Wherever I am, in every travel, I always look for not usual itineraries, in order to deeply experience the places where I go. One year ago, we decided to visit Ireland in the end of winter, in order to have the chance to enjoy nature with less tourists around and experience local realities. We started from the Cliffs of Moher, maybe the most famous place to visit in Ireland. Hot-spot of the "Wild Atlantic Way", the majesty of these Cliffs is impressive. The choice to visit this place with few tourists around gave us the chance to deeply experience the beauty and the power of nature. It was a sunny and windy day. These cliffs are more than 200 meters high, overlooking the sea and the power of the waves, combined with the strong wind, was incredible. The splashes of the waves were rising up to the top of the cliffs like a contrariwise flowing waterfall and the grass was moved by the continuos blowing of the wind like a Van Gogh painting.  Splashes of the waves rising up to the top of the cliffs - Photo by Stefano Bellomo  Grass on the cliffs - Photo by Stefano Bellomo This "end of the world" landscape inspired many movies and we really had the feeling to understand why. In the same period, beginning of 2019, I started to watch the series "Vikings". When I was admiring the beautiful view in front of me I was always wondering how it could have been for adventurers and sailors to explore these lands many hundreds years ago and I had the feeling to be in the place that had been crudle of myths and legends of the past (p.s. I know, you may think that I watch too many series but it was a great feeling). After our exploration, we spent a couple of hours in the Visit Center of the Cliffs. Really modern, complete and interactive, this nice visit centers give you the chance to discover many cool informations about the history and wildlife of the Cliffs. Photo by Stefano Bellomo Time to relax and chill out a bit and we went to Doolin, small village next to the Cliffs, always on the Wild Atlantic Way. Discovering the sorrounding, enjoying local food and beers and getting warm next to a lovely fireplace, we have discovered that Doolin is famous for hosting the Folk Festival, the Surf Festival and the Doolin Writer's Weekend, three events dedicated to music, culture and surf, with a massive participations by people from all over the country.  Photo by Stefano Bellomo Time to start our trip and to cross the country. Next step: Cape Howth, on the east coast. This little town close to Dublin is not so famous as the Cliffs of Moher but I discovered on internet that sometimes here, fishermen, when they return to the harbour, are followed by large peaceful marine mammals: seals. We didn't know what to expect and if we could be lucky enough to see them in the wild. As soon as we arrived, we noticed the the first seal, just there, in the harbour, patiently waiting for some food from fishermen. After few minutes, a second one, and then a third one! It was a really lucky day! Photo by Stefano Bellomo Walking around the bay, we could observe the particular behaviour of these animals in Howth Bay. One fishing vessel was coming back to the harbour and two seals were following it, sorrounded by many seagulls. Fishermen are used to throw back into the water some discards of fish, that they are not going to sell and the seals learnt to just wait and follow the fishing vessels, avoinding to waste energy hunting fishes.  Photo by Stefano Bellomo The surprises of Howth are not finished. After the visit at the harbour, this little colorful town give you the chance to enjoy a really nice hike along the coast, reaching "the summit" (the highest spot of the cliff) and Cape Howth. As soon as we started the hike, clouds appeared in front of us. What to do? Take a risk and keep on walking or go back? Our trip in Ireland was quite short and we had no time to come back to Howth another day, so, we took the risk to keep on hiking and universe was kind with us. We noticed a wonderful colony of common murre (Uria aalge). These black & white sea birds spend most of their time at sea, only coming to land to breed on rocky cliff shores. While we were sitted on some rocks enjoying the beauty of the sea birds colony, my "Marine Mammals Observer" eyes, spotted something swimming fast into the sea and next to the shore: a small pod of harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) chasing a group of small fishes. We were really excited for being sorrounded by so many natural wonders.  Common Murre (Uria aalge) - Photo by Stefano Bellomo After observing these animals in the wild, we decided start the long walk to reach Cape Howth and the lighthouse because the clouds were almost disappeared. It was worth it. The view in front of us was really magic! We lost the connection with the time, enjoying so many gifts of Mother Nature around us and just before sunset we started to move back to the town, and we received the last gift from the universe: a wonderful rainbow painting our return path.  Cape Howth Lighthouse - Photo by Stefano Bellomo  Photo by Stefano Bellomo In the end, I can say that this trip was short but great. Ireland and especially Cape Howth, have been a great positive surprise with so many gifts from Mother Nature. This trip made me think about the words of Jules Verne, written in one of his masterpiace, "Twenty Thousands League Under the Sea": "the sea is only the embodiment of a supernatural and wonderful existence. It is nothing but love and emotion. It is the living infinite". We hope to come back one day, maybe enjoying the Surf Festival in Doolin, visiting again Howth and discovering more wildlife treasures. The protagonists of the adventure
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