Galway – JourneyToAnywhere

Yesterday morning we woke later than expected, so we missed breakfast at the hotel. We rallied and went to a recommended spot called Cupan Tae. It was super cute, the tea and hot chocolate was delicious, as was the scone. The kids got unbelievably thick pancakes that were also very good. Steve and I got the breakfast sandwich. We both thought the apply chutney would be on the side, not so. The sandwich was excellent but SWEET! It held us to dinner.

Cupan Tae
We sat right in the window with all the cups.

The rest of the morning was spent walking around Galway City. We were amazed by how many kegs were rolling into the bars getting ready for the St. Patrick’s Day weekend celebration. Cute shops and pubs lined the streets.

Galway City Quay Street Decked out for the St. Patrick’s Day Weekend

We then headed to the main attraction for the day the Cliffs of Moher. Despite the wintery mix and the fog, it was quite a sight. No words nor pictures do it justice.

After getting out of the cold for a moment at the visitor’s center, we headed to the Burren. It’s an area in which limestone covers the ground.

Much of Ireland was this way, and when they needed to start farming the land, they cleared and used them for the stones fences Ireland is so famous for.

Poulanabrone Dolmen is in the Burren; it’s a burial site even older than Newgrange. It was after 5:00 by the time we got there, and we had the spot all to ourselves.

By that time were starving. Both Steve and I were looking forward to eating at Moran’s Oyster Cottage on the Wild Atlantic Way. We love oysters from Virginia, so we planned to eat our weight in them. We got a half-dozen of the two types offered. When they “popped them down” on the table they were gorgeous. I took my first bite to discover the taste of the Atlantic Ocean. It turns out that the plate in front of me was “sweet” compared to the plate in front of Steve. We feel very lucky to live in Virginia and eat oysters from the bay.

The drive back to The House Hotel was about a half-hour, and we tucked the kids into the hotel and then Steve, and I ventured back out. Quay Street in the Latin Quarter was hoppin’. We ended up at a pub that had some live music, but disappointingly, it wasn’t trad. Feeling old, or maybe that was just me, after a drink or two we headed back to the hotel.

Our plan this morning was to wake up early but when I rolled over it was 9:30. We were well rested and didn’t even miss breakfast at the hotel. Wes and Steve both had a traditional Irish breakfast, Audrey had pancakes, and I had Egg’s Benedict. Yum! We’re now on our three-hour journey to Killarney (I’ll have to post this later) where we will spend the next two nights. The rest of the afternoon we’ll spend in Killarney National Park, which is part of the Ring of Kerry.

Summary of travel lessons:

Ask for sweet stuff on the side if you’re not used to it.

Try new things and appreciate what’s available to you at home.

Bring hiking boots or shoes. (My slip-on tennis shoes were very comfortable but got stuck in two inches of mud, and I pulled my foot right out of it).

Set your alarm!

As soon as I hit “publish” on my last post, I heard what I thought was live music. I finished my coffee and went to where the crowd was gathering. Sure enough, a three-person Irish band and dancers were performing what I now know the Irish call, Trad.

I have a video of the dancers too, who were amazing but the file is too big right now to load it to the site.

Once my troops were gathered, we headed to pick up the rental car. Steve quickly got used to driving on the right side of the vehicle, and the left side of the road. We were off to Newgrage, which is north of Dublin.

If you want to learn a little bit about it, here’s a great website. But, of course, the pictures and description don’t do it justice. Newgrange is a sacred tomb and dates back 5,000 years (before Stonehenge). There are three such structures nearby, but Newgrange is the most visited.

As you can see, we dodged the rain while we were here and the sky was beautiful and sunny. The wind, however, was another story.

The rock carvings in the limestone are incredible. There are concentric circles, diamonds, triangles, and similar shapes. There are many, of these types of structure around Europe and Africa with similar markings but, so far, Newgrange is the only one that has three interlocking spiral circles.

The the most amazing part was that we were able to enter the tomb. No pictures though… The passageways were narrow and there were carvings throughout. Once you got in, there was a domed ceiling made out of nothing but stones. In the 5,000 years it has been standing, never has a drop of water fallen in. And, as our guide John joked, “That’s saying something in Ireland.”

During the winter solstices and at sunrise, for three days sunlight moves through the tomb. They recreated it while we were inside. I can only imagine the spectacle it is when it’s actual sunlight.

The walk back to the bus was beautiful too.

Audrey and I waiting for Steve and Wes to catch up after taking the second bus.

Wes and Steve with the foot bridge behind them.

This tour took much longer than expected, although everyone agreed it was worth it. We scrapped our visit to the Hill of Tara and jumped back into the car to make the three-hour drive to Galway.

No one slept or ate much on the plane so about 2 hours in, we decided we needed to stop to eat. We ended up in Athlone in County Westmeath right on the river Shannon. The restaurant we picked was delicious, and it was a great first dining experience.

About 4:30 we made it to The House Hotel in Galway, which we will be calling home for the next two nights. By the time we got here, it was raining. That was fine with us as we just wanted to crash. I slept until 10:00 and learned that Steve and Audrey had ventured out to grab a slice of pizza and a Guinness (just Steve).

The plan was to take a double-decker bus tour of Galway at 3:00 today, but we missed it. So, we’ll see what tomorrow brings. We may stay and discover the city a bit more, or we may venture out to the surrounding areas.

Hope all is well in the US. We can mark day one in Ireland as a grand success!

Category: Galway

Day Two and the Morning of Day Three

Day One: Plan, but Go Where the Adventure Takes You