Ireland - Part I

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This past week, we had our program sponsored tour of Ireland. All of our lodging, travel, and entrance fees were paid for by Central. We had to pay for our own food, but the first hostel had a really nice kitchen and a Tesco just down the street, so we saved a lot of money making our own meals.

We went to Ireland because it is a Celtic nation like Wales, and the two countries share a lot of history and culture. The landscape is very similar, as well as the food and overall culture. We spent the first part of the tour in Galway and the last couple days in Dublin. This entry is about the first three days of our trip.

We got up on Saturday morning and took a bus to Holyhead on the island of Angelssey. From there we took a really nice ferry across the Irish Sea to Dublin. Then we took another bus across the country (about a four hour ride) to Galway. Galway is a college town and one of the fastest growing cities in the world. We arrived in Galway after dark and it was pooring down rain, but a bunch of us still took quite a long walk around the high street and stopped at a pub to try Guiness (yuck!).

Sunday was probably my favorite day of the whole trip. We took another ferry to an Island off the coast of Ireland called Inis Mor, one of the Aran Islands. At the port, we all rented bicycles for the day. There were two main roads that ran the length of the island. One went right through the middle, passing a lighthouse on the highest part of the island, offering a great view. The other followed the coastline was a little bit easier to ride. They both met up at a little collection of buildings including a souvinier shop and a cafe. We parked our bikes there and walked up the cliffs to a really old fort. The stone walls that are left really aren't much to see, but the drop-off at the edge of this part of the island was no less than 50 ft., so that cool/scary.

Monday was Saint Patrick's day, a bank holiday in Ireland meaning everything was closed, so we were limited on stuff to do. They did have a pretty decent parade and everybody you could see was dressed in green and wearing goofy hats. We went to a pub that night too and had a pretty good time.

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Photos

Ferry
I was so ready to go

Ferry
Leaving Wales

Ferry
Looking back at Wales from the upper deck

Ferry
A helicopter followed us for awhile - we think they were doing a practice rescue

Ferry
The ferry was really nice

The Aran Islands
The lighthouse

The Aran Islands
The cafe we ate lunch at - I thought it was cute

The Aran Islands
The cliffs

The Aran Islands
The fort

Galway Cathedral
The cathedral

Galway Cathedral
JFK is very popular with the Irish

Galway Cathedral
A really old copy of Handel's "Messiah"

Parade
St. Patricks

Comments

[Grandpa West]

"Guiness - Yuck"
You don't sound like your Fathers Daughter. Boy are you seeing things. We love your blog and will sure be ancious to see all of your sights after this next trip. Love, Grandpa West