Galway & The Burren
Trip Start
Apr 16, 2004
1
46
51
Trip End
Aug 31, 2008
Galway,
Ireland
Saturday, March 29, 2008
28 March - Friday
Once we'd woken up we headed into the hotel to have a breakfast... We made our selection and sat down at our table. Breakfast arrive without the juice, sausages and mushrooms, and when we queried this they informed us that they had run out. When paying they wanted to charge us the full price of the breakfast!!! My mom contended this and managed to infuriate the lady despite the fact that my mom was in her full right to query. We paid the relevant fees and left with one very angry woman glaring at us on the way out.
We easily managed to navigate our way out of Dublin, and head off on the N6 towards Galway
Athlone - Browne's Bar & Guiness truck
. The first place we decided to stop at was Athlone. Why? Not sure besides the fact that it sort of was halfway, the name sounded somewhat familiar, and the map showed a huge lake right near Athlone. We drove around without too much sense of direction and finally found a parking spot on the river. There was a huge castle on the hill, assuming it was Athlone Castle or something of the likes, and a fair few smaller streets. We decided to just stroll around and stop for a coffee in a coffee shop. Little did we know how elusive coffee shops were in the area, but we finally managed to find some place that would serve us a scone with cream and a couple of coffees.There wasn't too much else of interest and thus off again towards Galway. Finding our way out of Athlone proved to be somewhat more of challenge with two women in the car both thinking of two completely different directions in which to head.
What struck us while driving at our steady pace across the country was the amount of stone walls on the way. Firstly we were estimating that there were hundreds of kilometers of wall, and with further driving, the estimate further increased to thousands and potentially even more. However, what we also realised was that there were no rocks elsewhere along the way
Athlone - Sean's Bar (Ireland's Oldest Pub)
. Where did the stones for all of these walls come from?Before reaching Galway we headed south towards Clarinbridge where our B&B, Karaun House was booked. We were greeted by Teresa O'Dea who welcomed us into her home. As we were quite early (check-in meant to be 15:00) we quickly dropped off our bags and decided to explore Galway for the rest of the afternoon. Again with no real idea of where we were heading to, we set off for the city and with luck found a parking spot in the city centre.
The wind was howling and it was raining intermittently so the shops were clearly our safest options. It wasn't until we'd sauntered through a whole shopping mall when we discovered a really nice small street of shops just around the corner. By this time I think we'd expended most of our energy, and having quickly walked through to the end of the street we decided to head on back as Teresa had booked us in to a good seafood restaurant near Clarinbridge, the Moran Oyster Cottage.
We were quite tired, so our booked was relatively early. I ordered salmon and my mom loads of oysters. The food was really good but the whole place itself didn't sell itself as the most excellent of restaurants in terms of atmosphere, though had nothing to complain about
Near Clarinbridge
.Back at Karaun House we turned on our electric blankets and snuggled into bed, exhausted.
29 March - Saturday
Early we woke up again as my mother is an early riser with no mercy for those wishing to sleep in. This left me no choice but to follow suite, get out of bed, clothe myself and head down for an Irish breakfast prepared by Teresa.
Breakfast was great with the exception of the black pudding. Though I couldn't criticize it for flavour and taste, knowing that it's main composition is blood only is enough to put you off the idea of eating it some what. Mom didn't know what it was and took a fair few bites. After having been enlightened, this was pushed to the side of the plate as well.
We didn't have too much on the agenda, though I wanted to see the Cliffs of Moher and Mom wanted to stop off at all the woolen mills. Thus, we set off in our little car on the N67 at about an average speed of about 50km/hr. The roads being extremely narrow at certain sections, I don't think we could've hit some of the maximum speed limits imposed without causing some sort of accident
Moran's Oyster Cottage
.Anyways... Our route took us through Kinvara where we met two Spanish girls having come to England to learn some English. All along the drive we were looking for a good spot to a few photos of the endless stone walls, and finally found an old broken down church and cemetery near Ballyvaughn. I really loved the celtic headstones with a cross encircled by the eternity circle. Really beautiful.
Further into our drive we stopped off at 'The Burren' to do a bit of shopping and take another one of the many breaks. One noticeable trait of the trees was that they had all been molded by the strong winds to lean in one direction only. I think if I were to live there with continuous strong winds I would really get depressed. Though the trees were quite unique, I don't think I could endure the continuous blowing required to create the effect.
Lisdoonvarna, though not providing us with a stopping break, seemed to be notorious for having Europe's largest Matchmaking Festival every year.
Finally we arrived at the notorious Cliffs of Moher!!! Though beautiful to behold, I was somewhat disappointed to see how commercialised they were. I understand the need to try and limit the number of tourists and to conserve the area, but it really seemed very commercialised with buses and buses of people being dropped off, barriers etc. I still would recommend anyone to go by and view the cliffs as they really are spectacular.
By the time we left Moher, we were absolutely starving and decided that we would stop at the first roadside pub that caught our eye along the way
Kinvarra - Mom & I
. I think my mom has a good eye for this, because Vaughan's Anchor Inn in Liscannor provided us exactly with with we were looking for - a good atmosphere and really, REALLY good seafood!!! We had two large pots of mussels to ourselves. After which we took a slow and twisted drive back to Clarinbridge getting lost a fair few times on the way back on the coastal road between Lisdoonvarna and Ballyvaughan.Though the idea had been to have a dinner at one of the local pubs, we were still quite stuffed from the mussels and decided to head to bed, yet again spent.
30 March - Sunday
Sunday was composed of a steady drive back to Dublin via Limerick on the N7. With a stopover at the Blarney Woollen Mills near Limerick. Though beautiful, the woolen clothes really are quite expensive.
Further on we took a scenic detour passed Lough Derg, and Naas (we just had to drive through Naas to get a photo of the town's name as it is my father's name too ;-)
