Having not been back in Ireland in seven months I stopped by for a weekend with some friends from Germany. As overjoyed I was to be back in the city of Dublin which we spent Friday exploring, the real treat came when we hopped into the car and headed out west.

A short 2 hours to Galway and another hour or so of winding country roads along the wild Atlantic way and we reached the Cliffs of Moher. We seemed to have some luck with the weather as the torrential downpour of the morning eased into blue skies with scattered showers.

There are limited options to eat in the visitor center at the cliffs, but any of the villages nearby will have a number of places to grab some food. Our choice was Kinvarra at a little Italian-esque place which had some gorgeous seafood.

We headed out to Howth the next day to blow out the cobwebs from last night (dropped into a few places around Temple Bar – people say it’s always for tourists, but with live music on offer and pubs packed with people after the rugby match it was irresistible). Where it rained (again) as we followed the twisty (muddy) path around the cliffs.

That was really it for the weekend, but I did manage to show the others a bit of everything Ireland has to offer, and it was lovely to be spoilt rotten by my parents again!