
Swords is a town just north of the airport. The traffic in the area was thick because of the small roads and all of the roundabouts and lights. We ended up making it up to Swords in about 30 minutes, although it should have taken only around 15 minutes. Swords seemed like a cute area with a bustling downtown. They also had the ruins of a castle near the downtown area. We struggled to find a place to park, but eventually found a parking ramp near the restaurant we had picked out. We ate at The Old Schoolhouse which ALSO said it had live music, but there was not any that we saw. That was a bust on this trip. Eric wanted to see some traditional music in a pub. I think our main problem is we just ate dinner too early and the music starts after 9 pm when the kids are no longer allowed in pubs. It was busy there and we were happy to get a table. There was a tv above where we were sitting and we couldn't figure out at first what sport they were showing. They were interviewing people in this giant stadium. It turned out, it was a darts competition. I didn't even realize that something like that existed. It was incredibly boring to watch, but people paid money to watch this happen in a stadium! Eric and I split a roast chicken, Edmund got a burger, Nathaniel got seafood chowder for the fourth time, and the girls got pasta that tasted like celery and refused to eat. I gave Clara some of my food and Eric gave Emmalyn some of his. I also gave them some chips when we got back to our room and snacks since the girls were still hungry.
We watched a little bit of tv. The boys watched a dating show and music videos and us girls watched a decorating on a budget show. We were all tired after a busy day and made our way to bed.
