Great Stay in Galway - Day Two

Our second day in Galway took my group to the stunning Connemara National Park, Kylemore Abbey, and the cute village of Cong. After waking up early, enjoying a simple continental breakfast at the hostel, and drinking a cafe mocha from the hostel's coffee shop, we set off on our way. 

Of all of the beautiful things we saw that weekend, our tour guide, Paul, was most excited to take us to Connemara. Because Ireland is so small and the tour guides are so personable, it is common for them to have spent time in the areas they show and, in some cases, have grown up there. Paul had spent a lot of time in Connemara as a boy and, now living in Galway, remembers those happy days every time he drives through. By noting that the next stop was his "favorite place in all of Ireland," we all looked harder and appreciated more, the beauty in front of us. And we soon understood why he loves it so much. 

Here nothing happened. That is the important historic event commemorated by a large memorial in the park and a huge statue of Conn, Son of the Sea, erected by Joyce's Craft Shop in 1999. All weekend Paul told us that the Irish love their tales, and their mischief, and to "never let the truth get in the way of a good story." This site embodies that facetious spirit for sure!

We then followed the Lough Nafooey Valley Route through the huge area and stopped for photo opportunities along the way. Even though it was a bit chilly, the place was so expansively gorgeous and incredible. To think that people live in the National Park and get to look at this treasure every morning is wild and lucky. I think we felt fortunate just to breath the fresh air. (Which is so fresh, that the plant lichen, what reindeers eat, grows in the area. Interestingly, lichen is so delicate that it can only grow in areas with zero air pollution. So really, really fresh air.)

Killary Harbour.

Kylemore Abbey was our next stop as we continued through the valleys and watching a beautiful building emerge as we rounded a mountain was a sight to see! This building was constructed by London doctor Mitchell Henry in 1871 as a private estate for his family with beautiful grounds and an English garden. Normally the Irish would have disliked a wealthy Englishman building such a lavish home and interrupting the local culture in the late 1800s, however the Henrys were so nice to the locals that they were loved by everyone in the area. 

Unfortunately Henry's wife, Margaret, passed in 1875 after contracting a fever in Egypt. Mitchell, who was devastated, built her a beautiful memorial church on the grounds which is open to visitors. Henry went on to sell the property as he couldn't bare living in a place that she loved so much. In later years it was a Benedictine Abbey and finally a girls' boarding school that closed in 2010. The area now serves solely as a tourist attraction.

Kylemore Abbey. 

A view of the gardens.

The tropical part of the gardens.

A portrait of Margaret Henry.

Margaret Henry Memorial Church.

Inside the church, I lit a candle as usual. 

Pretty sure that this is not historical...

We made a quick stop for a picture opportunity overlooking Paul's favorite place in Connemara, and thus his favorite place in Ireland. This is the same valley where a scene from the movie Marley and Me was shot. Apparently when Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston were filming in the area, Paul drove by with his tour bus and all of this passengers got to meet the two celebrities. He said that they were both very nice and happy to visit with fans. The scene they were filming was one in which a group of sheep blocked the road (the acting sheep were owned by Paul's friend - of course) and we even experienced this in real life as we drove through.

My group scouring the mountain.

Me and my roommate, Miranda!

The weather then changed and I captured this beautifully eerie shot. 

We then went to the village of Cong to see the abbey there, to visit its beautiful woods, and to drink some hot chocolate. Cong's claim to fame is that John Wayne's film, The Quiet Man, was shot there (a movie I learned about last semester that is apparently full of poor accents and hurtful stereotypes, but I haven't seen it myself). After, we continued to our final stop at Ross Errily Friary just as the sun went down.

The friary's wall was numbered and I couldn't figure out why! Also, these local boys were playing soccer in the Friary which I thought was so hysterical as we were visiting it as a sacred place and they were kicking a ball off the walls and everywhere else. 

After such an exhausting day I went with some girls to dinner in town. I think I ordered a Mexican burrito but can't be sure, and then stopped in a pub for some music and a drink. And man did I sleep well that night!

Yours,

The Opinionated Lassie

Also, for another perspective on this trip, visit my roommate Miranda's blog as linked below:
http://traveling-twamp.tumblr.com/

Great Stay in Galway - Day One

For Valentine's Day weekend I went with a group of UCD students to Galway! We were gone from early Friday morning until late on Sunday and it proved an excellent way to meet a whole bunch of people and see a whole lot of the area around Galway.

Now I figured that we would drive directly to Galway, but after about 1.5 hours we made our first stop at the Clonmacnoise Monastic Site. St. Ciaran founded this site in the 6th century and by the 9th century it was a hub of religion, learning, and craftsmanship as home to a small population living on the settlement. Famous high crosses of Ireland can be found here as well as Temple Ciaran which is a small church on the property. Many Irish people take the soil form this monastic site with the hope that planting it in their garden or field will result in healthy crops.

Interestingly, during his visit to Ireland in October 1979, Pope John Paul II requested a visit to the sacred site. It was intended to be a private and secret visit with a helicopter being hired to fly the Pope directly to the location for mass. According to our tour guide, however, the helicopter pilot told his mother the night before that he would be flying the Pope to Clonmacnoise and she, in traditional Irish-grapevine fashion, spread the word in a matter of hours. In the morning the site had tens of thousands of people in and around it waiting for the Pope to arrive. It was so crowded that he couldn't even land on the site but had to instead land in another field and walk over. Then, as Pope John Paul II would do, he told mass for the entire crowd from a glass-covered altar shown in the middle right of the second picture below.

After a short stop at a gas station for lunch, we continued on to Galway and arrived in the early afternoon. Our tour guide, Paul, gave us a brief but informative walking tour. We quickly got the layout of the small downtown area and received food and restaurant recommendations.

Interesting things from our tour:

One of the malls in Galway was originally planned to be built where a medieval wall stood. The architects knew that they could not break the wall so instead built the entire structure around the old wall which is prominently featured next to the child's play area. Instead of taking a picture of the wall I instead took a picture as Anna from Frozen but the wall was behind me.

Charlotte Bronte, author of Jane Eyre (my all-time favorite novel), used to come to Galway for the summer holiday. She would visit St. Nicholas Collegiate Church in Galway for mass and stared at a memorial on the wall for a faithful parishioner named Jane Eyre. I freaked out when I realized that it was this place where young Charlotte sat and thought up her most famous novel. Like seriously, wow. This has also led to many streets, squares, and shops in the area being named after the character.

Claddagh rings, which have since become a national Irish symbol and the souvenir for every girl that studies abroad in Ireland (I had one before I came), originated just across the river from Galway in the fishing village of Claddagh. Galway is now a very common place to buy these rings and I had two friends purchase them during our stay.

Because so many of Galway's buildings are old and historic, they cannot be knocked down or moved. Modern businesses have to work with the spaces creating interesting combinations like this Costa Coffee in a building that is hundreds of old.

After the tour we checked into our hostel which was in a perfect location and was super nice! My UCD roommate, Miranda, and I grouped with four other girls and we found our way to our 6-person room. I really like the place because it was very colorful and was even rated the "World's Best Large Hostel" by hostelworld.com in 2013.

For dinner we followed our tour guide's suggestion and went to a pop-up restaurant called the Dough Bros. for dinner. The pizza was very good (I ordered my favorite: ham, pineapple, and mushroom) and it was great going to such a local place that we never would have gone to without his recommendation.

After dinner we walked around the downtown area for a while and then headed back to the hostel. Our tour company has a deal with the local pub crawl and everyone on our trip got a discount if they wanted to go. Most people opted in and once we had cleaned up we went downstairs to meet the group. 

We got to go to four different pubs and then a club after. One of the clubs even had beer pong and flip-the-cup for the Americans and I got to try my first cocktail ever - a tequila sunrise! It was delicious!

We ended up just going to the club at the end for a few minutes and then retired back to the hostel out of exhaustion. It was a good day for sure!

Thanks for reading!

The Opinionated Lassie

Belfast, the Present and Past

The Center for Study Abroad offered a free day-trip to Belfast, Northern Ireland and I signed up. One of my goals for the semester was to make it up there and, even though I may try to have a whole weekend in Belfast later on, the free trip was the right price for me to see the city.

We departed UCD early and began our 2-hour drive up north.

I was very surprised at how little of a border there is and how we weren't checked for passports or anything. The border is actually just a sign reminding the driver that the speed would now be posted in MPH and that is it. No police, no toll, one could easily accidentally leave the Republic of Ireland and have no idea at all.

Belfast, in the last 40 years, has had a violent history during what is called "The Troubles." The Protestant majority in the area holds loyalty to the British Crown while the Catholic minority tends to want Irish unity or at least self-government. Each population's misunderstanding of the other led to blood-shed, religious segregation, and reduced rights for the Catholics in the area. Peace negotiations in the 1990s however, did effectively end the warfare and the since time has been used to repair the city and the relations of the two groups.

I was very surprised when we arrived in Belfast at the obvious and visible separation that still exists in the city. The peace wall, which features murals from many world conflicts and portraits of many world leaders, has barbed wire at the top of it. Another wall, which separates the Protestant and Catholic areas is at least 20-feet tall and you can see Irish flags and Union Jacks on either side.

A mural of Bobby Sands, who died during a hunger strike.

A mural on the Peace Wall.

A mural of Nelson Mandela on the Peace Wall.

The wall separating the Irish and Protestant neighborhoods.

We signed in, as does every other visitor. My friend's last name is Kidder for those of you who are confused.

The downtown area, however, where we got some food and coffee, is very nice and features all the perks of a modern city. And the people are extraordinarily friendly. For example, after buying some perfume in a shop I dropped my student card in the street while trying to put it away. Not noticing, my friend and I went into a coffee shop for a drink. This man came in and asked if I was Emily. I was like "yah, that's me" wondering why in the world he would know me and he replied by handing over my card. My friend and I were amazed be the kindness! He said that he found it on the street, searched me on Facebook and sent me a message saying how found it, but supposed I may have stopped for a sip of coffee. We were seated in the back of a fairly large restaurant and he had guessed right, coming all the way through the place before seeing me.

Belfast City Hall building.

People are generally good and I experienced nothing but kindness from locals in the area.

We then went to the Titanic Museum for an awesome tour. The Titanic was built in Belfast and the displays showed us all about the designing, building, furnishing, boarding, sailing, wrecking, and drowning of the magnificent ship. The museum contained four floors of exhibits and featured a beautiful design and tons of interesting information!!

The stunning building.

A display inside, the two men were talking to each other.

After this stop we departed back for Dublin. I was, of course, exhausted by the end of the day but am very glad I can now check the city off my list!

Thanks,

The Opinionated Lassie

Additionally I discuss this trip and Cork in my related YouTube video!