Blogs from County Galway, Ireland, Europe - page 22

The last 12 miles! The road from Corofin to Ennis was easy to ride. We were able to enjoy a side trip to Dysert O,Dea, a medieval tower house/castle. This was the site of a famous battle in the 13th century where the Irish Chieftains defeated a large Norman army. We were able to explore all the floors of this structure and see what life was like back in that time (definitely not the Hilton…I want a heavenly bed…just being honest). Brian and Geoff especially like the ‘kill hole’…a hole in the floor where residents could pour boiling water or boiling oil on the doorstep of would be intruders…home protection system’s early start I suppose! Actually that would make a great advertising campaign….anyway, cool to see but we were ready to find our way home. Now, ... read more

Today started out a little rockier than I would have liked, I went to shower and there was no hot water. I waited…still no hot water…I asked the host and she said it will take a few minutes. So we decided to eat (great breakfast – I should mention we’ve not yet had a “true Irish breakfast” we are lightweights and just have eggs and toast every morning which suits us just find). So we had breakfast while I sneered at all of the freshly showered guests. We then returned to hot water and all was well in the world. Today we are going to Galway and then up to Clifden a little bit longer of a day. We got our previously soiled pants and coats back all sparkling clean and were off. It is such ... read more

We left Castlebar early this morning and headed south toward Limerick with a quick stop in Galway. Galway is currently Greg's favorite town thus far. It is very compact and we were able to park at the Galway Cathedral and walk everywhere. We first went into the Cathedral and were able to view beautiful stainglass windows and a huge cathedral. It was also very very cold in there. I'm wearing a skirt today and we first had to make a stop at a department store so I could get tights to keep my legs warm! It was sunny, but still cold for us thin blooded Floridians. :) We first make our way to Eyre (pronounced "Air") Square which is also known as the JFK Park, in commemoration of JFK's visit here in 1963, only a few ... read more

Geo: 53.2789, -9.06619 Yes, I would be in on this epic blair witch adventure story had I NOT been sick in bed. =( I wasn't quite as sick as the night before, but still... the thought of drinking was not appetizing. Perty lame. So we stayed in the tiny village of Cong. There's maybe... a dozen buildings (okay... I'm exaggerating... there might be two dozen, I didn't count). It's a small town, and as our trusty guide said, it was very funny how ten minutes after the group arrived in the pub, half the village showed up. So they all had a wonderful night of drinking and then headed down to the local Kelly Cave on the way back to the hostel, which is a 7min (brisk walk sober... could be hours when you're drunk) walk ... read more

The Desota House: Our home away from home in Galway I felt I had to pay special tribute to our B and B, seeing that it was offered us such comfort and refuge from the shared hostel rooms, and it was just SO adorable! Our B and B was called the Desota House, and was located on Newcastle Road, near the cathedral. It was an easy walk to what was explained to me as being the "local side of the bridge", and a little farther was the main street, Quay Street.  It was managed by a man and woman, and Jon and I couldn't quite figure out their relationship, but nevertheless they were both so welcoming and hospitable.  The B and B itself looked pretty average from the outside, but once inside it had the quaintest ... read more