The Beauty of Western Ireland

Hi all!

This past weekend was a whirlwind of traditional, contemporary, and primitive Ireland that proved to be a drastic change to life in Dublin. Friday morning, we left the city early and headed West to County Clare and arrived at the Cliffs of Moher in early afternoon. Luckily for us, it was a beautiful sunny day in Clare and we were able to look out over the cliffs for miles! Oddly enough, the cliffs were very different from what I remember from my youth. As a child, I remember walking right up to the edge of the cliffs, but nowadays there is a wall built up along the ledge. Unfortunately the walkway was closed for renovations, but the views from where we stood were incredible. We got plenty of pictures there, explored the museum, and then hopped on the bus to Galway city. It was a perfect afternoon in Western Ireland.

Friday night, we headed out in Galway city to explore. We started off by heading into a pub called The Quays. The pub had a great atmosphere as it was covered with old archways and staircases on each level. It was extremely crowded and it wasn't hard to understand why. Such a cool place. After a bit, we headed down the road to The King's Head pub. We had heard that this was a great pub and that it was quite popular so we were excited to check it out. It most certainly did not disappoint. Captain Morgan was sponsoring the pub that night so the staff gave out a bunch of Captain Morgan paraphernalia. I walked around in a Captain Morgan pirate hat all night (which proved very difficult while dancing). At about 10:30 a band came on called Lunar Playground. It was three men, two playing guitar and one on the drums, and a woman singing lead. They were AWESOME! They sang a lot of angsty rock but and some throwback 90's and the whole place went wild. We were right in front of the stage dancing and singing all night long. It was by far the greatest night I've had so far in Ireland.

The Cliffs of Moher

Saturday morning, we all dragged ourselves out of bed for another busy day. We hopped on a ferry and arrived in Inishmore of the Aran Islands. The Aran Islands are considered to be authentic Ireland because they still live in a rather primitive nature in some ways. They primarily speak Irish on the island, with only limited English knowledge and they only got electricity in the past fifty years. Inishmore, meaning "the big island," is the largest of the three Aran Islands. The other two are Inisheer, "the east island," and Inishmaan, "the middle island." When we arrived at Inishmore, we took a tour bus across the island to the Kilmurvey craft village. There in the village were two small sweater shops, a stone craft shop, and a little restaurant. The place was swarmed with photographers looking for a rare bird that had apparently been seen in Ireland for the first time ever. We headed past the village and up the hill to Dún Aonghasa, a 2,500 year old stone fort at the top of the cliffs. We hiked up the hill to find this gorgeous stone fort with cows grazing in the midst of it. From the top of the cliffs you could look out across the ocean and see mainland Ireland and beyond. There wasn't a cloud in the sky and the views were phenomenal. In my opinion, Dún Aonghasa was the most beautiful sight in Ireland thus far.

After exploring the fort, we headed down to the craft village for lunch. I ate beef and Guinness stew and warmed up a bit before heading back to the bus. Next, we stopped at Na Seacht dTeampaill, meaning "the seven churches." The grounds contained church ruins and many old grave sites. After some more picture taking, we headed back down to the harbor and left for the mainland. Saturday night we went over to The Crane pub for some live Irish music. About 15 musicians sat around a large table playing together and occasionally, the entire room would go quiet and one man would have a singing solo. It was absolutely beautiful. I never wanted to leave. Unfortunately, we eventually did leave, and we headed over to the Roisin Dubh, which was a three level bar with different music on each floor. It was a very hip atmosphere, much different from The Crane. After some time, we headed back to the hotel to get minimal sleep yet again. 

Dún Aonghasa

Madeline, Megan, Maggie, and I on the cliffs at Dún Aonghasa

The most incredible view

Me with the cows

The Seven Churches

Sunday morning, we boarded the bus to Connemara. After driving through towering, deep green mountain ranges we came upon a large lake at the foot of an enormous castle called Kylemore Abbey. Kylemore was originally built as a castle by Mitchell Henry as a gift for his wife. After the couple died, the building was overtaken by nuns and became an Abbey, and eventually became a boarding school for girls. The school closed down in 2010 and became a museum open to the public. On the site, we explored the main castle, the Gothic church, the mausoleum, and the majestic gardens. The gardens were spectacular, and most definitely my favorite part of the grounds. After an hour and a half, we reluctantly boarded the bus to come home for the weekend. Pulling into Dublin I felt the relief of being home and being able to sleep again yet I was definitely sad to leave such a beautiful part of the country. 

Kylemore Abbey

The view from the front of the castle - mountains of Connemara

The Gothic church Mitchell Henry built in his wife's memory.

This weekend we're headed to Kilkenny with my roommate, Chiara, who is visiting for the weekend and then I'll be headed to Cork the weekend after with my Momma :) 

Until next time!!