Day Seven – Canamara

Happy Fourth!
Ironically, this is my third consecutive Independence Day outside of the U.S.

 

The original plan for today was to go to Aran Islands. That didn’t work out, however, due to time and potential weather.

 

Instead we went to Canamara. . . or close to it, at least. We went with a tour group and took a bus about an hour and a half from Galway. Our bus driver/guide was hilarious, and we stopped in a couple places to take some pictures.

 

 

We went on a “walking tour” of the area, which means we went on a sweet day hike to the summit of a mountain. The view was absolutely amazing. Again, pictures will probably do the best job at describing it.

 

The peak we, ah, peaked.

The Trail

 

It was great. Our bus driver took us to a pub on the way back in. It’s the same pub they used to film the pub scene in the movie The Field. Kind of everywhere we were was used in that movie, actually. It was pretty awesome.

We decided to be very American for dinner and get Papa John’s Pizza. It was dank. We ate with some Danish folk we met on the tour. Proved to be a good evening, and a marvelous day.

Day Six – Galway

We got up early and took the bus into Galway.

Galway is a super awesome college town. I’ll be here basically the rest of my time in Ireland, which will be a lot of fun.
We got in around 10:30, but our dorm wasn’t ready yet. They let us drop our bags off so we wouldn’t have to carry them around.

There’s a lot to do here. We went up and saw a really sweet Catholic cathedral. I think we’ll go to service there on Sunday. It’s gigantic, and gorgeous.

We also went to the Bay of Galway. Apparently this place is one of the largest havens for swans in all of Europe. There are certainly lots of them.

Other than that we just kind of killed a lot of time, and made spaghetti in the hostel. We made some friends from California in our hostel in Doolin, and they are in Galway now as well. We met up with them and went to a pub called Tigh Coilí (pronounced Tig Cooley), where there was a live Traditional Irish Music Session. That was a of fun.

Hopefully the weather will be nice tomorrow and we’ll get to take a boat out to Aran Islands. 

I don’t have any pictures from today. But do not fret, more will come.

Day Five – Cliffs of Moher

 

Cliffs of Moher.
That’s all you really need to know.
By far the most beautiful sight I’ve seen here so far.

 

We didn’t originally plan to stay in Doolin, but decided it was a good idea for two reasons: 
1) It’s one of Ireland’s best towns for traditional music.
2) It’s only a short bus ride from the Cliffs of Moher.

However, when we asked the fellow who ran our hostel about catching a bus to the Cliffs, he suggested we walk.
“It’s about a two hour hike, but well worth it,” he said, and begin to tell us how to get there on foot. “By the time you get to the top [main tourist attraction], you will find it anti-climactic.”

 

Thanks for the warning.

 

And find it anti-climactic, we did. The trail we took literally followed the ridge line of the Cliffs all the way from Doolin to the highest point of the Cliffs. Most of the time we were probably only a foot from the drop off, with nothing between us and the edge of the Cliffs. It was pretty frightening at times, but utterly amazing.

We ventured out every once and a while to explore some places the trail wouldn’t go. Well worth it.

 

Castle outside Doolin.

Falls off some of the lower cliffs.

 

Low tide off the lower cliffs.

 

 

Once we got going on the Cliffs there wasn’t much to do but walk and take pictures.
I can’t really even begin to describe how incredibly beautiful it was. I think I may just stop trying and let the pictures do the talking. I hope you enjoy.

 

Lower Cliffs

Down.

I’ll be putting a lot more pictures up on Facebook, so you can see them there, if you’d like.

Day Four – To Doolin.

Today we traveled.
We got up, ate breakfast, packed up, and shipped out.
We had to catch a 10:15 bus from Dingle to Tralee, and then almost immediately catch a bus from there to Limerick. Our bus out of Limerick did’t leave for another three hours, so we got to kill time around there.

We grabbed a quick lunch and ate it at this really awesome park. Then we walked around for a while. We went down a few blocks to the river and walked up to see an old castle. We got some pictures around there.
Then we stopped into St. Mary’s Cathedral. This is a really nice old Catholic church. Quite a sight. There’s so much history there. 

We caught the bus from Limerick to Doolin. Doolin is an amazing little town. And I do mean little. It’s in the middle of nowhere, and there is hardly anyone around. It’s one of Ireland’s havens from traditional music, however, and therefore it is awesome. We got in to our hostel around 7:30 or so, checked in, and put our stuff down. Then we walked down and got dinner at one of the pub’s.

After that, we walked around a bit and ended up in another pub called Fitzpatricks. There are live music sessions in all the pubs here in Doolin, and Guion had brought his guitar for that very reason. He played with a few locals for an hour or so there. I ended up sitting at a table next to a really friendly American family from New Jersey. They were having a lot of fun together and were good to get to know. Their kid’s were young, and quite a riot. It was a really good night.

 

Now we’re back in the hostel and getting ready t go to sleep. We have a two hour hike to see the Cliff’s of Moher tomorrow. I’ll make sure to take lots of pictures.

 

Farewell.

Day Three – Still Dingle.

Got up early again for breakfast. Irish Banana Pancakes. Fabulous.

We rode our bikes up to Connor Pass. It’s basically just this big mountain with an incredible view. It’s a tough bike ride though, all up hill from Dingle, and switchbacks. Pretty hardcore, and view was amazing all the way up. The road is lined with stone walls on the outer shoulder, and mountain sheep hang out all over the place. Unfortunately, it became extremely foggy. . . or I guess cloudy because we were up so high. We could hardly see in front of ourselves, or off the mountain, so we turned around and headed back, mainly because it wasn’t really very safe anymore.

When we got down we went to Murphy’s Pub for lunch. We sat and talked there for a while then went and walked around town. It was pretty rainy all day so we kept in and out of shops. There was a sweet record store, and an even sweeter book store. I found a lot of good books I want to read in the near future. I’m kind of mad at myself though, because I forgot one of the authors names. If anyone knows an author by the first name of “Orphan,” please let me know. Another is Hugo Hamilton. He’s from Dublin.

After all of that, we went and killed about four hours in another pub, and got dinner and listened to some live pipe/guitar traditional Irish music. That was way sweet. 
We headed home semi-early to get some rest. We’re headed north in the morning. 

Day Two – Dingle

Got up around 8:30 this morning for breakfast with an amazing view outside of our window.

A full Irish one. Absolutely amazing. Eggs, toast, cereal, juice, coffee, white pudding, black pudding (which is apparently something with pig’s blood in it), ham, sausage, the works. It was fabulous. We didn’t need to eat again until dinner. . . which saved us some Euro.

After breakfast we went to church at St. James Church of Ireland. St. James is a very small Anglican parish, because most of southern Ireland is Catholic (their church is absolutely gorgeous). Despite the small membership, however, there was a large group of teenagers from Germany in attendance. There were maybe 30 or so of them. . . more than anyone else, regulars or guests, combined. They came prepared with a couple of hymns in German. The service was pretty relaxed, and extremely similar to the Episcopal service in the America. Some of it was in Irish.

After church we rented bikes to keep and use around town until Tuesday morning. Nothing special. Then we rode back up to our Bed and Breakfast for a quick change of clothes. Guion got his guitar, and we rode back down to the city.
That afternoon I got to walk around see a lot of Dingle and it’s shops. It’s very tourist-y town, but amazing none-the-less. Everyone is very friendly. Dingle is also a small port/coast town, so I got to walk around the water and docks.

While I was busy doing that, Guion was busy busking. In Europe, “busking” refers to the act of playing music on the street and taking tips. He’s good, and got enough spare change to buy us each a good Chinese-Irish dinner and a pint.

After all of that, and dinner at the Chinese restaurant, Tir na Ri, we went to a pub called Marine Inn. Guion jammed in the last few minutes of the session, but they cut it off because the Football (soccer) match was starting. Spain played, and beat, Germany in the 2008 Euro Cup championship. Everybody was watching closely, and everybody was pulling for Spain, save for a small German family.
We met some really nice people, and went with a couple of them, Jimmy and Phillip, to  Dick Macks, which is another pub. Guion, Phillip, and another fellow played music for a couple hours. They ended up drawing a crowd and we had a blast.

Now we’re back in the room and getting ready to go to bed. We’re going looking for adventure tomorrow.

Travel and Day One

I travelled for thirty hours, and saw about an hour of nighttime.
That’s what happens when you fly east across the Atlantic in the evening. It was a good trip though. I took the train into New York City during my six hour layover at JFK International Airport,  and met Thom Meiners, Ross Davidson, John Hymel, Brad Fogelman, and Cory Hamlin for a quick bite. I also bumped into a Brandon Dibianca. Go figure. We at at Sbarro’s, and I got to hang out for like an hour. Here’s a picture of us in Time Square:

I got back to JFK with more than enough time to spare, and my flight left for Dublin at 5:40 in the afternoon. Pretty easy flight. I ate the airplane food, even though advised not to, however I did refrain from looking out the window too much. The food was actually really good and filling.
We landed in Dublin at 4:50 Greenwich Mean time, which is what we are on here. I had to take a bus to the main Dublin bus station to catch another bus to Cork, where I met my brother. We got lunch there while we waited for another bus which took us to Tralee, where we got another bus that brought us to Dingle. The bus is a sweet way to travel because you get to see a lot of the countryside. Ireland is absolutely amazing to look at.  

 

I have finally come to rest in a Bed and Breakfast on the Dingle Peninsula called Cill Bhreac (pronounced Kill v-reck) House. It’s nice. We have wireless internet, which allows me to keep up with this. Better yet still, our view from the B&B is spectacular:

We’ll be here for three nights. . . then I’m not quite sure what we have planned.
We ate dinner at Murphy’s pub. It was super expensive, but super good, too. They are having a live music session there to tomorrow afternoon/evening. We’ll go check that out for sure.

 

Unfortunately, I haven’t really slept in about thirty-five hours. Needless to say I am beyond tired. It’s 10:30PM here, but it’s still light outside. Yikes. I’m going to see about heading to bed, so I’ll be rested up for tomorrow. Once I get some sleep I’ll be ready to hang out around town for the late nights. I’ll try to update tomorrow with more pictures and such. Subscribe to the RSS feed if you want. I’d love to hear from you.

 

 

Dia Duit!

So it’s about midnight the night before my flight and I should be sleeping. Anticipation, however, among other things, is keeping me awake. If you don’t already know, I’m going to Ireland for about a week. This will be my travel blog to keep you updated on what’s going on. Keep checking in for updates and pictures.

I’ll leave my house at 6:45 in the morning to head for Raleigh. My flight leaves at 10:20 and will take me to JFK Airport on Long Island/New York City.

I have a six hour layover there, and will be supremely blessed to spend a couple hours with my good friends Ross and Thom in the city before heading back to the airport.

My flight will leave New York at 5:40 in the afternoon, assuming everything goes according to plan. The flight to Dublin is a little under seven hours, but since there is a five hour time difference, it’ll technically be twelve hours later. So I’ll land around 5:15am Dublin time. Get your head around that one.

But anyway, I guess I’m pretty excited. Ireland is supposed to be way sweet. I still don’t really believe I’m going, though. Keep checking back for updates and pictures. Leave me comments and such and tell me what you think! Also make sure to check out my other blog, Remember My Chains.

Thanks!