Ireland & Northern Ireland
Doolin to Galway
April 1, 2007
Photo Links
I
woke up at 6:00 AM to write my journal and download pictures then took a shower
to get ready for the day. I woke Matt up to have breakfast at
Cullinan’s and
which we had at about 8:45 AM. We were immediately met at breakfast by a truly
annoying
couple from Alexandria for breakfast. They were just way overbearing.
They saw me wearing my Washington Nationals t-shirt which gave away we were from
the Washington area. They were just too into helping each other in a loud way.
They also tried to sell us on some Irish cereal being the best of all time and
that you can now buy in the United States. It was just a block of fiber based
cereal. This probably sounds nitpicky and I’m not describing it well but they
were just going out of their way for us to notice what cool travelers they were.
Breakfast started at 8:30 AM and we should have been there at that time because
it effected the rest of the day. We were supposed to have taken a boat trip to
the Aran Islands at 9:45 AM. After showing up and having our traditional
Irish breakfast and checking out we had about 15 minutes to drive the one mile
to where the boat left. We
arrived at about 9:32 AM and the boat had already left. We saw it out in
the harbor and it was having a hard time getting out of the harbor. The
man at the booth told us the tried to wait for us which cracked Matt up.
If they tried to wait why did they leave early? Actually we both did
understand. Watching the boat struggle to get out of the harbor was
directly caused by the tide going out. He told us they had to leave when
they did or they wouldn’t have gotten out at all. It was funny though
hearing us apologizing for only being 15 minutes early.
We were given the option of taking the 2:00 PM cruise of the Cliffs of Moher
which we said we would take but later decided against. We started driving to
find something else to do and came across this huge castle tower above Doolin.
When we got to the castle tower there was a sign saying it was private property
and to stay out. We
figured some rock star must have purchased it for their own
spectacular view over the Doolin coast.
The boat operator had told us about Doolin Cave as something to see while we
waited and they were closed when we got to the office. This was on the
outskirts of Doolin, so having checked out of the bed and breakfast and not
having anything else to do in Doolin we headed to the Burren. The Burren is
this odd area of County Clare that resembles the face of the moon. It is stark
and grey for miles. Basically it is just rock for with a little grass sticking
up out of it so you also
see cows grazing between the rock. This is all in a
fairly hilly/mountainous area so you can see for miles and miles. Occasionally
there is an open field of grass but mostly it is grey for as far as the eye can
see.
The drive to the Burren was very challenging. The drive consists of switchbacks
up and down the mountain on very narrow roads. We actually missed the turn off
to the Burren and ended up in Ballyvaughan before we turned around. Francis
and
I had stayed in Ballyvaughan on my first trip to Ireland. It’s right on the
coast and you could really notice how far the tide had gone out here. We
stopped to stretch for a bit and took some pictures of a huge sail boat that was
completely out of the water and balancing on it’s two fins beneath the boat.
The tide must have gone down 10-15 feet in this area for the boat to be
completely out of the water.
We left Ballyvaughan to go back to the Burren turnoff to head to Poulnabrone.
Poulnabrone is a standing tomb in the Burren that was built in 3000 BC. The
tomb wasn’t that big but big enough that you had to wonder how they had
constructed in over 5000 years ago without any heavy building equipment. It was
very impressive and stuck out on the Burren since the area was so stark.
It took us quite awhile to make it a very short distance to the Burren from
Doolin so we decided against heading back to Doolin
and just make our way to Galway. The distances aren’t great in Ireland but
you have to figure twice the amount of time you would normally think of to
travel between places. The roads are mainly 1 lane and if you get behind a
slower driver it’s almost impossible to pass them. Another factor is the
signage in Ireland is less than perfect. There are many signs that are
posted after the turn and by the time you read them you don’t have the
opportunity to actually make the turn.
We made a stop in Kinvara and had a pint each in
Keogh’s and Conole’s and
arrived in Galway at about 3:00 PM. I had no idea of where the hotel was
and
there were two turn offs that had signs indicating hotels in the area. We
knew whichever we took it would be the wrong one so we took the first exit and
wandered aimlessly through town looking for the Courtyard. Galway is a
fairly big town but I had gotten used to driving on the left hand side of the
road by now and had no problems. We finally asked someone if they knew
where the Courtyard was and it was actually on the road we were
on about a half mile away. We arrived at the hotel at about 3:30 PM and
checked in. Since I was up at 6:00 AM I was pretty tired. Mostly
because the driving is fairly exhausting since there is very little cruising.
You have to be alert to the crazy road at all times since they are so narrow.
Also because we were still a little jet lagged, anyways the old men took a nap
until about 7:00 PM.
The hotel is only about a half a mile from the downtown section of Galway. We
wandered down to the Eyre Square section and stopped in at
McSwiggan's first then
The Hole In The Wall Pub next to it. I got the usual acceptance from some of
the locals who are amazed at my size. The bartender joked that he would need my
identification. They gave us some suggestions on where to go tonight but they
don’t help when you don’t really know where you are and where the place they are
telling you are.
From here we went down a pedestrian street towards the waterfront area called
The Spanish Arch. There were a bunch of
college students hanging out juggling
and drinking and there was a soccer game going on in the main portion of the
area. We walked through then back towards a bridge at the end of the area. The
soccer ball at this time came our way and hit me in the back of my feet.
Luckily for me Matt is now a soccer coach for the Tilden Middle School Timberwolves. Unluckily for the soccer game he is not a very good soccer
player. He turned to kick he ball back and missed the game by quite a
good
margin. The ball headed past the goal keeper by about 15 yards to the left and
headed out into the main street and traffic. Matt apologetically threw both
hands in the air and said he was sorry. His terrible kick ended the soccer
game. To make things even worse was we were at the bridge looking at a swan
swimming on the water when the goalie walked by and told Matt, “Don’t Jump”. I
thought it was very nice of him to make Matt feel like it wasn’t worth ending
his life by jumping off the bridge because of one errant kick.
We had a pint of Guinness at
The King’s Head whose staff had either t-shirts of
an old King of England or Elvis Presley. From the
King’s Head we went over to
Eyre Square
and had a pint at
Garvey’s, Fibber Magees and Richardson’s. We had
a nice conversation with an English girl who was bartending at Fibber Magees.
She was a college student studying philosophy. We jokingly kept telling her
that she would be a teacher then since you can’t do anything else with a
philosophy degree but teach.
It was getting later now so we both had fish and chips at
McDonagh’s before
having one last pint at Garavan’s. It was about 11:30 PM now so we started back
to the Courtyard. We did try to stop for one more pints on the way but when we
tried to open the door it was locked. We heard music inside but couldn’t get
in. As we turned to leave a head popped out the door to tell us, “we’re closed
lads”, before closing the door again. Well we laughed as we walked away since
the door being locked had already kind of clued us in to the fact that they were
closed. We walked back to the hotel had a beer in the lobby and headed off to
sleep.
Continue To Galway To
Derry - April 2, 2007
Return to
Doolin -
March 31, 2007
President: Glenn "Wally" Faunce
2923-E Olney-Sandy Spring
Road
Olney, MD 20832
Phone: 301-774-4646
Fax: 301-774-3610 
