Galway and Dublin, Ireland

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Friendly people, beautiful houses, lively yet cozy pubs, good beer, and a beautiful landscape, made Ireland one of my favorite places among all my travels.

This was my third trip to Ireland, and I'll still go back for more. I started out in Galway, the second largest city in Ireland. We found a cheap (25 Eu) plane ticket, so we arrived at a reasonable hour (no train nonsense) and were able to explore most of the city center on Thursday. Galway has a small city center, with most residents living in the outskirts of town. It reminded me a lot of Boston, with its high student population. There were lots of cozy coffee and tea houses and some great (cheap!) restaurants. A great town to wander around in. I also found lots of cool graffiti which blended nicely with the buildings.





We went to bed early on Thursday so we could wake up for our tour of the "Burren" (a rocky mountain range outside Galway), and the Cliffs of Moher.






Our tour was great! We got to go on a walking tour of the Burren, followed by home made apple tart on a local farm. We met some great people including some Dutch students studying near us in the Netherlands.





After the Burren we continued on to the Cliffs of Moher... The last time I was there it was icy cold and windy, but this time it was a little warmer, although still windy. The cliffs were beautiful, seeming to just rise up out of the ocean.







After a delicious hearty lunch, we continued on to a few more smaller photo stops before returning to Galway.

Eddie left on the train to Dublin, and I stayed another night in Galway. I decided to go to a concert, and found an acoustic guitarist playing at a pub nearby. I got there a little early and met an Irish student studying in Galway who told me all about Guinness, and the Irish's view on Americans. He wanted to know if Barack Obama was really as big a deal as the media in Ireland made it seem... I assured him that it was indeed a BIG deal.

We met up with his friends who had a great table right under the stage. The guitarist (Preston Reed) was AMAZING! He reminded me a lot of Andy Mckee, combining percussion and innovative plucking/fingering styles. Blues/Jazz/Metal/Folk/Funk very eclectic.

Before leaving the next day I found a great local farmers market with everything from wool socks to vegetarian feasts!






The next day I took the train to Dublin, and went straight to the Guinness Stockhouse, where they have a museum and exhibition set up... I learned all about Guinness, and had a pint at their skybar looking over Dublin.






After learning all about beer I wandered the Temple bar area for a while, and stumbled upon the "French Film Festival" at the Irish Institute of Film! A great surprise! I saw a film called "Actrices", which was quite good if not a little depressing. After the film, I found a nice little Indian place for dinner which was tasty and cheap.




Then it was back to the hostel, where I hung out in the lobby for a while talking to the desk workers who all were travelers about my age trying to make some money for their next trip... Woke up at 5 and made it back the the castle by noon for brunch!

An amazing weekend, very beautiful, great people, and I still love Ireland!

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