Galway

This past weekend we went to Galway. Galway is located in the west of Ireland, about 2 and a half hours from Dublin. The west is a little different from Dublin in that more people speak the language of Irish, and have a different accent than Dubliners. We got on the bus at 9am thursday morning and met our adorable bus driver, Bart. Bart is from Galway originally so he was able to give us a lot of history and stories throughout the weekend. The drive look a really short time since there was no traffic, so we were at Galway before noon. Since we could not check into the hotel until 3, we had some time to walk around the city center. It is a pretty small city, but packed with people- both tourists and locals. We went to an awesome place for fish and chips and walked into some shops before it was time to go. Thursday night was pretty uneventful- we were all pretty tired from going out on wednesday so Dawn and I booked our Lady Gaga tickets, the I went to bed.

Friday morning we got up early again, then headed to the bus. The first stop was in the middle of nowhere- Bart wanted to take us on a hike that was once used as a pilgrimage trail and led to a church that St. Patrick once visited. This hike turned out to be painful- the trail was a steep incline of rocks, and when we were almost towards the top it started downpouring hail. It was terrible. There was nowhere to hide and I got completely soaked. It was not ideal. Anyway, there were some good views, heres a picture:

It was nice to see the country side, but not my favorite hike.

We loaded the bus again and headed to our other destination of the day- Kylemore Abbey in Connemara. On our way, Bart pointed out a leprechaun house on the side of the road! I was very happy to see this. Anyway-This was a gorgeous abbey that has been used as a girls boarding school in recent years, though it is stopping operation next year. We had lunch here and were able to walk around for a bit. Pictures below are the outside of the abbey, and dawn and me with the lake in the background.

After this, we headed back to the hotel for dinner. A quick note about the hotel- in each room, there are two beds. Except one bed is a queen size and one is a twin. I don't understand. I know some european hotels are like this, but why? do they assume one person is a lot bigger than the other? its weird. Anyway, friday night we went to a pub in city center to hear some traditional irish music. We didn't stay out late but it was really fun because in Dublin we usually only go to clubs or larger places.

Saturday morning was another early start. We headed out to take a ferry to the Aran Islands, which are 3 islands off the coast. The one we went to is the largest, called Inish Mor. The ferry was packed and was about a 40 minutes ride. Luckily, the waters weren't too choppy and noone got to sick. Once on the island, we loaded into 2 vans to take us around. Our first stop was the site of what used to be a church and burial ground. The second, and main stop, was Dun Aonghasa fort. This is an old for set up very high that was once believed to be used as defense. However, they recently believe it was used more for ceremonial purposes rather than warfare. The views from the fort were amazing! The cliffs are such a high, abrupt stop that you can only go close to the edge if you are laying on your stomach. Picture:

After seeing the fort, we headed back into town for lunch and killed time before leaving. We then took the ferry back to the bus, and bus back to the hotel for dinner. After dinner we went into town again and went into a couple pubs. Sunday was just the bus ride back and saying goodbye to bart.

All in all it was a good but exhausting weekend. I'll blog in the next couple days about my classes. This weekend Liesel is coming for a night! then mom and dad come the weekend after. crazy!