Adventure is Out There

My travel logs! Sometimes accompanied by details, sometimes just me saying where I have been (and pictures).

Travel Log I: Connemara 

This past Saturday was our first excursion of our program--it was to Connemara (including Cong village and Kylemore Abbey). Led by a very amusing bus guide, we heard some history and stories while weaving our way on hilly roads through the stunning Connemara countryside. 

Our first stop was at Ross Abbey (Ross Errilly Friary) founded in appx. 1351 and closed in 1832. Now just a ruin, it still has many unique features that have been there since it was in use.

Next was a stop in the village of Cong--best known for being the backdrop of many action scenes from the 1952 cult classic film "The Quiet Man."

For those that have seen the film (and enjoyed it): You can go and see Pat Cohan's Bar, the statue of John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara, or visit the Quiet Man museum/tour.

For everyone else: This is a quaint village featuring lovely walks along Lough Corrib and through the trees, sights like the Cong Abbey (and Monk fishing house) dating back to the 13th century, as well as Ashford Castle-- a medieval castle originally built in 1228 (now a five-star hotel.) It is well worth a stop.

After that, we had a relaxing drive in the bus (relaxing as long as you 1. trust your driver, 2. close your eyes around the corners and 3. close your eyes when other cars come along the road that looks to be made for one...) through the gorgeous landscape of Connemara. (And, yes, that picture is mine.)

And for the last part of our day, it was time for (the main event): Kylemore Abbey (And the Victorian Walled Garden).This positively fairy-tale-esq abbey was built in the late 1800's as a private home (Kylemore Castle) for the family of Mitchell Henry. It became a benedictine monastery in 1920 for nuns that fled Belgium during World War I. It became a girl's boarding school in 1923--and was closed as a school due to falling numbers in 2010. Now it is one of the most photographed places in Ireland, and features a museum in the abbey itself, woodland walks, a gothic church, and the largest walled victorian garden in Ireland. Definitely a must see.

Travel Log II: Dublin

Our second ISA excursion was this past weekend to--you guessed it--Dublin's fair city! Dublin is the capital of the Republic of Ireland, and--with a population of just above a million people--the largest city in Ireland. Our excursion included a packed itinerary including many of the hottest attractions, plus we had free time to explore a bit ourselves, (and we happened to be there during the Hurling finals--so there was a lot of excitement surrounding that!)

I won't go into details/pictures as much with this post as the last, but I will say a few bits!

So, we stayed at a hostel called Abigails right on the river, around the corner from Temple bar and O'connell street. It was quite lovely, I thought, and such a good location! We took the bus from Galway to Dublin and had time to rest before starting our walking tour of the city.

Our walking tour took us to O'Connell street (big shopping area), Temple Bar (classic tourist area--great music in some fun pubs though), the Dublin farmer's market (a few minutes to taste their food), the Dublin Castle, The Garden of Remembrance, St. Stephen's Green, and Trinity College. And once at Trinity we went into the Library and got to see the Book of Kells (and the exhibits around it) as well.

Saturday night we went to Fitzsimmons for dinner and as a start to our (sort of) pub crawl. We went from there to the Porterhouse (which had a huge menu of international beers, and mix drinks), and then split up. Myself and the group I was with went from there to Temple Bar and listened to the last few songs from a fantastic band, and then to The Quays (always The Quays, even in Dublin) and listened to another band there. After that we made our way back to the hostel and stopped in on one more band playing in Merchant's Arch before heading to bed.

Sunday started with us heading straight out to the Guinness Storehouse.
It was a very cool building--basically a beer-lover's disneyland--and was quite interesting and fun even for a non-beer-lover such as myself. We learned how to pour the perfect pint and made our way to the incredible 360 degree views over Dublin at the Gravity bar up top. Then we had a break (lunch at Merchant's Arch) and visited the National Museum before grabbing some great dessert at The Sweetest Thing and heading home to Galway!
 


Travel Log III: Killarney
First, let me just say: Killarney was absolutely MAGICAL. And, this was our first trip without ISA, which is cool. So, 6 of us went to Killarney and stayed overnight, checking out a lot of stuff while there. Some of the girls were there two nights and thus go to do the Ring of Kerry tour (I did it a few years back, it is stunning) but I got there Saturday so had to miss that.

Instead, a friend and myself went to Dyne for lunch and then took a walk first to St. Mary's Cathedral (gorgeous) and then through Killarney National Park. We found this amazing fallen tree there and took the picture on the right, and just strolled along the paths until we reached Ross Castle. Ross Castle was built in the 15th century and sits on the edge of Lough Leane.

I saw a horse tied up with its carriage and of course went over to ask to pet it--and the wonderful driver (Patrick) asked if we would like a free ride back into town. It was absolutely fantastic and really made my weekend (that and all the tree climbing and exploring!)

Then we went back to the hostel and played some card games before heading out to dinner. We split up depending on taste (I just wanted desert personally) and a friend and I headed to a pub called Murphy's. Then we all met back up for ice cream and headed in for the night.

The next morning we woke up and went to try and catch the bus to take us to Muckross House. The bus, however, was not running early enough. So, we walked the good hour/ hour and a half into the park and to the abbey and house. It was so worth it! From there we grabbed a cab and our stuff and headed out to the buses--and back to Galway we went!



Travel Log IV: The Aran Islands
Before anything: I LOVED this trip! It took a lot of work, we had some struggles, but in the end I think most of us were really happy (if very exhausted).

What we did: We took a ferry over to the biggest island (Inis Mor) and rented bicycles to go see the sights. It was about 14 miles on the bikes to the main sights--and at first it was pouring on us. Cold, rainy--our day was looking bleak. But, after only about 20 minutes, the sun came out and stayed out the rest of the day. So we biked along, stopping for occasional pictures, etc, and finally made it to a

beach where we stopped for a short time and hung out.


After the beach, we were supposed to go up to a cafe and eat lunch before heading to Dun Aengus (Dun Aonghasa--a famous prehistoric fort on the island), though some of us took a bit of a detour.../got a bit lost...but we eventually did make it! We ate in the cute little cafe, dried out our clothes in the sun and by the fire, checked out the small stores selling Aran sweaters and postcards, and then headed on the walk up to the fort.

We spent some time up at the fort, hanging out on (and slightly over--sorry mom) the cliffs there. We then started down and--with the guidance of our director--went off-roading
, climbing over a fence and heading out over a field back to walk along the cliffs. Our path led to an area called "The Serpent's Lair"--a very cool natural formation just on the other side of one of the cliffs (see picture).

From there, we headed back to our bikes, and took off on the coastal road back to the ferry and to the double decker bus that would take us home to Galway after a wonderful, gorgeous day on Inis Mor.    



Travel Log V: The Burren and Cliffs of Moher

Another absolutely fantastic day trip! We had our great bus driver that we had in Connemara again, and we saw many wonderfully magical and stunningly beautiful sites all around the other-worldly, unique, landscape of the Burren.


Once on our tour bus, we headed to County Clare and the Burren. For some background: The Burren is one of the most unique landscapes in the world because it hosts foliage and geology traits that can almost exclusively be found there. The look is very rocky and described as a "lunar" landscape. We made a few stops along the way towards the Cliffs.

The first stop was Dunguaire Castle, a 16th century tower house. Legend has it that the original Lord of the castle was a very generous man, and that--to this day--if you stand at the gates and ask a question, you will have the answer by the end of the day.

The next stop was in a small pub in Kinvara for some coffee, then we were off again to the Poulnabrone Dolmen, a portal tomb dating back to appx. 4200 BC. Excavations showed that 22 Adults and 6 children had been buried in the tomb, with various items inside as well.

After this stop, we went to a fascinating and magical area known as a Fairy Ring. Off in the woods, this ring had many legends and stories behind it and its seemingly magical properties. According to the stories, the particular Fairy ring we were in was notorious for helping with problems. The myths say that, if you think really hard about what problem you want the fairies to help with, that problem will right itself within the next year. Standing in that beautiful area, closing your eyes and listening to the breeze sway through trees, it wasn't hard to imagine that there might be some mystical beings around after all.

After all that, it was time to go to lunch in the tiny town of Doolin (we went to a great little pub called O'Connors) and shop around before heading to the Cliffs!

The Cliffs of Moher are easily the most distinct and one of the most visited of the attractions in Ireland--and for good reason. Standing their tallest at about 700 feet, the cliffs drop straight down into the Atlantic, and look like something out of a fantasy film. No matter which way you turned, it was just consistently gorgeous on the cliffs--and we got lucky and had such a gorgeous day for it as well (though that wind was enough to just about pick you up and throw you right over the edge.)
We spent a good couple of hours there before heading back toward Galway (with a few more very cool stops on the water along the way).


Travel Log VI: Cork