Galway Girl

After the craziness of Derry, I needed a bit of a downswing on my trip. Not to say that I didn't go out and have fun, but I was taking life at a much slower pace for a bit. I spent two full days in Galway and really liked the vibes of this city.

Welcome to Galway!

I met two Italian girls in the hostel named Tatiana and Christina. They also had just arrived that day and decided to go on a mission to find some live music and Guinness . Surprisingly this was my first Guinness of the trip! I think I thought I wouldn't like it because it's a dark beer but honestly it's fantastic. It is not too hoppy and kind of reminds me of a coffee.

Bonding over Guinness

It wasn't too hard to find a place to hear music because it was the Galway Races this week and the streets were boppin'. The races are THE event of the year in Galway (and maybe all of Ireland?). They have the same glamour of the Kentucky Derby or Royal Ascot with big hats, big shoes and tons of smartly dressed, very, very drunk Irish folk. The races end around 9 and then the streets are filled with race goers.

It was a big week in Galway!

We settled on checking out the Quays, which had some fantastic atmosphere and a pretty handsome and talented musician who preformed on a stage above the bar.

Cliffs of Moher Day Trip

The three of us had booked a day trip to the Burren & Cliffs of Moher that departed early the next morning. It was a long trip but seeing the Cliffs made it all worth it.

First stop was Dunguaire, a 16th century Castle. We unfortunately didn't really learn anything about it (our tour guide talked a lot but never about things that were very factual).  I did take some pretty pictures though!

We continued with a drive through the Burren. It's a national park/protected landscape that is comprised of many hills of limestone rock. It was quite beautiful. From a distance the hills just looked like they were streaked with grey and then as we got closer we could see how the rocks basically took over everywhere.

The rocky landscape

We had a quick stop at the Poulnabrone Tomb where the bones of 33 people were discovered dated between 5800 and 5200 years ago. It's also known as a dolmen and apparently archaeologists still do not know who erected these dolmens. Cue the conspiracy alien theories.

Where's Mulder to investigate this Dolmen?

We went to a more modern cemetery next to see some Celtic crosses and then had lunch in the town of Dooling.  It was all just a lead up to the Cliffs at this point and man were they worth it.

I was a little underwhelmed when I had gone to Giants Causeway so I was a little hesitant to get excited but I needn't have worried. They are  stunning. Majestic and massive. Not to mention being featured in two of my favourite movies  (The Cliffs of Insanity in the Princess Bride and in Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince). #tripofthenerds

Cliffs of Moher

I was a rebel at one point and crossed over the fence to get an amazing photo. Don't worry mom, I didn't go too close to the edge!

That evening, I met up with Christina (from Derry) and her friend Cindy. We went to the Front Door to have a few drinks but got waylaid enroute by some fantastic buskers. There were musicians as well as "feats of strength" such as holding onto a bar for 100 seconds to win 100€... but the bar moves! We saw one person get to 78 and that was after like watching 30 people try it.

Cheers to new friends!

My plans for joining a walking tour got thrown out the window for the following day so I met up with Christina and Cindy and did our own walking tour. We wandered the riverside and saw the Cathedral, capping the morning off with some Quesadillas and burritos (and man, watching Christina eat her first quesadilla was amazing haha).

Who needs a guided tour anyways?

I left the ladies to explore the Galway museum which amongst other things had a statue of Pádraic Ó Conaire (one of Galways most famous authors to write in Irish not English), a scale replica of a hooker fishing boat  (Not *that* kind of hooker haha), and Galway's involvement in WWI.

What a looker, that hooker.

I also visited a small museum of the Claddagh ring. I've been wearing this ring since Grade 8 (obviously because of THIS) and it was really nice to visit it's "birthplace".

Onwards to Cork next!