Day 13: Galway -> Cork

This busy day began with a drive on some very curvy roads through the beautiful countryside. We had some spectacular views.

Then our long day of driving came to its first stop: the Cliffs of Moher! The cliffs looked better than a postcard, they were just spectacular. This was one of the few places that I just couldn't stop myself from taking pictures, even if it was of the same view or angle. I just wanted to capture as much of this amazing place as I could.

From there, it was more driving, but with another amazing stop planned: Blarney Castle! We didn't get as much time to spend there as I would have liked because we had to go about an hour out of our way to get there due to an accident that closed the main road to the castle. But the time that we did get to spend there was great. The castle itself was beautiful and of course we waited in line to kiss the Blarney Stone at the top of the castle so that we would all be granted with the gift of eloquence.

                           

After kissing the stone, we had just a little bit of time to explore the grounds around the castle. This is where I wished we had more time, because the area surrounding the castle was just so green and beautiful. I just really wanted to see more of it than we did.

Then it was off to Cork, where we had free time to explore before heading to dinner.

                            

                            

                            

                                        

                                        

                                        

                            

                            

                            

                            

                                        

                            

                            

                                        

We had dinner at a local pub called Clancy's. They had really good food! After dinner almost everyone went to another bar while about 8 of us, including Derek our driver, stayed at the pub to watch the opening ceremonies of the XX Commonwealth Games. It was really cool to see places in Glasgow that we had been. We ended up staying there for about 2 more hours to watch the entirety of the ceremony, including all the countries walking on. We each cheered for a couple countries: the Aussies for Australia, the Canadians for Canada, and then, since us Americans aren't a part of the commonwealth, we cheered along with Derek for Scotland. We ended up being the last people to leave the pub. From there our little posse went back to the hotel for some amazing hot chocolate at the bar, before everyone split off to their rooms.

                            

                            

                            

                            

                            

                                      

It was a fantastic way to spend our night and I'm so glad I stayed behind with that group!