irishokie's TravelStream™ — Recent TravelPod.com entries TravelStream™ news feed for member irishokie on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/irishokie en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Wed, 01 Aug 2007 05:21:29 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com Farewell, Ireland — Shannon, Ireland http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/irishokie/ireland-2007/1185959820/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/irishokie/ireland-2007/1185959820/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/irishokie/ireland-2007/1185959820/tpod.html Wed, 01 Aug 2007 05:21:29 -0400 Long way from home: a homebody's trip across the ocean!
Shannon, Ireland

Just got done eating breakfast. I am waiting on my taxi to take me to the airport. Six weeks! Gone in the blink of an eye. This has been a wonderful experience for me. I have learned much about myself and made new friends along the way. I have got to see things that I never believed I would be able to see. Ireland is a wonderful country, with friendly people and a rich and interesting history. I fell in love with it! I am sad to be leaving but am so excitied to be going home! I have missed everyone terribly and can't wait to see you all! Pray for my flight (and my three bags!) See you soon.
Slan go foill, Eireann!
Love, Danielle
]]> Goodbye Galway — Galway, Ireland http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/irishokie/ireland-2007/1185657540/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/irishokie/ireland-2007/1185657540/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/irishokie/ireland-2007/1185657540/tpod.html Tue, 31 Jul 2007 19:50:36 -0400 Long way from home: a homebody's trip across the ocean!
Galway, Ireland

Goodbye Galway, goodbye! Today was the day we had to be out of our apartments. Some are flying home and some (like me) are going on and traveling for awhile. As weird as it sounds, I am having a hard time leaving some of the friends I have made over here. I am not exactly known for making fast friends, so this is pretty unusual for me! But, I am really glad I let down some walls, for once, and I have made some good friends, that I will hopefully stay in touch with! I am also sad to be leaving this city behind. It has become my home away from home and I really fell in love with the city. I guess, it is my comfort zone in Ireland! Well, its off to the north for me. Donegal, here I come. I can't wait!! It is where my favorite Irish movie was filmed, Secret of Roan Inish. Hopefully, I will be able to see me some seals! So, goodbye Spud House. Goobye, rainy weather. Goodbye, Quay street. Goodbye, Galway!


]]> Donegal — Donegal Town, Co. Donegal, Ireland http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/irishokie/ireland-2007/1185837900/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/irishokie/ireland-2007/1185837900/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/irishokie/ireland-2007/1185837900/tpod.html Tue, 31 Jul 2007 19:47:42 -0400 Long way from home: a homebody's trip across the ocean!
Donegal Town, Co. Donegal, Ireland

Donegal! Beautiful! This is considered the wild part of the country. Beautiful rustic mountains, blue coastlines, seal colonies, charming villages. The town where I stayed at, Donegal Town, is located in the southern part of the county. However, Donegal is the furthest most part of the island, even further north than most of Northern Ireland. It really is a spectactular area of Ireland. I think my favorite (wink, wink). This is very much a biking and hiking territory. The accent here is very different than where I have been in the west. The natives still have the lyrical Irish accent, but with faint echoes of the Scottish burr. I thinks this reflects Donegal's history with Scotland: when Ireland was finally conquered by the English, the crown brought settlers over from Scotland to Ireland. You can also see this in the last names, many beginning with "Mac" etc. I had fun with this accent! Donegal Town has an old castle that you can tour. Really quite famous, actually. It was a stronghold of the powerful O'Donnell family and later a powerful English-settling family. It was quite beautiful...makes me want to live in a castle. I thought it intersting that it was a medieval castle located in the centre of a booming town! But, that's Ireland for you! Modern and ancient, co-exsisting. But I suppose that is true for most places, especially in Europe. Gave me the chills walking through a castle where people lived, worked, and fought hundreds of years before! The town is located right on Donegal Bay and I took a waterbus of the tour and guess what? I got to see a seal colony! Apparently at times, over 200 seals live on this particular spot. The bay is also infamous for the coffin ships that used to sail out of its port during the famine years and their are monuments dedicated to this. Donegal Town even has a famine graveyard. I explored a ruined abbey, which is where The Annals of the Four Masters was written. These are manuscripts written by four monks fearing that the attacking English would raid their abbey. [PHOTO_ID_L=donegal-abbey.jpg
These manuscripts document Irish history from Celtic era to the 1600s. Apparently, it is a valuable source for historians to this day. The abbey, though in ruins, is a modern cemetary, some dating to the 1700s and through more recent times. I really fell in love with Donegal. I wish I had more time to go further up north--I hear that is where the real beauty of Donegal is. But, I will save that for next time!

]]> Road Trip, Part 2 — County Mayo, Ireland http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/irishokie/ireland-2007/1185147780/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/irishokie/ireland-2007/1185147780/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/irishokie/ireland-2007/1185147780/tpod.html Tue, 24 Jul 2007 20:16:33 -0400 Long way from home: a homebody's trip across the ocean!
County Mayo, Ireland

County Mayo! Home of the Quiet Man, Grace O'Malley, St. Patrick, and is where the Great Famine hit the island the hardest. We sat out Sunday with goals of driving through Connemara and County Mayo (it is the county directly north of County Galway). We didn't realize that we would first hit County Mayo, then Connemara, then County Mayo again, and back to County Galway. What a time! Our first stop was the city of Cong, which its claim to fame is where John Ford filmed the iconic film, The Quiet Man. The town takes pride in this fact: there is a Quiet Man heritage center, Quiet Man cafe, and many more. It was a cute little village. Our next stop was right outside of Cong and it was the Ballymacgibbon Cairn. A cairn is an artifical pile of stones, stacked in a cone shape, usually noting a burial site or monument to something significant. We were expecting a small one, but it was huge! Off a beaten, single track road it was hidden behind overgrown trees and big stone walls. According to legend, it was the site of the Celtic battle of Moytura. We hopped the stone wall, keeping our eye out for a farmer or his cow, and climbed over moss covered stones to get to the top, where we proceded to get rained on! Luckly, we had our rain jackets. Not to far away in another field was a ruined house we went to explore. Much to my dismay, we had to "hop" two fences. For someone who never would (or couldn't) climb fences as a kid, I am sure getting my fill of them now! But climb them I did--without injuring myself! And the ruins, were really neat to explore. It looked like the ruins of an old farm, complete with the large house and smaller houses and barns. On one side of the site was plowed land, the other sheep grazing. I don't think the sheep were very happy --they kept yelling at us. We got back to the car, (it is still raining, by the way) and proceeded to back our way out to the main road. But, the car got stuck in the mud! We kept calm (maybe) and between my pushing and Allison's driving, we finally got it out. Although, I thought that we were going to have to get a farmer to help us, a tow truck, or go tromping for leaves to make a platform of some sort! Back on the road, we set out for Croagh Patrick. It is a very large pilgrammage mountain, that is according to legend is where St. Patrick where he fasted for 40 days and where he drove out Ireland's snakes. Every year at the end of July, tons of pilgrams climb the steep mountain to the top. A true pilgram does it barefoot, too! It really was beautiful. Directly across that was the sea and Clare Island. Clare Island is where the famous pirate queen, Grace O'Malley lived. She is a really fascinating historical figure and the Irish love her! Mayo is beautiful: gorgeous coast lines, remote loughs, green hills, and charming villages. Coming home we got lost several times. A major bridge had collapsed last week (a huge controversary and has been in the news a lot) and this caused us to take an alternate route through the mountains and tiny, tiny roads. But it was worth it! All in all, this weekend has been an amazing experience for me. I really got to experience the Ireland I have always wanted, on my own time, and in a car. Also, I am so proud of Allison and me. We did great following a road map for a country that is not known for their accurate or detailed road signs! Danielle the Navigator! I have made some memories that will last a lifetime!
]]> Road Trip, Part 2 — Connemara, County Galway, Ireland http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/irishokie/ireland-2007/1185144000/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/irishokie/ireland-2007/1185144000/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/irishokie/ireland-2007/1185144000/tpod.html Tue, 24 Jul 2007 20:02:46 -0400 Long way from home: a homebody's trip across the ocean!
Connemara, County Galway, Ireland

What a day! What a day! Connemara is gorgeous! It is a region directly north of Galway city and it's made up of wild and rustic mountains, bogs, valleys, and loughs (lakes). The roads are tiny! Supposedly, they are two lane roads, but they are hardly big enough for one car, let alone two! Oh, and the mountains! Stunning! I love mountains, and these took the cake! Driving through the mountains was an amazing time. We would be at the top of mountains, driving on curving roads and we turn a corner, and BAM! The mountains would break and there would be a beautiful lough (pronounced lock) ahead of us. These lakes are gorgeous--clear water, so deep sometimes as to almost look black. The shore lines of the lakes are interesting--they just seem to gradually blend into the land, if that makes any sense. This area is also home to Ireland's sheep farming. Farmers let them run free here! We had to brake many times because a sheep would be relaxing in the middle of the road. You hear stories about cows and sheeps suddenly appearing in the modern roads, but I never really believed it! But it is true! This area is also in the heart of the Gaeltacht area, which is where Irish is the first language and the majority of the road signs are only in Irish (rather than Irish and English like they are in most of the country). Needless to say we got turned around a bunch. It was such an adventure. Just me and Allison, driving through some of the most beautiful spots this island has to offer. Made me in awe of God's creation, as cliche as it sounds. I don't know if it was excitement, awe, or what--but I almost got kinda teary eyed, it was so wonderful! =) This is the Ireland you think of: rolling mountains, green valleys, beautiful water, and sheep!
]]> Road Trip, Part 1 — Cliffs of Moher, Co. Clare, Ireland http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/irishokie/ireland-2007/1185062220/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/irishokie/ireland-2007/1185062220/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/irishokie/ireland-2007/1185062220/tpod.html Sat, 21 Jul 2007 21:37:31 -0400 Long way from home: a homebody's trip across the ocean!
Cliffs of Moher, Co. Clare, Ireland

I had the most amazing time today! Me and three other girls rented a car and drove a couple hours south of Galway to the stunning Cliffs of Moher. Though hailed as Ireland's #1 tourism attraction, one really cannot miss these cliffs when coming here! Sheer vertical drops with cliff edges that are very roomy. We picked the best time to go. We went in the morning, way before any of the big tour busses arrived. The first part of the cliffs (and safest area) was beautiful, but the best part was when you went past the paved walkways and walled cliff sides and onto the less traveled path that overlooked the edge. And boy, did we hike! We saw an old ruined tower that we wanted to inspect far off in the distance, so we rolled up our jeans and set out! This tower war pretty cool, too. It was supposedly built as a watchtower in case Napoleon tried to invade the western coast of Ireland. But its views were stunning! And it was worth the long trek (I estimate we walked at least 4 or 5 miles to get there, all on windy, rocky, edges). And there were hardly any other tourists on this particular part which was a plus. I was in my element: I got to explore on my own time and schedule and hike an amazing hike! I loved it! They say on a clear day you can see the Aran Islands, Connemara, and Galway Bay. Although it didn't rain and the sun was out, fog was heavy so it was hard to see way out to the ocean. But what parts of the ocean I did see were beautiful. The water is crystal clear--so many shades of blue in one spot. So clear, that if you look at the bottom of the cliffs, it looks like a mirror image! In fact, what you see is the cliffs seem to go on forever, even under the water's edge. Seagulls flying everywhere! As my friend Emma said, they seem to like to show off to all the tourists--some flying in circles and take deep plunges in the air right in front of you. Noisy little birds! Interesting noise, too. Sometimes their calls would sound like a baby's squawk. Driving (not me, my friends) was quite the adventure. I think this is one of the high points of my time in Ireland. Everything is on the opposite side! I sat in the front seat (which is the driver's side in the States) and went to go fix the rear view mirror! But Caitlin and Allison did a great job. I was quiet impressed! Especially because these Irish roads are not known for their spacious lanes! The best part of this trip was that we got to take our time, doing and seeing what we wanted. We made many stops along the way: stopped at St. Brigid's Holy Well which was filled with all these pilgramage trinkets; stopped at many scenic overlooks to take pictures: stopped in several small towns, and even hopped a fence to explore a very ruined manor house! All in all, it was a glorious day and I made memories that will last a lifetime all with newfound, good friends!


P.S. I even tried to find the pot of gold at the end of a giant rainbow! =)
]]> The Burren Part 2 — The Burren, Co. Clare, Ireland http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/irishokie/ireland-2007/1184719440/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/irishokie/ireland-2007/1184719440/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/irishokie/ireland-2007/1184719440/tpod.html Tue, 17 Jul 2007 21:23:29 -0400 Long way from home: a homebody's trip across the ocean!
The Burren, Co. Clare, Ireland

Went back to the Burren today for my archaeology class. Today was different than the last trip because we went to two medieval sites instead of prehistoric sites. The first site we went to was called Cahercommaun. Built in the 800s, it is a huge hill fort that has three concentric rings made up of stone walls. It is quite a hike to get to--it is built on the top of a cliff. In fact, it is built on the edge. Apparently, due to its massive size, it was a fort of someone high in the social order, maybe even royalty. The second site we went to was the ruined, but still beautiful, Corcomoe Abbey. Built in the 1200s, it still has a cemetary that is used by local families despite being abandoned several centuries ago! I loved this place. It is built right into the side of a hill, if you look out its windows, you can see the rocky hills of the Burren. There are cattle that graze right on its grounds. It was really a peaceful place. After our too brief time here at the abbey, we got back on our bus, and it wouldn' t start! We had to wait for a new one to come and take us back to Galway. But I wasn't complaining! While everyone was down the road at the pub, I wandered around the grounds and sat on the stone wall that surrounded the church and let the wind blow in my face! Wonderful and peaceful feeling. I know I keep saying this, but I do believe that Corcomoe Abbey is my favorite place so far! I think I could spend days here, just wandering the Burren!
]]> Aran Islands — Inishmor, Ireland http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/irishokie/ireland-2007/1184536800/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/irishokie/ireland-2007/1184536800/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/irishokie/ireland-2007/1184536800/tpod.html Sun, 15 Jul 2007 19:21:14 -0400 Long way from home: a homebody's trip across the ocean!
Inishmor, Ireland

Today was a wonderful day! I had the time of my life on the Aran Islands and I got to ride a bike (which I have missed mine terribly!) The Aran Islands are three islands located about 9km off the Galway bay. Really very beautiful. We went to the largest and most visited of them all, Inishmor. All three islands are dotted with prehistoric and medieval forts. Inishmor, though, probably has the most famous and impressive site of all three islands. Called Dun Aonghasa, it is a massive prehistoric fort built on the edge of a cliff that drops 250 feet below to the Atlantic Ocean. It is surrounded by three outer walls and an area of spiked standing stones that acted as a defense in front of the walls. No guard rails, you can literally peer over the edge! And that was a sight! The waves pounding the cliff side, the winds blowing like crazy, and the seagulls flying below you. To get there, we got to ride bikes from the docks all over the island. That was a lot of fun. Although, I definetly picked the wrong bike! I didn't get much time to pick one and there was a ton people racing to get a bike. It was this pink, rusty bicycle that cranked and whined everytime I went up a hill or shifted gears! And the brakes? Over here, they are on the opposite sides of the handrails. I had a few close calls, needless to say! I didn't notice they had really nice Raleigh bikes till it was too late! Oh well, I may have looked like a dork riding it, but it was really nice to be riding again, especially with the views I had! And the stone walls that were everywhere! Some even holding cattle from wandering to the cliffs below. I really tried to get a picture of them, but the camera doesn't do the landscape justice. These islands are very unique. The people really try to hold onto their way of life, but tourism has brought them so much. Modern boats and bikes contrast with old men who speak Irish so fast between each other that it makes your head spin! The Aran Islands are famous for their handknit sweaters and other such goods. Really beautiful items, made from the finest wool with the most beautiful colors. I know I said this about the Dingle Pennisula, but Insishmor has been my favorite spot so far! (Well, if I was honest with myself, every place I have been over here has been my favorite!)

P.S. Me and my friends are planning a picture sharing party, so I will have many, many more pictures to share soon!
]]> I'm Here!!! — Galway, Ireland http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/irishokie/ireland-2007/1185575580/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/irishokie/ireland-2007/1185575580/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/irishokie/ireland-2007/1185575580/tpod.html Sun, 08 Jul 2007 22:54:40 -0400 Long way from home: a homebody's trip across the ocean!
Galway, Ireland

My face hurts...I don't think I have stopped smiling since I walked out of Shannon Airport! I really can't believe I am here. This is a longtime dream coming true and it is very surreal. At the moment, I am extremely jet lagged!! (yuck) But I wouldn't trade this experience for the world. I will have more later.
]]> Dingle Penninsula, County Kerry — Dingle, Ireland http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/irishokie/ireland-2007/1183946340/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/irishokie/ireland-2007/1183946340/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/irishokie/ireland-2007/1183946340/tpod.html Sun, 08 Jul 2007 22:20:24 -0400 Long way from home: a homebody's trip across the ocean!
Dingle, Ireland

I wanted to post some pictures for everyone. I will add more text soon, but I am pretty tired! They aren't in chronological order, but they are some of the best shots I got! The bus was moving kinda fast!
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