Thursday July 13 2017 Doolin
From Dublin Heuston's Station, we took the train to Galway. It was a very nice, restful train trip. And everything worked well in Galway with our reservation for a car-hire from Budget :-). We walked around the wonderful shops of Galway, where Blaine finally bought his favorite Irish driving Cap. He had seen this hat when we were in Galway in 2016 but didn't buy it at that time (because of his mean wife!). We saw some interesting street entertainment in Galway. Before heading out of Galway, we had lunch at Boojum Burrito Bar, which was great since we all could use something spicier than traditional pub food!
After that yummy lunch, we started driving toward Doolin and the Cliffs of Mohrer. We finally get on the road. We are all SO HAPPY that Blaine has his Magic Hat as we take off in a car that has the steering wheel on the right and traffic drives on the left!! The only scary part was when Blaine's phone started ringing with an incoming call over our GPS directions! It was Mohammed from booking.com asking what time we would be arriving at our B&B! So, we had to get him off the phone quickly because Blaine is just learning about driving in Ireland and we are trying to get out of town. Finally, Moahmmed hangs up. And then he calls back!! It was scary for driver and passengers alike! It appears that the B&B owner wants us to arrive a bit later since she has some shopping to do. Okay, let's just get off the phone so we can follow the GPS directions to get out of town and start our trek along the Wild Atlantic Way!!
As we are driving through the most remote part of Ireland, the Burren, we see signs for a chocolate factory ahead. So, of course, we had to stop at Hazel Mountain Chocolate to witness the chocolate making and buy a bar. Remember, chocolate isn't a drug. It is a vitamin!
We finally arrive at the, Cliffs of Mohrer, which are spectacular! We had a beautiful day hiking along the ridges. It is only a 15-minute drive from the Cliffs to Doolin Sunset B&B, so we arrived around 6:15pm. Our B&B hostess, Carmen, was most welcoming and sweet. She recommended the 3 pubs which have traditional Irish Music, so we checked them all out. We had a very nice dinner at Gus O'Connor's. McGann's music didn't start till 9:30, and it was way too hot in there! So, we headed to McDermotts Pub. It was a nice evening of traditional Irish music. We even had a seat for the last part of the show! Again, very talented musicians. Reid finally got to meet the Austrian version of her friend, Gina.
