WORLD TOUR BY SHIP, TRAIN, BUS, FERRY, FEET 2012: DAY 81 THURSDAY JUNE 14 GALWAY BAY

If you've ever been across the sea to Ireland, then maybe... you wouldn't want to miss out on seeing Galway Bay where our first bus driver spoke a language that the strangers did not know.
Only a week before the longest day but temperatures ranged from 6 to 15 degrees and it was wet with cold winds all day. Despite that we had a great day. We slept in till 6am and caught the LUAS tram to Heuston Station where we found our guide Brian who came with us on the train. We were the only ones to select this particular tour today, so Brian sat with us all the way to Galway, which gave us time to discuss all things Irish with him. He told us how the housing boom had contributed to the financial crisis in Ireland, and pointed out the boarded up and half finished homes along the railway track. At Galway Station we were met by Michael who rushed us into his smallish bus and set off towards Ailwee Caves to join the local tour group. Unfortunately we had no time to go to the toilet, so we had to persuade him to stop along the way for a quick break. We rushed into a little pub and asked was it all right to use the toilet and put 2 euro on the counter. The answer came back: "Of course, this is Ireland, you know." But we did find signs that toilets are for customers only in other places. Michael seemed to understand us with our Australian accent but we had trouble with his Western accent and he changed into Gaelic when he spoke on the phone. We finally caught up with the main group who were just finishing a raptor talk with a barn owl perching on people's gloved arm. From there we went to the Ailwee Caves, which were first discovered by a farmer in 1940, but he told no one until 1970 when a couple of cave specialists chatted to him in the local pub. They were opened to the public in the late seventies. We have seen many limestone caves before and these had the usual straws, curtains, pillars and mites, but they also had a real live waterfall and a 10000 year old hibernation area where two brown bears had spent the winter in 10C comfort. There were still bones in the nest. Next we got out of the bus at the Cliffs of Moher and found about 500 people struggling with rain and icy wind to appreciate the view. This is the second most popular tourist spot in Ireland (ahead of the Blarney Stone by a long way, but pipped by the Guiness Factory). The driver said we were lucky we could see the cliffs because they usually fog up when it rains, and they had had a storm there last Friday. I think that was the day Wales was inundated. We climbed to the vantage points and searched for puffins but the birds were in hiding. We watched an impressive short movie in the visitors centre showing the history of the natural area. Inland from the cliffs was the BURREN, which consisted of grey limestone hills which contrasted sharply with the "40 shades of green" in the farms, and contributed to the poor agricultural potential of the area. As we drove around we saw many very old homes and quite a few with "tatched" roofs. After lunch in a Doolin pub our driver decided not to take us to a spot where we would go for a walk (still raining), but instead to tour slowly down the coast road where we had views of the three Aran Islands. We found out on the way home that Brian had spent the day with some other Australians flying over to the Aran Islands, so he had a good day. Pushed through the rain along Amiens St towards our hotel, noticing that none of the buildings had awnings to shelter under, and came in the front door at 9pm. Very satisfied with our adventurous day.