First Day Tour

Today was our first tour out into Ireland. We paid 13 euro for the trip and it was worth every cent. 

Everyone got up to meet the bus driver outside our apartment at 9:45. He took us out to the larger station where we switched into a larger bus and took off from there. About 10 minutes in, our bus driver/tour guide came across the loud speaker and immediately we knew the trip was going to be awesome. He had more than enough Irish wit and humor to satisfy (and keep the attention of..) 20 odd college students. We were laughing quite a bit down the west coast. Aside from being comical, he really knew his stuff - so we learned quite a bit about each place we stopped. When we left Galway, it was raining (..shocker..) but by the time we approached our first stop, it was really nice out.

Our first site was the Aillwee Caves. For a few extra euro, we got to get out of the sun, sadly, and go down into the caves and wind our way around. The tunnels were formed by an underground river thousands upon thousands of years ago. Inside, we saw some bear remains from when they'd hibernate inside during the winter. Pretty neat stuff.

After the caves, we drove through the Burren. Its an enormous area of land that's just covered with massive amounts of limestone. That was pretty neat too. Everywhere you drive you see these stone walls. They're not to high, but they literally go for miles. Some, God knows what they use for. Others keep in locals sheep, goats, etc. They were built by hand (well, obviously..) but they aren't held together with anything, just literally stacked rocks. Crazy to think how much time that took to make haha But it was clear where all the rock came from. The main stop was actually to see the Poulnabrone Dolmen, or, 'Hole of Sorrows'. Its a burial site that dates back to about 4200BC. After excavating the site, they found like, over 20 people (men, women, children) buried there along with some various other items like a polished ax, some jewelry, etc. Weird to think how old the thing was, and also wondered how they got the large rock atop the other two way back when.

As you can see, the weather started to get a little overcast. We literally when into the cave with sun and came out to rain. The longest Ireland has ever gone in it's entire history without rain was 12 days. Crazy..

Anyways, out next destination was the Cliffs of Moher. They were amazing, and reminded me of the cliffs of Normandy my dad and I saw in France. Our first 20 minutes or so at the cliffs felt like a hurricane. The wind was whipped and the rain was literally traveling sideways. Nobody wanted to be there, despite how awesome the cliffs were. But thankfully, the rain seized for the last 20 minutes or so and we got to take some better pictures. The wind, however, was still nasty so I look awful in the picture I had someone take of me. Therefore, it's not going up here haha. Enjoy the view, though..

Left the cliffs, and went to a local pub in this really small village. You went up to the carvery and asked for whichever main dish you wanted..chicken, beef, sausage, etc. Aside all of them were boiled potatoes, mashed potatoes, baby carrots, and an assortment of onions, peppers, zucchini, squash, etc. At first I assumed you picked what you wanted but the guy just scooped on everything and covered it all with gravy. I gravitated towards the scones at the end of the line and was told by the cashier that I had to get some of the homemade raspberry jam with it. For like, 10.50 euro we got all that. We all devoured it, and I would say it was my best meal since I've been here. Sooooo good, and the jam was awesome too. 

As we left the village, it was getting very very windy out. So our tour guide decided to take a risk and drive us down to the coast. The small, narrow road that leads to the coast had been closed for the past few weeks because a French movie company has been filming there. Lucky for us, it was open for the first time that day. Our tour guide texted the other buses behind them to let them know, but they had already passed the entrance, so we were literally the only people there. This was my favorite part of the trip. The waves were violently crashing down on the rocks and we were literally standing right on top of the rocks getting splashed. I snapped a few photos, and then my camera died. It was the last stop on the trip though, so..(Should have listened to my Mom and charged it last night haha but I felt that two bars of battery was good enough...I know you're shaking your head right now Ma :) 

We then rode the hour trip back to Galway, basically all asleep. We didn't even do much walking the entire day but for some reason everyone was so tired. I, for one, got back and hit the bed for a nap. Here are a few other random pictures from the day and I'lllllll be blogging again soon. Cheers.

Luke