Allie in Spain (and Ireland): We were halfway there when the rain came down: Galway and the West of Ireland

No, it did not actually start raining when we were halfway to Galway. Although, I am in Ireland so we are certainly not wanting for rain. The title is an excerpt from the famous song "Galway Girl," featured in the movie that is responsible for 99% of females who come to Ireland to study abroad: P.S. I love you. Unfortunately, I did not get lost in a National Park and stumble across a Gerard Butler look alike during my trip. I did however, very much enjoy my weekend tour of the west of Ireland.

My history professor organizes guided trips that we can all go in if we so choose. Although I could probably do these trips for a bit cheaper on my own (my budget trip planning skills have become pretty impeccable), the convenience of having a guide who really knows what she's doing, a private bus so that we can visit multiple sites (including little towns that most people miss) and the great itineraries she makes for us is too much to pass up. This weekend was the first of 3 trips on which we will go to the West, South, and North of Ireland.

Let's take it from the top. We left Dublin after class around 2pm and began driving to Galway, where we would spend Friday night. The drive was only about 3 hours, but we made an obnoxious amount of stops because Caroline (the professor) was trying to cater to everyone's needs - coffee, bathrooms, snacks etc. She was catering a bit too much, if you ask me, but the whole point of these tours is that they're supposed to be "our" tours. After arriving in Galway, we settled into our hostel, had some pizza for dinner and headed out on a pub crawl, organized by Caroline's cousin who owns her tour group with her. The pub crawl was a lot of fun, and the nightlife is much different in Galway than Dublin. Galway's a lot smaller and cheaper. I think it would've been a lot better if we weren't moving around in a group of 50 americans - that's not exactly low profile. But that's the price you pay when traveling in groups. The great thing about the tour is that the kind of stuff that college students want to do was built into the tour, because she understands that we want to have fun and see the nightlife. She's not exactly a traditional professor, but she's great fun.

The next morning, we headed out of the hostel around 9:30. It was so funny staying in a hostel with a bunch of people who never had before. I'd completely forgotten that hostels weird people out. Even after the experience, many of the girls I had stayed with were saying that they wouldn't want to do it again and that they would never do it if they weren't traveling in a group because staying in a room with someone who they didn't know would freak them out. It actually kind of bothered me how much it bothered them. I just don't understand why you would pay more for a hotel when you're on a budget and hostels are so cheap. All the hostels I've stayed in have been perfect fine, completely safe, and they're usually really fun because you meet people and the hostel staff helps you figure out how to budget your time and where you want to go. I guess I'm just so used to it by now that it's not a big deal.

Anyway, we left around 9:30 and began the drive to the Cliffs of Moher, which are the most visited natural attraction in Ireland. They're about 8km (5 mi) long, 214 m (702 feet) high at their highest point feet high, and absolutely breathtaking. They're also kind of terrifying, since there's really no barrier to you plunging into the Atlantic Ocean after a giant gust of wind knocks you off the cliffs. A few people typically die there every year, whether by choice or by accident - you really do have to be careful though. Of course, we went beyond the barrier that they tell you to stay behind (as suggested by our professor) to get better views, so it was a little less safe over there, but everybody does it. The cliffs are really beautiful though. The view is completely unobstructed because when Cornelius O'Brien handed the land over to the government, he made them promise that they would never build anything that would take away from the view so the visitor center is actually build into the cliffs - it's pretty cool. Fortunately, we didn't get any rain (shocker!), so we spent about an hour and a half there and hiked around a bit.

After this, we drove back through the countryside, which is amazingly gorgeous, through a village called Kinvara, which is where Caroline is from. It a little fishing town on the Galway bay and is supposedly one of the most beautiful in Ireland because of the views and the way the town is kept for the tidy-towns competition. All the buildings are painted pastel colors and just adorable. This whole area is in County Clare, in an area known as the Burren, which means "Great Rock" in gaelic. It is a karst landscape, and therefore unique to Ireland., being composed mostly of limestone. It's still just a beautiful and green as the rest of the country, it's just a little bit different and drier because everything drains underground. We just drove through the town, and then we headed a little bit outside of the village to Caroline's family farm. This farm has been in her family for nearly 300 years. They own 2 mountains. Literally. In Ireland, the system still works that the oldest son inherits all the land (this became the norm after the potato famine, because before that it was the graveling system, in which each son received a piece of the land and the farms became too small to sustain the population), so only Irish people can own land and the government won't let newcomers settle it. Part of this is to preserve the scenery which attracts tourists, and part of it is because Ireland receives agricultural subsidies from the European Union because they want it to keep producing livestock and produce.

When we got to the farm, Caroline's cousin took us on a little hike up through the mountains and talked about the farm and the landscape. Both of them are wonderful tour guides and their family is really interesting. Both of her parents are from near the area, so she has tons of cousins close by and 3 of them run the tour company together, while she teaches part time. Her and her 3 siblings all left the farm to go to college, and her two brothers even went to Australia to find work. The oldest is back now, so he will probably take over the farm. The villages and the countryside are so incredibly different than Dublin though - I can't imagine how she went from one to the other.

After walking around the farm and seeing some adorable 1-week old puppies, they cooked us lunch all made of fresh-grown organic food on the farm. They are completely self-sustaining and she says that they'll never turn into a commercial farm. The food was delicious. We also chased some sheep around for a while, which I'm sure they really enjoyed.

After getting in touch with my inner farm-girl, we got back on the bus and took the coastal route to our hostel for the night, which was in the small town of Lisdoonvarna. The drive was spectacular, and we stopped off to get some photos of the ocean and the unique limestone rock formations. Our hostel in Lisdoonvarna was pretty standard, but this little village was completely different from Galway. It's actually famous for having Europe's largest matchmaking festival in September (too bad I missed it), but other than that, it's pretty dead. We had dinner at a local restaurant where most of us sampled the traditional Irish stew - lamb, potatoes and carrots.. I wasn't too impressed, but this is Irish food we're talking about. After this, we went out to a couple different pubs (all the town really had) and headed back pretty early to get some sleep.

The next morning, we got the rare opportunity to sleep in (which I'm quickly realizing will not be happening at all this summer), and we left the hostel at 11. We drove back through the Burren to Kinvara so that we could get out and explore a little, since we had only driven through it the day before. There wasn't much to explore, but it did have some nice views and delicious coffee and scones. We also stopped off at the Dunguaire Castle, which was built in 1520.

After this, we drove back to Galway, so that we could see the city in the daylight. It's a pretty small city, but it's very cute and it has excellent seafood. Many people went searching for the famous Celtic Claddagh rings, since the village of Claddagh is just outside of Galway. I wasn't totally sold on buying one, and I know you can get them in Dublin, so we'll see how my bank account and I are feeling as the trip comes to an end. They are very beautiful though, and an important part of Irish heritage so I think it would be a nice souvenir. We didn't have much time in Galway, so we just walked around a little and ate a quick lunch. I had cod and salmon goujons (basically fried fish) and they were delicious. Then we got on the bus for the 3 hour ride back to Dublin.

It was definitely a successful trip, and I'm glad I got to see the cliffs and the Burren. I wish that we had had a bit more time in Galway and not been so rushed, but I definitely saw a lot. This week, it's back to the grind, and the next weekend, we head to the south!