Blogs from County Galway, Ireland, Europe

With little other options, Kyle actually joined us for breakfast this morning. Dining in the same spot at dinner the night before everyone filled themselves between the buffet and hot dinner order before we finished packing up. As checkout was the same time as our tour end, we packed up the car ahead of time. The maintenance man/ tour guide took us around the estate the next 2.5 hours sharing immense amount of information about the history of Ireland, progression of the house through that history, details on the fauna, and even stories about his own life. He talked all over the place which drove me a bit crazy, but we learned a lot. We also walked the beautiful estate setting it from many angles. Every photo we took was just phenomenal. I can't wait to ... read more

Up and breakfast once again in the Hotel the Irish Hospitality and Quality far exceeds the English so far ….got on the bus and into town at 9.30am bought up large at a huge souvenir shop and wandered around the streets of Galway…. Was very tempted with all the Aran knitwear but resisted…. (Next winters knitting projects !!!) …. Got a coffee to go (all very good barista coffees here a Latte is the best size £2.95 (6$ NZ) ….. enjoyed the buskers and little stores as in all the towns… back to the bus 11.30am and onto Sligo at 2pm wandered around the town lots of knitwear/tweed and hunting gentleman’s apparel and called into the pharmacy found a bakery and enjoyed a cup of tea custard slice and HOT salty chips … toilet and encountered ... read more

So today we have a long drive over lots of small roads and I can still see the Sky Road on the horizon in the map. Well we wake up early and as it is quite misty I think great there is no way we need to do the sky road as why would you do this if you cannot see in front of your face - unfortunately, definitely for me, the bloody skies started clearing as we approached the sky road and macho man Mike decides we will do it then as we turn he says to me are you happy doing this - well that is like a red rag to a bull of course I am happy to DIE on the sky road. Well let’s be honest if you do the north to ... read more

We are on the road again and we are off to Clew Bay which is includes the Spanish Armada Viewpoint. This was named after two ships from the defeated Spanish Armada fleet sank here in storms in 1588 - you cannot see any ship wrecks, well let’s be honest they would have been long gone by now due to the time frame. However once again the vista (yes getting good with words) was stunning. I am going to have to think of other words to describe the vistas (see did it again, ha ha) as all I am using is stunning or amazing but what else can you say when they are. We then move on to Achill Island and over the Achill Sound with the bridge crossing it onto Keel Strand where we eye up ... read more

We attended a cooking class at a private home out in the County. Katy had run her own shop in Galway for 15 years and 'sort of' retired. Sort of as in then started teaching classes out of her home and is busy most days. She and her helper, Valentina, organized us, told us how much to put in, how to mix the ingredients, then how to cut scones. After they went in, we chose the type of bread to make and did that. We got to taste the scones while the bread baked: hot, soft, tasty, perfect. We had taken a taxi out but the other folks who baked with us, a mother/daughter from Connecticut (the daughter had been a student here) gave us a ride back into town which was very generous of them. ... read more