Galway: We arrived in Galway late at night but decided to grab some late dinner. We ventured around a little bit and settled upon an old Irish pub that was still serving food. Soon after we sat down, a group of men in kilts and bagpipes walked through the door. We asked the waiter what they were doing here and he said that they were a band touring around Ireland playing bagpipes, attending ceremonies etc. Shortly there after, they busted out in music playing every song in their repertoire it seemed like. It was fun seeing everyone dance about and hearing the majestic sound of Irish bagpipes. They finished just as the pub's late night band came in to play. The band consisted of a lead singer with an acoustic guitar, a bouzouki and a hand held drum. They started playing old irish folk songs and so we walked up to the front to find and a seat and enjoy the ambiance of it all. We stayed there for quite a while, listening to the low hum of people mingling in and out and the allure of the irish music. It was a fantastic first night in Galway (the cultural heart of Ireland) as they say. The next day we got up early to head to the Cliffs of Moher. We hopped on a bus and took a 2 hour ride through the Irish countryside to get to the cliffs. The Irish countryside is one of the most beautiful landscapes I have ever seen. The stereotypical picture you have in your head when you imagine Ireland and rolling green hills is EXACTLY that X 10 at least. Its absolutely breathtaking. Once we arrived at the cliffs, Meagan and I literally ran off the bus all the way up to the ledge. I cannot begin to describe to you how massive and majestic these cliffs were, the pictures can't even do it justice. I felt like a teeny tiny ant compared to these cliffs. We spent 2 1/2 hours just roaming up and down the cliffs. There is a barrier that keeps people from going to the very tip of the edge, HOWEVER Meagan and I wandered so long that we found a place where there was no barrier and it was just a flat sheet of rock. Instead of standing right near it we decided it seemed safer to lie down and look over. We met an American and a New Zealander, Ashley and Emma who are studying abroad together in Bourges, France. They were such a fun duo, we ended up spending the rest of the afternoon together galavanting around Moher together. After our 2 hours was up we got back on the bus and the bus driver took us to get lunch at the MOST delicious restaurant "O'Connors" (I have uploaded pictures below to prove how amazing it was). On the way back to Galway the bus driver also stopped off at "the beach" also known as the Burren which is formed by limestone karst plates that have been thrust to the earth's surface - in other words, it's a great big rocky mass. It's one of Ireland's novelties which seems odd and perhaps ugly but it's in it's own way beautiful and unique.
We finally arrive back in Galway and we go back to the hostel to rest up a bit for dinner. Once again we go to the same district that we went for dinner the previous night and we share a steak dinner with white wine, rice pilaf and chocolate mousse for dessert. It was such a delicious meal and I was so thankful to have a big slab of steak because in France it's unheard of to get a meal like that, especially with our host family. We decided to hit up a huge old Irish bar that they have turned into a sports bar, however after about 30 minutes we realized this was one of their "down" nights and that it wasn't going to get very busy so we walked out and was met by the sound of a big band playing in the bar across the street, so we both look at each other, smile and run across the street. We walk in and everyone is in a suit and tie and at least 45+ years of age sipping on wine and martinis. We slip into the crowd, order a drink and just stand there and enjoy the music. After a while we have a few, harmless old men come up and talk to us who just make innocent small talk and move on. They were pretty impressed with how we held ourselves and the fact that we were traveling alone around Europe (I guess their impression of Americans before us wasn't very good :/ ). We decided to cut the night short to get plenty of rest for our long day tomorrow.
We woke up early again to catch the bus to Connemara. Connemara is a county in Galway which is a valley of mountains, lakes and rolling hills. There is literally nothing out there except farm land and meadows. But it is iconic and there is the famous Kylemore Abbey. Our first stop was at St. Friars Abbey which is a 13th century chapel that turned into a lodging place for St. Friar and others during that time.
Like I mentioned in one of my other posts, it's amazing to be standing in a place that is thousands of years old. The oldest place I had been before this trip was to locations on the East coast of America where our forefathers constructed the Constitution etc which is only a few hundred years old. Never before have I been to a place that hold so much history. I was in awe of the structure and how it could still be standing after all this time (granted the roof was missing). But I can't begin to describe how amazed I was going to all these ancient places. From there we drove through Ashford Castle Hotel which is a medieval castle that turned into a 5 star hotel in the 1930's. The hotel has 83 bedrooms and is on a 26,000 acres which now holds private homes and such, but the castle is absolutely breathtaking. Celebrities like John Lennon, Queen Mary, Brad Pitt etc. have all stayed here before. We weren't allowed to stop and take pictures or else we would have been fined but we quickly did a loop around it and kept on our way.
The bus driver pulled into this tiny little town for a lunch/bathroom break. However, when we were about to depart towards Kylemore Abbey the bus wouldn't start. Luckily, another bus from the same touring company stopped in the same town and since Meagan and I were in a time crunch to make a bus back in Galway after the Connemara trip the second bus driver let us join his tour while our original bus driver called for maintenance. The second bus was a private tour for a group of seniors citizens. When we boarded the bus the seniors were sooo happy to have us. They welcomed us and all the old little ladies wanted to know where we were from and our whole life story; it was quite funny.
Onwards toward Kylemore Abbey, we drove through the vast countryside of Connemara (one of the regions where the Great Irish famine hit the hardest in the 1700's). The bus driver pulled over abruptly when he saw two white ponies grazing on a hillside. We were all wondering what the heck was going on, but the driver pulled open the doors, stuck his head out and whistled towards the ponies. They cocked their heads towards the sound and started prancing towards the bus! None of us knew what to expect or why he was calling them over. They stuck their heads in the door of the bus and the driver threw two apples their way. They were absolutely gorgeous and it was such an unexpected treat to see wild ponies up close and personal.
We finally made it to Kylemore Abbey where Meagan and I enjoyed a complimentary sandwich, soup and coffee with admission into the Abbey. Kylemore Abbey is both an abbey and a castle which was built in the 1800s and is now home to a community of nuns who came there in the 1920s after their abbey in Belgium was destroyed during WWI. They opened a world renowned boarding school for girls that actually just had their last class in 2010. However the nuns still live there and maintain the castle, gothic church and victorian walled gardens. We toured the gardens first and saw a bunch of nuns walking around enjoying the sunshine and laughing amongst each other. And then we toured the castle where they have a prayer request book in the middle of their entry way which I wrote in :) Then we loaded back onto the bus and headed back towards Galway. As soon as we arrived we ran off the bus and ran to our other bus to take us to Sligo.
Sligo:
We arrived in Sligo late in the evening and took a taxi to
Pat and Una’s house. An elderly couple that are like 5th cousins of
Meagan’s. The taxi driver said he was overwhelmed by our American accidents and
that he had a hard time understanding us, which I thought was pretty amusing.
We arrived at this gorgeous house on top of a hill
overlooking a lake and grasslands. Pat and Una met us with a big old hug and a
lasagna dinner. We spent the night talking and getting to know one another. Pat
told us that the next day he would take us into town (which consisted of maybe
2 or 3 streets of shops and restaurants.
He sure was right, he dropped us off “downtown” and we
strolled the streets, going into cute boutiques , bakeries and jewelry shops.
We ended up staying at this café that looked like a modern library. Above all
the tables were bookshelves where you could pull any book off and read as you
sipped your coffee.
Pat came and picked us up in time for dinner. On the way home he took us to Dooney Rock
(Dooney is Meagan’s last name and she had been dying to see the “famous” rock
named after her family). After dinner we snuggled up on the couch with hot
chocolate, a fire place and watched a movie all together. It was nice to have a
relaxing few days after hustling around everywhere for the past couple of days.
The next day Pat drove us around the countryside to W.B Yeats’ grave and to the
beach. After the nice drive he dropped
us off at the bus station to take a bus back to Dublin.
Dublin: We met John (dad of the O’Connor family) at the bus station
in Dublin. He takes us back to the house. As get there John dropped us off and
picked up Eoin for their Gaelic football practice that night. Sweetly Eoin had made
us dinner which was waiting on the stove when we arrived. He told us to be
ready to go when he got home, as he was taking us out again for our last night
in Ireland. We spent the evening eating and relaxing, waiting for him to get
home. When he arrived he told us some friends would be coming over soon to
pre-game with us, as drinks at the bar are really expensive. So we got ready,
played a few drinking games with the lads and headed out on the town.
We hit up the same bars we did the last week (Diceys and
Coppers). Diceys was absolutely packed and Meagan and I automatically grabbed
some drinks and started dancing together. We were minding our own business out
between the tables when all of a sudden I felt a sharp blow to the back of my
head. I became blind with pain for a second and whipped around to see what it
was that had hit my head and I didn’t see anyone looking at me or acknowledging
they had done anything but as soon as I turned back around tears filled my
eyes. Meagan hadn’t seen what happened either. Eoin and Deane (Eoin’s best
friend) came up to us and Deane saw that I was tearing up and asked what
happened, I told him and Eoin and they both got really upset and asked who had
hit me but I didn’t know. Shortly after we left and headed to Coppers. There we
spent the rest of the night dancing and singing our lungs out.
The following day we woke up and had Eoin had made brunch
for Meagan and I and invited his friend Jeff to come over before we went out
golfing. We had a little picnic style brunch in the kitchen then got bundled
and headed out. We were supposed to meet up with some more friends but they
were running late so we hiked up this cliff which had a beautiful view of all
of Howth (the area we were in) with the islands in the distance. As soon as we
saw their car rolling up we ran back down and met up with them. There were 3
Irish lads (John, John and Dara) who all happened to look like leprechauns with
red hair and freckles, Dara inparticular had the high voice and short stature.
Jeff said he would give us money if we called Dara one, but we didn’t have the
heart to do it. We started golfing, but
me being the only one who had never golfed before absolutely sucked. Jeff and
Eoin and Meagan had to give me lessons each time it was my turn. They were all
very patient and nice to me as I took my time. The two Johns and Dara wanted to
play against themselves so they went on ahead. I tried my best but after awhile
I was becoming a little frustrated so I started chucking the golf ball as far
as I could and then putting it in, that way I wouldn’t take so long. At the end
of the game we decided to drive some golf balls from the pier into the harbor.
As we walked down from the golf course we stopped at a gas station for some 99s
(the vanilla ice cream I described in Part 1). Everyone took turns driving
balls into the water, seeing who could reach the furthest point (except for me
who was afraid I would hit concrete the driving club J ). Everyone out there was
taking pictures and getting amusement out of watching the lads. After a while
we headed out and Eoin dropped us off in downtown Dublin to do some last minute
shopping. I picked up some souvenirs for family and friends and then headed
back to the house for dinner.
It happened to be Eoin’s anniversary with his girlfriend of
three years so he said if we wanted to go out for our last night he would have
Deane take us out. However, he ended up making it back in time from his dinner
to come too. That night Eoin knew of a girl hosting her birthday party at Dicey’s
and therefore we could get in free and crash the party. They had their own
section of the venue reserved with half priced drinks. We hung out in there
socializing with people Eoin knew and had a few drinks. Meagan and I started to
get antsy to dance more so we moved from Dicey’s to Coppers again. Eoin began
twirling us and being so goofy, it was so much fun just to be surrounded by
such great people who just wanted to have a genuinely fun time. We danced there
for a few hours before the club closed. As we walked down the road to hail a
cab we turned into a restaurant that was still open to get taco fries, which is
exactly what it sounds like, all the toppings of a taco (except for the
tortilla) over fries. Eoin, in his slightly inebriated condition ended up
ordering 4 taco fries but none of us were very hungry so he ended up eating 3
on his own while the 3 of us shared 1 :P. Once Eoin couldn’t eat anymore we
hailed a cab, piled in and headed home. The whole way home we were laughing,
making jokes about the night and writing all over the fogged up windows. Once
we hopped out Eoin jumped on my back as I was running up the driveway, we were
all laughing as I nearly tumbled underneath his weight, but in that moment he
gave Meagan and I a huge hug and told us that he was going to miss us so much
when we left. It was times like this, submerged in absolute bliss and utter
happiness that made this trip what it was; carefree, so much fun, full of
laughter and 10 days full of wonderful memories.
The tide so far out, all that is left is this brown seaweed
Old ruins in the middle of the countryside
Ruins dated back to before christ
On our way to the Cliffs of Moher
Irish countryside takes my breath away
A little town matchmaking business
The cliffs of Moher
Looking down into the valleys
Cliff side
This has forever changed my life
View of how tall the cliffs are (650 feet)
The lookout point
Couldn't get enough of them
The tide coming in
View from the cliffs looking down
The little rock in the distance is the rock in one of the Harry Potter movies that him and Dumbledore are standing on with the cliffs in the background
Laying out on the edge
LOOK how HIGH up we are!!!
One of the scarier moments, looking over
Feet dangling over the edge
Dancing on the edge of Ireland
Looks like we are standing out in the water, but we are actually on the furthest point out on the cliffs
Our traditional Irish meal...YUM!
The Burren
St. Friars Abbey ruins
The long hallway leading to the dining room
St. Friars room
St. Friars Abbey from the outside
Ponies in Connemara coming up to our bus
Beautiful Connemara
The wild ponies
Ashford Castle Hotel
Kylemore Abbey
Kylemore Abbey entrance
Looking out onto the lake from Kylemore
The Victorian walled gardens
The church
View from the bus of the wild lands...absolutely majestic
Outside of the church at Kylemore
Bus ride back towards Dublin
W.B Yeats grave
At Pat and Una's house with Pat
Doors to the cathedral near W.B. Yeats' grave
Standing on the cliff looking out at Howth..I messed up the pic but it's the only one I have with Jeff
Best of friends
Eoin hitting golf balls of the pier
Having 99s with the lads
