Easter Weekend Holiday: Part 3

So after talking about how amazing this trip was, I feel like I wouldn't be telling the whole story if I didn't point out some of the less than perfect aspects of the trip.  For starters, hostels are nice when traveling on the cheap, but after three nights in a row I was feeling rather sleep deprived.  Not only did our hostel not have blinds on the windows to keep the sun out at 7:00 am, but people just start waking up early so that they can use the shower first and get on with their day.  If you slept in till 8:00 am you were lucky.  Also, I think I had my worst restaurant experience ever on Easter Sunday at an Italian Restaurant called Bella Mia (I think.  I think I am wrong though).  First, Allie and I were the only ones in the restaurant at 7:00 pm, which is never a good sign.  Second, they got Allie's order wrong and lastly they failed to mention that their credit machine wasn't working until it came time to pay.  As I didn't have any cash I proceeded to walk down the street to the nearest ATM to withdraw money to pay.  It took every ounce of energy and self-restraint I had for me to not rip the manager a new one.

However, none of this ruined my time because it all seemed incredibly trivial in comparison to the grandeur of the entire trip.  For our final day, Allie and I picked up our final sandwiches at Elle's Cafe and set off to the bus station to catch our tour of Connemara.  It was a huge bus and was practically full.  There were people from every country you could think of, all visiting for Ireland for the Easter/bank holiday weekend.  We set off with our hilarious bus driver/tour guide whose sense of humor was only matched by his fascinating stories of Irish history, especially that of the potatoes blight in 1845.  Throughout the tour he took lots of time to go into detail about what it was like back in that time and pointed out things along the tour to help tell the history.  He was much more informative than The Burren tour guide.

Connemara is considered a bog land and the ground is incredibly saturated in water all year round, so much so that there are nearly no cows raised in the area because they would sink under their tremendous weight.  Instead, what you see is brown grass lands equally mixed with green pastures surrounded by a mountain range called the 12 Bens.  Lakes and rivers are found all throughout the area (Connemara is renowned for its fishing because of this).  When all of these features are combined, it creates some of the most gorgeous and stunning scenery that you could ever hope to find.  There were times when I thought I was looking at a magazine picture because the landscape here is so iconic of Ireland.  It is a must see region for anyone considering a visit to Ireland.

 This is Kylemore Abbey, on of the main sights worth a visit in the region.

 The Gardens of Kylemore Abbey

One of my favorite things about the region was the animal life.  While there may be no cows here, sheep are in ready abundance and being springtime, new born lambs were everywhere.  I nearly died watching the little lambs frolic in the pastures with all of their little friends.  However I feel somewhat terrible because once we had left the region for our ride back to Dublin, the images of lambs had fled, but the thought of lamb remained.  So now all I wanted was a big lamb chop to eat (with roasted potatoes of course).  I am already hoping to go back to this gorgeous region in a car someday and really have the time to explore this entire area in more depth.

 Lots of sheep and lamb

Easter Weekend Holiday: Part 2

So after returning to Galway from the Burren, Allie and I grabbed a quick Fish n' Chips at McDonagh's, except I got onion rings because I just can't get used to the Irish chips.  They are never crispy, but rather thick and mushy (and people LOVE that here).  We then decided to hit up a place called Monroes, which is known for good Irish music and craic (fun).  It was a blast.  I bought my first Galway Hooker......  hehe, not what you think.  Its actually the name of an Irish Pale Ale made in Galway and it is quite delicious.  The music was great and I experienced real Irish "slagging" at a bar for the first time from a great guy named Sam.  For those who don't know, slagging is basically when you insult and batter back and forth with someone, but its done in a joking, well-meaning manner.  Sam even bought the two of us a pint when he noticed we didn't have anything to drink.  It was a really great night.

The next day we woke up fairly early and caught a shuttle from Galway to the ferry for Inishmore, the largest Aran Island.  We both stood on the open top deck taking in the scenery as the clouds began to part, letting beams of light pierce through and add a sense of grandeur to the whole trip.  We arrived on the Island at about 11:00 am and quickly rented two bikes for 10 euro each to tour the island.  By this time, almost all the clouds were gone and once again we found ourselves exploring Ireland in possibly the best weather imaginable.  It must have been Allie's Irish heritage or something giving us good luck.  It was so nice that I actually got sunburnt on my face...IN IRELAND!!!!  WHAT?!?!!

The island is quite a spectacular place.  It has an incredibly ancient feel to it in almost everyday.  All over the island are thousands of free standing stone walls that fence off plots of land with nothing on them.  The number of houses is very small and lots of them look quite old.  The island is eerily quiet, like no one really lives on it; there weren't even birds singing.  Old stone buildings that hearken back hundreds of years linger around the island.  It is a gorgeous place on a nice day, but never someplace you would want to live.  It is actually hard to imagine how people can live here.

There is one incredible sight that everyone should make sure to see if they visit the island and that is Dun Aengus, an ancient stone fort that sits of the top of the island.  While although the fort itself is cool to see, the main highlight is the view you get from within-side it.  The fort sits on top of dramatic steep cliffs that are second only to the Cliffs of Moher.  Allie and I ate our sack lunches here and we laughed about how we had basically had the two most amazing picnics of our life back to back now.

Stay tuned for the thrilling conclusion of this saga when I wrap up day 3 and recall the amazingness that was Connemara in... EASTER WEEKEND HOLIDAY: THE TRILOGY.

Easter Weekend Holiday: Part 1

What an amazing Easter Weekend!!!  Myself and another intern (and Duck) Allie spent four days exploring Galway and all the major areas around the city in what can only be described as one of the most amazing experiences of my life.  I will start at the beginning

We caught a train for only one Euro from Heuston station in Dublin at 7:30 in the morning and arrived in Galway at about 10 am.  We dropped off our bags at Sleepzone hostel and then set out to explore the city for the day.  After a quick brunch/lunch at a local bakery we bought a ticket for a hop-on/ hop-off bus that showed us all around Galway.  The tour guide was an old man with a great sense of craic (irish humor/fun), and it was obvious that he had been doing this for quite awhile now.  After that we continued exploring on foot, wandering into several little shops, including a French bakery with amazing croissants and macaroons.  For dinner we found a nice Italian restaurant in the city center called Il Folletto, where I got Gnocchi in a pesto sauce that was to die for.  It would have been better with a nice glass of dry white wine to cut through the richness, but it was Good Friday so no one was selling alcohol.  Or so I thought, until Allie and I wandered down to the water front to a great restaurant called Ard Bia for dessert and surprisingly a glass of wine.  We got a lemon posset (which is a “custard” with a consistency somewhere between normal crème brulee and yogurt) with a mixed berry compote and sugar biscuits.  This dessert was so good that I want to live in it.  It was like a taste of summer and was perfectly balanced in every way.  It was the perfect dessert.  Our hostel was nice, but beds were not built for my height so I had to sleep either diagonally or on my side.  Also, I would recommend to anyone thinking about staying in a hostel to bring shades and ear plugs to help sleep through people waking up in the morning.

For the next three days, we explored the surrounding areas by purchasing a giant tour package through the Galway tour company, which also provided us with living accommodations in another hostel called Barnacles, located in the heart of the city.  Day one was The Burren/Cliffs of Moher.  Our bus left at 10 am and was quite full.  Our tour guide was pretty good, but I have a hard time remembering anything particular about him, so I guess pretty forgettable.  Leaving Galway was very scenic, very green.  Then we approached the Burren, climbing a barren hill that is emblematic of the area.  Upon entering the area I was amazed between the stark dichotomies of the landscape.  Luscious green pastures dotted with rocks quickly merged into completely barren yet stunning hills.  Cows are everywhere, which is fairly surprising given the amount of grass cows need and how rugged the area is.  We drove though the area, stopping a few times for picture opportunities and at significant landmarks, but usually for only 15 minutes.  We stopped for lunch in Doolin, an area renowned for its traditional music scene.  Allie and I had picked up amazing sandwiches in Galway before we left and enjoyed our lunch on a stone wall overlooking the ocean and the side of the Cliffs of Moher.  There was a wire fence close to our feet that I thought was benign but later learned was eclectic when it lightly jolted me (don’t worry, it was only a shock).     I would say that we had it much better than everyone else on the tours, who were paying a lot more at the pub were the bus stopped.  We then proceeded to the Cliffs of Moher, climbing a large mountain and gazing upon the incredibly gorgeous area we just had visited.  We arrived at the Cliffs where our tour guide told us we had 1 ½ hours.  After a slight upward walk I gazed upon the awe-some sight that is the Cliffs of Moher and when combined with the crystal blue skies and radiant sun, I thought I was in heaven.  It was hard to believe that this was all real and it took quite a while for it all to sink in.  With a limited it me frame we walked on the grass path to the right, rather than the paved one and proceeded to take everything in.  I even poked my head over the edge (crawling to the edge on my belly of course) to get a quick view and it was spectacular.  I still can’t believe how lucky I am to be here right now and to see this amazing country.