Gaillimh- Galway: Rutgers Trip to Connemara

This weekend I had the privilege of going with 8 other girls and my resident director (RD) to county Galway. We all met at Galway train station, where it was surprisingly easy to find each other. From there we met our bus driver that would accompany us for the weekend and drove out to Carna, in Connemara, where we stayed through Sunday. The nine of us split into two groups for the purpose of staying in our B&B's, which were lovely! We were the only guests in our house, and each morning we were provided with a wonderful full breakfast and the most delicious homemade bread! The butter out there is also incredibly good!

The first evening we spent in the bar area of the Carna hotel. There we met several locals who had been invited to join us, and five of their kids who played as a band for us. We had a fantastic (and very unhealthy) buffet dinner and a drink, and we all chatted with each other. After dinner, we listened to some traditional Irish music, played by these kids who were 13-18 years old and really good! We learned about different types of songs, and even got to see two different Irish dance performances by some of the women there. We were taught to sing traditional Irish Sean-nos songs, which are usually about lost or unrequited love. Then we were even taught some dance shuffle steps and some group dances, which was a blast. The people there were so welcoming and friendly, it was certainly something I never could have done on my own! Below's a photo of the band that played for us. They didn't have any music or anything, and just started with a melody and improvized the rest- it was amazing!

Then on Saturday, we had a long hiking day that was equally fun and impressive. We started the day with our lovely breakfast, and then met with a local whose profession is basket-weaving. He taught us about the Sally rods used to make the baskets and the different kinds of baskets, and demonstrated the actually weaving to us by making a basket for us! We were able to try our hand at making a Celtic cross with two sticks and a thin Sally rod. I think the most impressive basket was a huge lobster pot that was completely woven. It was beautiful!

After basket-weaving lessons, we drove to some of the mountains near the coast, I'm not quite sure where. We had a guide with us who told us about the history of the hills and the specific environment. Apparently, thousands of years ago Ireland was nearly all forest, and that when humans began deforesting the island, areas like this with heavy rainfall became more acidic without the trees to absorb it. This, I was told, was then trapped under the ground, which was covered with moss, and turned the soil into peat, creating many peat bogs. Near the base of the mountain we climbed, we were able to stand on a peat bog and see how the ground just shakes underneath you when you bounce on it. We also heard some horror stories about what happens when you jump on a peat bog and it splits. Supposedly bodies are often found from really far back of people who are guessed to have accidentally fallen through the bog. I think it's a great start to some kind of magical underworld tale.

We continued up the mountain, which was very slippery and often very difficult to find footing. I was so glad I had worn my rain boots (I'm sorry, I should call them my wellingtons) because you could hear the sloshing the whole time up, and down, the mountain. About half of the way up we got to see a 4,000 year old tomb that was just resting there on this mountain side. It was simple, but very cool, and as always, it was mystifying that such an old artifact wasn't protected or guarded or anything. Being the art history nerd that I am, I had to get my photo with it though!

We kept walking up to the top of the mountain peak, about an hour and a half in total to get up there, and the sight was stunning. It really might have been the prettiest and most awesome physical landscape I've ever seen. Photos don't even capture the scale of it all. On one side of the hill was the coast, with its fluorescent golden seaweed, and on the other side was a serious of 12 more mountain peaks with a huge, somewhat barren valley between us. All I could think about up there was how much I would love to bring paints up there and just be inspired. It would be rash and insane, but I would definitely move out there it was so gorgeous. 

The way down was even trickier, and I also fell a few times. When we got down all the way, we hopped on the bus for a short ride to the town of Roundstone, which is supposedly the most photographed and painted town. Ironically, I didn't get a chance to take any good photos of the place. We stopped there for a pub lunch, and I think we were all so tired that anything would have tasted wonderful, but the place was great. After we finished, we rode again to another trail, this time up to a castle. The path was beautiful, and thankfully, not wet or slippery. It ran alongside some body of water (in this area it's hard to tell what's a small bay to the sea and what's a river) that looked as black as onyx. The plants were majestic too, and, I admit, it looked a bit like home. We saw a small round castle on the water on an artificial island, as well as the castle on the hill, which was a restaurant that looked charming.

After this finishing hike, we were driven back to our B&B's around about 7 PM or so. We had an hour to ourselves, and then we went for a more formal and private dinner at the hotel again. It was lovely, and the food amazing. I've been continually impressed that every single place I've eaten in this country has at least one vegetarian option. I had fried stuffed mushrooms (amazing!), a rice and veggie stir-fry, and the chocolate gateau (which truly deserved the snooty name-it was fabulous!). I loved the mix of having our own entrees, but family-style side dishes of potatoes and vegetables. It actually felt kind of nice too that it started raining around dinnertime. We had the most perfect crystal-clear calm day for our walking, but a cozy raining evening.

The next morning, since the weather was again very nice for us, we went to the horse farm of one of the men who joined us the first night. He showed us four different Connemara ponies of different ages, all of whom were beautiful creatures. We learned that the Connemara pony, after living in the hilly, slippery surrounding area for centuries, had adapted to become very fast and exceptional jumpers. We were given a show of two of the horses abilities, and one of them jumped over a 5 foot pole! After the demonstration, we were invited inside for coffee, tea, and fresh scones. I think they were meant to just be hospitable and to encourage a chat, but when we all came in, suddenly we were devouring the scones. I think each of us had at least two (they were homemade, warm out of the oven, and unbelievably good!) and a few pieces of fruit, as well as coffee and tea. Our guests must have thought we hadn't eaten in a week! They were so sweet to us, and invited us over to tea if we ever came back. I'd love to be able to take them up on that sometime! The couple even gave us the rest of the scones in a bag to take with us. From there we went to the train station again to return home.

I had a few hours to kill in Galway City before my train, so I did some shopping, and hung out in the main park, and stopped by the cathedral. It was beautiful, and I was struck by how different it was from what I'd seen in Paris last summer. It looked much more Byzantine, like it came out of Eastern Europe. I got bored and it was a little rainy, so I sat and sketched for a while, listening to the organist play.

Well, then I took my train home, and took the bus back to UCD. And that was my weekend. It was absolutely one of the best trips I've ever had, and the people that came with me were great and so positive! We all had the time of our lives, and I can't wait for the UK trip with them in two weeks. If you want more photos, hopefully I'll be able to get them (and the Cork photos. Sorry!) up on Picasa. I've already put them up of Facebook, too. Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed the vicarious experience of traveling to Connemara! I always enjoy relating my experiences! As for the rest of the week and this weekend, tonight (after midnight) is my roommates 21st birthday, so we'll be up partying, and then Capoeira class again tomorrow! This weekend I'm going to treat Dublin City like a tourist, and go around to the museums and everything, so I can really get to know the city well. I still have to plan it out. Anyone have suggestions for what I should do?

Cork City (day 1)

As I mentioned I would last post, this weekend I visited Cork and Blarney! I left Thursday evening after class, and arrived at the Cork train station around 8:00. From there I walked to my hostel, where I had booked a private room in case the other guests were sketchy. I followed the directions I had written down before I left on how to walk to the hostel, but next time, I don't think I'd arrive after dark in a foreign city, by myself, trying to find a hostel. It wasn't that the area was a bad part of town, but, being in a typically European city, I didn't exactly follow main roads in a grid or with fantastic lighting. At one point a road turned into stairs, and then led to an alley that had a small path at the end. It was strange, but the hostel was very nice. My room was fine- I shared a bathroom, but also had a small sink in my room. I was even close enough to the computer room that I could pick up wireless, which came in handy for planning the details of my adventures.

The next morning I had the free breakfast at the hostel (which apparently for the Irish means toast and tea/coffee) and then headed just outside of Cork City to see the City Gaol. This is the cities historic jail that is now a museum and supposedly in a pretty area. Well, I followed the vague directions I had, but my lack of a navigation gene meant that I got WAY off track, and after two and a half hours of walking around the Cork suburbs and the University College Cork campus (one of our sister schools) I decided I'd just go back into the City Center for lunch. On the way back, I finally found some signage to the Gaol, but it was no one in sight, so I abandoned my hope of getting there. I did, however, have a wonderful time wandering around Cork's City Center. I found a good sandwich place that had typically Irish sandwiches- they will put anything on a sandwich! The normal sandwich options, besides lettuce and meat and cheese, are mashed potatoes with butter, stuffing, or mayonnaise. Yes, mayonnaise is an option by itself. Heart attack much?

I also let myself browse the shopping downtown. There were a lot of higher-end American stores there, and I think half of the island that is the City Center is one big Dunnes store (something like a Macy's or FNAC with a supermarket on the lowest floor). I also stumbled upon a lot of smaller, independent stores, which were adorable. I'm glad to see a revival of women's dress hats here- I've seen at least one hat shop in both Cork and Dublin. Really wild, outrageous hats too, worthy of the royal wedding! I also stumbled upon the Crawford Art Gallery, a free art museum for the city that I had on schedule of things to see anyway. They had a great collection of work by Irish artists, which is something new to me and very cool. They also had a few old rooms with 18th century furniture and glassware that was great.

Heading back in the afternoon to have a quick break, I also happened upon one of the churches open to visitors in Cork. It turned out to be the building next to my hostel, and while I didn't get to go in- I had missed the opening hours- I walked around the outside and spent some time in this lovely park adjacent to the church. I also heard throughout my three days there the tourists ringing the bells, sometimes even creating a tune. I heard the American anthem a few times, and some Christmas carols. That evening I went back into the City Center for dinner, and I was also on the lookout for Culture Night events. Culture Night is apparently something they do all over Ireland, and there are activities and festivals and concerts for anyone in all the cities. Well, I was looking for a concert, but yet again got lost and couldn't find it. But I did find the English Market instead, which I had been dying to see. It's the oldest open-air market in Europe, 150 years older than the one in Barcelona (although much smaller) and it was open for culture and serving small portions of different foods for cheaper prices and giving out free wine. It was so packed it was hard to move in the three alleys that made up the market, but the energy was so fun and people were so relaxed and not aggressive that it really didn't matter. In fact I waited in a line for food for like 45 minutes, and everyone was really polite to each other and I struck up several conversations with people.

It was sort of late when I finally got out of there, so I wandered around a bit, and walked along the river before heading back to my hostel. I also had to plan out the details of getting to Blarney the next morning.

Ok, well this is already long and I have to go to class in a minute (Folklore and then Irish class). I will post the rest of the weekend later! I did take lost of photos though, so that will be a post too! Have to have something to entertain my readers during the week, when all I do is homework and class (ok, not ALL the time :-p). Hope everyone else had a great weekend! Now it's class, then GNIB to get my real visa and afterwards weekly shopping!