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Published: July 30th 2005
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So Doolin was pretty much awesome. It's not really a town or a village - there's no convenience store or gas station or even a hotel. It's a road (just barely wide enough for two lanes) that goes from the Doolin pier and connects an Upper Village and a Lower Village. It's about a mile between the two villages, and there's nothing in that mile except for B&Bs, farmhouses, and my hostel.
It's something like a national shrine to trad. Everywhere I've been, people talk about the 'legendary' McDermott's and McGann's, which are the two pubs in the Upper Village. I don't know how long they've existed, but it must have been awhile - McGann's is covered in black and white photographs of old trad sessions. And it really was amazing - it was the first place I headed when I got off the bus because it's the only place that really serves lunch. But they actually had some musicians warming up out front, just sort of having an impromptou session while they waited for their food.
So I came by later that night to see what the actual session was like and it really was amazing. They had
musicians who'd just stop by for a bit, or guys at the back of the crowd who would just materialize out of nowhere with a banjo. A woman came by and sang along for a bit, and she had a beautiful voice - she did a couple of ballads, too, and then stayed for the rest of the session.
Doolin's just fantastic. The two biggest attractions in Ireland are the Cliffs of Mohrer and the Aran Islands - and the ferry to the Aran Islands leaves from the pier, while the Cliffs of Mohrer are only 6 miles out, so it's one of the most conveniently located places there is.
Yesterday I decided to cycle to the Cliffs.
... this was sort of completely un-called for, because there's actually a perfectly good bus that runs from right outside my hostel to the Cliffs, several times a day.
But it was a really nice day and I had a few hours to kill, so I went down to the bike rental and pretended I knew what I was talking about when I asked for directions and a bike. The directions were great: "Just turn right at the castle and
follow the signs."
It didn't really occur to me at the time that if I was at sea-level, and the Cliffs of Mohrer were a 700 foot sheer drop into the ocean, that I would have to basically cycle the equivalent of 700 feet uphill.
It wasn't that bad, though, since it was spread out over 6 miles. And the countryside was beautiful - there really was a castle just sitting at the side of the road. And to be honest, I just walked the bike up most of the difficult-looking hills.
But I did get to the cliffs, and they were absolutely gorgeous.
There's an interesting tourist trap up there - O'Brian's Tower. It looks like part of a medieval castle, but it was built by an entreprenuer in the 1830s. You pay 3 or 4 euros to climb up 12 feet and look out at the top - but the cliffs are so tall, I can't imagine that 12 feet makes any difference. He must have made a fortune, though - everybody who comes to Ireland goes to see the Cliffs of Mohrer at some point.
The ride back to Doolin was great - entirely downhill.
I might as well have been driving a car for all the pedaling I did. It was the first time I've ever cycled on a highway, though, which was a bit weird - but like I said, the views were great.
(Completely unrelated, but I just remembered: I met a Japanese girl in Letterkenny who flew here alone and has been bicycling all across the country. The day I talked to her, she said she had had "a lazy day". She had actually cycled over 40 kilometers across the Northern coast.)
I also went out to Inisheer (the smallest of the Arans) to look around. I was too tired to actually do the full hike, so I just walked around for a bit before going down to the beach. The beach was great - no screaming kids or anything - just a few German tourists. The sun was actually out, so I rested for awhile and I think I fell asleep at one point. It was really comfortable, though, I loved it.
I've also headed round to Letterkenny and Sligo.
Letterkenny was interesting. I asked for directions to the hostel and was told to "turn left
at the traffic light". I asked which traffic light, and was proudly told that it was the only traffic light in all of Donegal.
... that pretty much sums up Letterkenny.
I had a good time, though. I had this whole system where I would wake up and then head down to the bus station with my guidebook. I'd sit in the station and watch all of the buses come in with their destinations printed on the front, and I'd look them up in my guidebook and when I found a bus that looked like it was going somewhere interesting I'd hop on for the day.
It worked well - I went to Donegal Town and saw the castle and took a boat trip round the bay, and went to Westport and did absolutely nothing. It was great.
In Sligo I made the hike out to see Yeats' grave.
I know he's a poet, but even for a poet's grave it was a little melodramatic, a little emo. ("Cast a cold eye / On life, on Death / Horseman pass by!") Fun hike, though.
Anyway, I'm in Kilrush now, where I'm doing absolutely nothing. (By the way,
I'm sure there are a ton of lousy sentences and redundancies and typos here - but this internet cafe is actually charging me 6 euro an hour, so there's no way I'm going to be able to really give it a decent proofread. Sorry.) There are dolphins, though, so at some point I'll go down to the bay and join everyone else in trying to get some decent pictures of them. That's about it.
Speaking of pictures - I have more up at http://photobucket.com/albums/b290/haley_m87/ of the past week and a lot of London that I forgot about earlier.
Tomorrow I'm headed back to Dublin on a 5 hour bus ride, and then I have an 8 hour plane ride to Kansas City. So, if you're in Manhattan, I'll see you soon!
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Tisa Martinson
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Hi
Wow, seems like your having a great time with your last days there! I'm still here where you left me so I'll see you when you get back! -Tisa M. ^_^