TRAVEL: The Irish Eyes Are Smiling - Lahinch Town and Cliff of Moher, Pg. 2 |
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We took a 11 p.m. flight out of JFK, so after six hours in the air and the time difference, we landed in Shannon on the west coast of Ireland around 10 a.m. Despite our best efforts, there was very little sleep had on the airplane, so we were a bit groggy pulling into the quant village of Lahinch. There is a long and deep beach at the center of the town, with a surfing school and shop nearby. Many of the hostels are filled with Irish surfers — if you can believe it.
We snaked our way through the ancient streets to a beautiful hotel called the Moy House. Out on a small peninsula, the building is about 150 years old and looks out into a sprawling backyard with a wide-open view of the ocean. Off to one side is a stream, and there were two horses down there in the rain, necking each other between bites of grass. When we walked inside, it smelled like bread cooking, and cozy was an understatement. There was no golf on this first day, so we headed up to one of Ireland’s main attractions. The Cliffs of Moher are more breathtaking than pictures can describe. The sheer height and steep drop down into the rocky waters below leaves you agape. Then the views of these cliffs for miles on either side makes for a scenery beyond compare. It paints the cliffs of Big Sur in California as miniature.
The rains kept coming in waves, but it was never torrential. An umbrella or some good rain jackets suffice when it started up; no need to stay down under the safety of the visitors center, which did have more than its fair share of interesting exhibits. But the rains hardly lasted for more than 10 minutes before the clouds lifted and the beautiful views were once again presented in full color. A walk up many steps to the foot of O’Brien’s Tower was well worth it, as was the trek down to the South Platform. Unfortunately, we didn’t see any puffins — those cool black birds with the orange beaks — habitants of Goat Island, sitting down in a small inlet below the cliffs.
We went back to Lahinch and had a great dinner at a restaurant overlooking some late-evening surfers in four-foot waves. Another persistent question about Ireland is about the food, and we found it to be more than satisfactory. We enjoyed fresh seafood everywhere we went, and the assortment of local lamb and beef made for some honestly terrific meals. If the weather and food irk some travelers, we immediately found both to be endearing. And the best — the golf — was yet to come.
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