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Background: Celtic tribes arrived on the island between 600-150 B.C. Invasions by Norsemen that began in the late 8th century were finally ended when King Brian BORU defeated the Danes in 1014. English invasions began in the 12th century and set off more than seven centuries of Anglo-Irish struggle marked by fierce rebellions and harsh repressions. A failed 1916 Easter Monday Rebellion touched off several years of guerrilla warfare that in 1921 resulted in independence from the UK for 26 southern counties; six northern (Ulster) counties remained part of the United Kingdom. In 1948 Ireland withdrew from the British Commonwealth; it joined the European Community in 1973. Irish governments have sought the peaceful unification of Ireland and have cooperated with Britain against terrorist groups. A peace settlement for Northern Ireland, known as the Good Friday Agreement and approved in 1998, is being implemented with some difficulties.

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By Axel and Laurie
October 22nd 2008

Day 7: Connemara

Europe » Ireland » County Galway » Connemara

Walk on Water Here
Laurie's Favorite Sign in Ireland. Perhaps this is the signt of modern miracles?????

Our touring day in the Burren highlighted something that we noticed on our very first day in Ireland: the odd system of road signage. On our first day, we observed Laurie’s favorite sign: Walking on Water. The road signs, though, proved even more intriguing. Other than the fact that many intersections have no signage whatsoever and that many small country roads are not numbered, the signs that are present are wholly inconsistent. No two signs seem to agree on something as basic as the spelling of town names. The town we stayed in while in County Clare was variously spelled as [View Full Entry]

By JessRK
August 12th 2008

Day of Hiking! Finally!

Europe » Ireland » County Galway » Connemara

Pete

Hey all! Wonderful weekend here I just had. I returned back from the World Fleadh to Galway to rest. I was COMPLETELY exhausted in so many different ways. So, it was good to do that for a day or two. Then, Friday, Grainne and I headed up to the edge of Connemara for a day of hiking. It was really great. It was very boggy and brown which made for some interesting footing and path creation adventures. It might not look so hard, but it actually was... for me anyway! But it was a blast and it was really nice to [View Full Entry]

By Bothan Taistil
July 13th 2008

Galway to Connemara to Castlebar, County Mayo, Ireland

Europe » Ireland » County Galway » Connemara

Kelly in the rain

July 13, 2008 Galway to Connemara to Castlebar, County Mayo, Ireland Oscar Wilde described Connemara as a "savage beauty", and its patchwork of lakes, rugged mountains and windswept bogs certainly give a sense of splendid isolation. Ireland, but especially NW Ireland is a fisherman's delight. This is for you Dave Geis, you would love the fishing... the lakes, the rivers and the ocean fishing is incredible...from trout to salmon and many others in between. Irish is the everyday language in this area, folks send their children here to learn Irish (Gaelic) in the summer. Many [View Full Entry]

By tarheel790
May 1st 2008

Let's keep going...it's got to go somewhere!

Europe » Ireland » County Galway » Connemara

Coral Beach, County Galway, Ireland

Today was supposed to be a visit to the Aran Islands, three islands off the coast of Ireland, just out of Galway Bay, where the people still live much as they did over a hundred years ago. This is also where the Aran sweater originated, the traditional Irish wool sweater with different designs woven into the sweater. Each design has a meaning, and each family had a specific pattern which identified their family. The sweaters were worn by the fishermen and helped identify their bodies if they were lost at sea and washed up onto the beach. We missed the first [View Full Entry]

Descriptive sign, Unknown Location, County Galway, Ireland

Village of Leenane, County Galway, Ireland

By Brian Brook
April 21st 2008

over to Ireland

Europe » Ireland » County Galway » Connemara

4.18.08 Update since back in London… Dartmoor was incredible. Got back into London, and enjoying it better this time. A tale from the hostel...(rated R) First night back at the hostel a pretty young lady stepped in the room while I was about to go down and make dinner. We got to chatting and decided to go get some dinner at a Greek restaurant just down the street, it was raining. She’s Canadian and lives and works in Wales and was down in London to go on a cooking network TV show. We had a bottle or so of wine, and [View Full Entry]

By Kim B
April 12th 2008

Green Peaklands and Irish Mist

Europe » Ireland » County Galway » Connemara

Kylemore Abbey

Today was pretty amazing, to say the least. We left for Connemara around 9:30am and it was just the most beautiful landscapes I have ever seen. Again, if you are on the west coast of Ireland, take a trip through Connemara. The ride itself will be an adventure filled with amazing scenery. We went through the peaklands of the area, what I guess to be the equivalent to the highlands in Scotland. The place was so green and the tops of the mountains were covered with that thick Irish mist. The river valleys we drove through seemed endless and to be [View Full Entry]

By John Miranda
October 6th 2007

In Search of a Galway Hooker

Europe » Ireland » County Galway » Connemara

Connemara Ponies
The New Young Pony Club (Connemara Branch)

August 2005 We were looking for somewhere easy and price competitive from EMA for a spontaneous trip at August Bank Holiday. The best option was direct to Shannon on board the penny fight champions without a particular plan of action thereafter. The most obvious destination was Limerick. However a quick read of certain travel guides, seems to focus on a place with unemployment, crime and general neglect at worst and a place where the visitor might still have to dig a little to appreciate it’s charm. We landed at Shannon and turned towards Ennis. Ennis held enough charm without digg [View Full Entry]

By Erin and Kevin
April 30th 2007

Connemara: A little slice of heaven

Europe » Ireland » County Galway » Connemara

Clifden
View of Clifden from the D'Arcy Monument, above town.

When last we left you, we'd been exploring the Connemara area. On our last day in Connemara, we saw some really spectacular sights. On Monday, we drove from Clifden out to Cong, in Co. Mayo. Cong is famous for being the place where much of "The Quiet Man" was filmed (and boy is the town milking it-- there's "Quiet Man" everything for sale there) and the area is very scenic. We walked around the old Cong Abbey and gardens, which were truly lovely. We had lunch in town and walked around the quaint streets. Then, we drove out to Ashford Castle. [View Full Entry]

By Sudie
March 24th 2007

API Goes Adventuring

Europe » Ireland » County Galway » Connemara

Rockin the Harness
Kat, Me, and Maureen

For our last API excursion of the semester, our group headed to the Delphi Activity Centre in Connemara for an overnight stay and the opportunity to test our athletic skills. There were different options for outdoor activities - we could choose surfing or team games . . . I stuck with the ones that got me off the ground. Being addicted to anything rock climbing/high ropes related, I was super excited to get on the Jacob's Ladder and the high ropes course in the morning, and then hit a climbing wall and zip line in the afternoon. The Jacob's Ladder [View Full Entry]

By Sudie
February 5th 2007

The Time I Got Bog in my Hair and Other Stories

Europe » Ireland » County Galway » Connemara

Connemara in the Fog
A shot from the 10 minutes we were covered by fog

So option #1 for this past weekend was to go up to Tory Island - a little island about 15 kilometers off the north coast of Ireland which has apparently claimed independence from the republic, has its own king, and is nothing but rocks. We were to go with the Gaelic speaking Drama society who was headed up to Tory Island to perform its current production about heaven and hell fighting over the soul of a girl who had just died. (Of course, we wouldn't have understood since the entire play is in Irish, and all I can do in that [View Full Entry]

Travel Blog » Europe » Ireland » County Galway » Connemara