Today we walked along the Kilkee Cliffs.  Only slightly shorter than the famous Cliffs of Moher (tomorrow’s quest), the Kilkee cliffs are much less busy/touristy and offer a very similar view – even if the weather is back to more Irish like than Hawaii like.

The beach below the Kilkee cliffs is full of shallow tide pools; these make a good place for locals to do their daily cold water plunge!

The weather at the Bridges of Ross just down the road was equally windy and rainy. Still worth the wet to go see.

The Diamond Rocks cafe near the cliffs was closed for a wedding, so we headed into Kilbaha for a nice pub lunch. Hearty seafood chowder and Irish soda bread was definitely the right choice.

Bunratty Castle is a 15th C tower house.  The site on which Bunratty Castle stands was originally a Viking trading camp in 970 AD. Robert De Muscegros, a Norman, built the first defensive fortress, an earthen mound with a strong wooden tower on top in 1250.  A stone castle followed afterwards.  The powerful MacNamara family built the present structure around 1425, the last of four castles to be built on this site. 

The 1620-era thatch-roofed cottage beside the tower that was once a bar for the castle guards is now a restaurant called Durty Nelly’s. 

This evening we attended the Bunratty Tower medieval banquet, considered one of the longest running and prestigious dining experiences in Ireland.

The honeyed mead was flowing as we were entertained by costumed singers and pipers.