Plus de verdure en Irelande!

How is it that every day I am falling more and more in love with this country?

Today, Chrissy and I woke up with the intention of going on a tour to Connemara and the Aran Islands.  We went to the terminal where the tour was supposed to meet, when alas, we discovered that the tours for this specific company would not be running until it was warmer.  Somewhat panicked, we ran back towards our hostel to talk to the other Aran Islands tour companies, only to discover that the shuttles had already left, and that there was no way we would make it to the port in time to catch the ferry over.  We were both bummed, but I was especially bummed because I wouldn’t get the chance to do the tour; Chrissy is planning on going tomorrow morning, but I have to head back to Paris.

We quickly decided on another plan of attack, and booked a cheap tour of the Burren and the Cliffs of Moher with Healy Tours for the day.  We stopped in the Burren first, at an Irish farmer’s little house.  His little house sat on acres and acres of Burren land, and he gave us a tour of the land, discussed some of the history behind it, and told us some great stories along the way.  It was pretty cool actually climbing the “rolling” mountain, even though there were a lot of rocks and it was difficult at times.  I didn’t realize how much grass there actually was in the Burren until I was walking in it; from afar, it looks like almost the entire area is covered with rocks.  After this little tour, our guide invited us into his house for some of his mother’s homemade apple pie and carrot cake.  Yum?  It’s one of the most incredible experiences when you are invited into someone else’s home to dine; I loved every second of it.

After this little diversion, we hopped back on the bus and began to head towards the famous Cliffs of Moher.  Our driver, as much as he loves them, is a bigger fan of a smaller set of cliffs that is about 20 minutes away from the Moher ones.  We got out, took in the beauty of Galway Bay, captured some photos of it, and then we got back on the bus to head towards our lunch destination.

We stopped at Fitzpatrick’s Pub in Doolin, which was a cute little place.  I got another delicious bowl of seafood chowder, and the BEST brown bread of the entire trip!  It was so dense and filling and tasty, I wanted the piece to last forever.  Does one ever get enough of this hearty Irish food?!

The idea that the world is actually a small place was proven to me AGAIN in that fateful little pub.  As Chrissy and I were eating, I looked over at the table next to us, and I caught eyes with a girl who looked extremely familiar.  Turns out, Morgan goes to BC, too, and was visiting her friend Elizabeth, who is currently studying abroad in Galway!  What were the odds that they were on our tour, of all tours?!  We caught up as we finished our lunch, figured out where we knew each other from, and proceeded to have a nice little chat as we made our way to the Cliffs of Moher.

After lunch, we finally arrived at the Cliffs.  Although it was my second trip (the first was in junior year of high school), this time was so much more incredible and overwhelming.  The skies were as blue as could be, the clouds were fluffy, white, and few, and the visibility was the best it could ever possibly be.  As a result, I was able to see for miles in all directions; I saw the Aran Islands, the Twelve Pins, and the Irish countryside, and I couldn’t seem to drink it in fast enough.

We were all exhausted at this point, and had a very sleepy ride back to Galway.  Along the way we stopped to look at Dunguire Castle, one of a dozen true remaining roof thatchers actually thatching his roof, and some silly Irish llamas.

Finally back in Galway, Chrissy and I realized we were pretty hungry, so we went to a cute little Restaurant/Pub called The Front Door, which I’m pretty sure was my favorite restaurant in Galway.  Our waiter (who I’m pretty sure was the owner as well) was so incredibly friendly, and we ended up having a nice talk with him for 20 minutes, about pretty much anything and everything.  He recommended I try the shepherd’s pie, which I did…boy, was that tasty.  So incredibly filling though; between the food and my pint of Bulmer’s, I was stuffed by the time we got back to our hostel.

We rested for a bit, and then I met up with Elizabeth and Morgan at Elizabeth’s apartment, which was adorable.  We went to Taaffe’s for a while, had some Baby Guinnesses & Bulmer’s, and ended up meeting a friendly Irish guy and his Spanish lady friend.  They bought us a couple of round (how kind!), and we set off for another bar, 953.  We ran into a few more BC girls outside the bar, who were on their way to a club called Cuba.  And so off to Cuba we went!  It was pretty fun, but the three of us were tired and left kinda early.  We stopped in Supermac’s so that I could grab a snack, and ended up meeting a drunk 15-year old knucklehead, to whom I introduced myself as Betty from Utah.  Good times.

It was so nice hanging out with these girls; I love running into awesome people in foreign cities, which seems to be turning into a habit of mine…