on a clear day O'Brien's Tower provides stunning views, but today we have to pass
you have to hold on tight because the waves rock the vessel
tourists at the foot path atop the cliff
a few days later we are back, this time on the cliffs on our way to the visitor center
the 60 meters high An Branan Mor sea stack is home to many seabirds. It was scaled once in 1990
O'Brien's tower sits high on the cliff
later the fog clears, just a little bit
at a cliff's edge
looking south towards the lookout
The
Cliffs of Moher were formed 300 M years ago when torrential rains dumped sand and mud at the mouth of a large river
delta. The cliffs are compacted rocks of those washed out sediments.
Today the cliffs are a prime nesting place for scores
of
seabirds.
As always Mother Nature is working hard to undo her own creations and the constant pounding with large Atlantic
waves causes severe erosion to the cliffs.
The cliffs are named after Mothar, a prehistoric fort that stood at Hag's Head.
It was
demolished in 1808 to build a
lookout for Napoleon's invading fleet that never came.
In 1835
Cornelius O'Brien,
a distant descendant of Brian Boru, built a tower with his name on the highest point of the cliffs, 214 m above the pounding waves.
Nearby is the visitor center from 2007.
The Cliffs of Moher are one of Ireland's major tourist attractions with 1.5 M visitors per
year.
There are two ways to see the cliffs; from below or from above.
We did just that in June 2018. Aboard a small vessel
we endured the rain and high waves and a few days later we returned to see the cliffs from above. Bad luck because of heavy fog...
here comes the cruise ship for our Cliffs of Moher tour from Doolin Harbour
on the way out we have to sit inside, outside you will get soaking wet
looking north towards Doolin
back at Doolin Harbour
tourist shops are embedded in the rocks
the fog makes for nice pictures but the cliffs are hardly visible
