Unregistered User
(5/5/03 11:37 am)

Three weeks.....week three

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From Athlone I travelled to Galway on the Monday after easter. It's a short trip and I am in Galway around 10:30. It's too late to do any day trips so I tour the town by myself and come across a wonderful pedestrian shopping district. I immediately notice the prices are much better in Galway than in a lot of places. I do a lot of shopping in Galway. Galway is nice for walking, there is a river and a canal that run side-by-side through town with a walking path in between. The cathedral is by the river and worth a quick look.
My first full day In Galway I do a day trip to the Connemara and Kylemore Abbey. For all of you shoppers out there you may want to hold off buying some items as the first stop this tour makes is in Spiddal at Standun's. You really will find the best prices here. On this trip you will see thatched cottages, Connemara ponies, peat cutters at work, wonderful views of the lakes and valleys. Kylemore Abbey is beautiful, set right on the shore of a lake and with its own small replica of a gothic church. We also stop on the way back to see a replica of the 'Quiet Man' cottage. The film was shot in this area.
On my second day I do a day trip to the Burren and Cliffs of Moher. The scenery is just as beautiful, and the weather has been cooperating. We stop for photos along the way at Dunguaire castle, Poulnabrone dolmen, and a couple of other scenic spots. The highlight of the trip, of course, is the cliffs. Simply stunning. it is a nice day, but there is a strong wind, and it makes me feel that if I were to get too close to the edge the wind would carry me over. I can't understand these idiots who have to crawl over the barricades to get a better photo. There are also a lot of bugs here, and combined with the strong wind I end up with bugs stuck all over my shirt and in my hair.
The next day I do my third day trip out to Inishmore, the largest of the Aran islands. Today the weather is not so nice, but it makes the ferry ride over fun if you like the rocking and rolling feeling. On arrival I am surprised by all the vans waiting for the boat. These are the locals trying to make a quick 10 euros off the tourists by giving guided tours. There are also bikes to hire, or pony and cart. Since the weather is not looking good I decide to put my trust in one of the locals. It makes for an interesting couple of hours as he drives like a madman on these narrow twisting roads. The highlight of this day is the fifteen minute walk uphill to Dun Aonghasa, an ancient fort built right on the edge of a high cliff. This was also a day of unpredictable weather. It alternated from pouring rain to bright sunshine all day. At the end of the day as we were leaving there was a huge rainbow right over town.
If you are in to traditional Irish music then keep in mind that the Crane pub, on Wednesday evenings, has some of the best. You have to pay 8 euros, but the music is upstairs in what they call the Listening Room, away from the usual noise of a pub. The Wednesday night I was there we sat and listened for two hours to John Carty, a wonderful fiddler.
My last four days. I get on the train and head for Belfast, transferring stations in Dublin. The train to Belfast is much nicer than the commuter trains in the south. I get to Belfast just before noon and head downtown to take a look around. Belfast is a small city and there is a lot of red brick buildings here. City Hall is a stunning domed building that I do a tour of later (for free). The next day I do a day trip up to the Giant's Causeway. Along the way we stop to photograph Dunluce Castle, and walk acros the Carrik-a-rede rope bridge in the pouring rain. Fortunately the sun came out when we got to the causeway. What a fascinating place. We crawled all over the rock formations and I used up a roll of film here. There is a tour of Bushmills distillery included in this tour if you wish, or you can stay longer at the causeway. I decide, since it looks like it's going to rain, to do the tour of the distillery. Probably the wrong thing for someone who doesn't even like whiskey. I still bravely tried the free glass of whiskey at the end of the tour. It still tasted like something concocted in a highschool chemistry lab.
My last full day in Ireland I did a bus tour of Belfast and the political murals and Belfast castle. Very interesting. One about Belfast is that even though it is a small City (less than 300 thousand) it has a very complex history. There is an everpresent helicopter in the air over Belfast just watching for trouble to break out. The police station has walls about 30 feet high with barbed wire along the top and turrets at the corners surrounded by steel mesh. There are still the corrugated steel fences sepparating the Catholic and Protestant areas, yet they say Belfast is one of the safest cities in Europe, due, in large part, to the paramilitaries control of crime and punishment. Belfast is a very pretty city, though.

DarrenA
Registered User
Posts: 40
(5/5/03 11:49 am)

Helicopter

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Can't say I've noticed the ever present helicopter. And anyway, it can't be ever present, since it's usually too cloudy for it to fly.

Also, bear in mind that the tour of the murals deliberately shows you the bad areas, and not all of Belfast is like this (in fact the vast majority of it isn't).

DebbieK
Registered User
Posts: 5
(5/5/03 12:35 pm)
 
Re: Cliffs

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Have to agree with you on the thrill seekers climbing OVER the 'DANGER' signs to get a better picture.

I actually took a photo of 2 of them, just for proof, in case one went over the edge due to the seriously strong winds the day we were there.

yikes.

Anita
Unregistered User
(5/5/03 2:43 pm)

interesting

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Interesting what you say about the helicopter. It was there every day I was there, and the guide on the tour said it is always up, and it was definitely cloudy the days I was there. Maybe there had been some recent trouble. I didn't see the evening news while I was there. I'm aware the area the tour of the murals takes you is the bad area, but it is still far different from anything you see in southern Ireland. I liked Belfast. It is a very pretty city, and appears to be fairly well off. One day I walked down to the public records office and found myself in a very nice, obviously very affluent part of town. There were manors of red brick everywhere you looked. Certainly not a working class neighbourhood. The thing about Belfast was the ever-present police who were trying to be inconspicuous. I notice these things because I work closely with police agencies here. On the Sunday morning I was there I had gone into town to check out the shopping mall. On the way out of the mall I saw a police van come creeping around a corner. I stopped to see what was up and it turned out to be a parade of marching bands. They were escorted by two heavily armed police officers at the front and back, and other officers at intersections, and in unmarked cars. Nobody but the tourists paid much attention.

Michele Erdvig
Unregistered User
(5/16/03 11:19 am)

Thanks for all the Info

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Hi Anita,

Thanks for all the info on your trip. It's great to have a "regular" here who has actually done the budget public transportation thing in Ireland. Are you planning another trip anytime soon?

Michele

Anita
Unregistered User
(5/16/03 12:19 pm)

Dreams

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Wish I could plan to go back again next year. This was an expensive trip for me, even staying in hostels. If I can do it again I would want to stay in B&Bs, the quality of the hostels was too inconsistent. I ran into a lot of American tourists who were shocked by how much I had to pay for flights, and what the exchange on the Canadian dollar was. If I can save my pennies I would like to get back to Scotland next year to visit the town in Aberdeen where my great-grandmother was from, then move on to England and Wales and visit old Roman ruins. But, I guess it all depends on whether my 17 year old car decided to keep running. In the meantime I'll just keep buying lottery tickets.