Galway & The Aran Islands

Allison and I headed to Galway for two nights to see what this Galway business was all about. Tourists abound!!!! It is a very quaint town with cobblestone streets, an outdoors pedestrian only shopping area and beautiful sea views.

We stayed at the Kinlay Hostel, which was... a hostel. We splurged and got a room with only 2 beds which is SO much better than the 6 bed room I am in currently on the Aran Island of Inishmoor. But more on that later.

Breakfast at the Kinlay hostel was toast and cereal, pretty basic. Internet is only provided in the dining room which makes it a bit difficult to skype with Grammy. The beds were comfortable and the room was an adequate size, but the showers were scalding and push button. Thus every 30 seconds you had to push the button to make it work. Talk about speeding up your shower!

We started off our day with a walking tour of Galway. Now I am really into the tours, but this was the worst tour ever. It was only Allison and I and we had a young guy leading it that didn't know much about the town. When we would ask questions his reply was "I don't know." He spoke in a really quiet voice and we only caught snippets of what he was saying. We had a bit of a laugh after it was over though because it was most certainly an experience!

Post tour it was time to shop. Of course I had to buy a genuine claddagh ring at the genuine claddagh ring museum. See flickr for the picture of me outside the store. After a couple of hours of shopping we were beat. The streets were thronged with tourists from all over the world and I am not a fan of crowds. After a small nap it was time to head out on the town... Galway style.

We started off our evening at the pub we were at the previous evening with a bartender that we decided was going to be our new friend. As we were chatting with him at the bar it was fairly early and another couple sat alongside us. This couple was thoroughly entertaining, a bit tipsy and fascinated with Americans. (See Flickr for the picture with them) They are Irish from a town about an hour west. The first thing they asked us upon hearing our accents was "You are not from Utah are you?" We started laughing and they regaled us of the story of the girls they met earlier in the day. Apparently they met three young women from Utah who were Mormon, didn't drink, and hated Obama! The Irish couple was fascinated with the non-drinking business. They just couldn't understand it and were so happy that we were having pints. The woman, Jennie, told us all we needed to know about Irish men. She informed us that Irish men are totally honest and the way Irish women keep them is by never telling them all the truth. She told us that you have to hold the information in and never let them have all the cards. This was told half yelling while she was consuming large amounts of wine coolers. It was quite entertaining.

After a lovely evening in Galway Allison and I parted ways, she being off to Paris, and I heading to the Aran Island of Inishmoor. This experience has been so fantastic for meeting friends, especially friends who will travel on a whim with you. After Allison left I took the ferry to the island. The ferry ride was beautiful, but getting on and off the ferry with a bag the size of a small child who eats a lot of McDonalds was not fun. I think I have a serious packing problem. My hostel here is quite close to the ferry, but I am back to the 6 bed female dorm, ahhh the luxury of a your own room! After dropping my bag/child off I was out to rent a bicycle and see the island.

The day was beautiful, sun was shining, approximately 19 degrees Celsius, and the views breathtaking. The views of hundreds of tourists were not so breathtaking, but par for the course with traveling in August. I had a fun time trying to set up my camera for self pictures, see flickr for the result. Also I managed to completely fall off my bike while going less than one mile per hour. After falling off my bike I saw a sign that had writing in gaelic and asked a local what was down the path. He replied "Rocks." I said "Rocks?" and he said "Yes, a hut of rocks." I rode down the rocky path and followed the sign to this mysterious hut of rocks. I had to park the bike and scale some walls to go to this hut, but I found it! Apparently it is from the stone age, but the tourist sign was broken so I have no further information for ye.

After my hut adventure I retrieved my bike from the side of the road and started walking it up the steep rocky path. To my dismay the bike chain had come off. Now for some of you reading this I am sure you know how easy it is to put a bike chain back on. I did not. I know basic bicycle information, like this is how you get on and off your beach cruiser, and putting a bike chain on was above my level of information.I ran through my options in my head:
1. Ask the locals in the house nearby to help.
2. Ask at the hostel that looked abandoned up the road.
3. Google on my Blackberry how to put it on.
4. Just do it!
I went with option 4. Apparently you aren't supposed to put the chain on the first tier, you have to put it on the middle one. With hands full of bicycle grease and no hankerchief or washroom in site I then got grease all over my new sweater (see shopping adventure the previous day). After wiping my hands in the grass (which incidently hides little throny things in it!) I resumed my riding. I came upon a lovely horse and had a chat with him about all of my mishaps, he was very sympathetic. See picture on flikr of my friend the horse.
Side note: When I was on the farm up north and would talk to the animals Tom asked me if I knew what anthropomorphism was. (:

At this point I had a lonely moment. you know you are lonely when your hands are full of bicycle grease, you are hot & sweaty, wondering if you put the chain on right, and talking to a horse. I guess in the end all you have is you to keep yourself company and you have to pull up your trousers, get on that bike, and go see the country.

I arrived at the fort on the island Dun Aengus which is breathtaking. It is estimated that it was built in the Iron Age. It is situated on the edge of a cliff 100 meters high and there aren't any fences to keep people from just falling off the cliff! You know if this was in the US there would be fences abound because of someone suing them after something happened. Okay I am off my soapbox now.

I just love how friendly people are here. As I am walking up to the fort at 6:00pm the tour guide is walking away from the fort and tells me that I just missed the last tour. I replied it was okay and asked when they resume in the morning. He asked if I would come back and I replied probably not, thus he gave me a 5 minute tour on the history of it. This is how nice people are here, they will take time out of their day to give you information and make you feel so welcome.

After the fort I returned to the hostel to take a shower and freshen up for dinner. In my guide book they listed a hostel about a mile up the road that offers a mostly vegetarian buffet. It was SO good! I ate with 5 other women, 2 locals, one of which happened to be a tour guide on the island, a woman from Helsinki who had been spending summers here for the last 22 years, a woman from Denmark, and another woman from Holland. At dinner one of the locals told us about how they are currently filming a movie here and she was an extra in it. (Note, they filmed parts of Leap Year here!)

The dinner conversation was fantastic and after dinner the ladies from Denmark & Holland and I went on to the local pub as we heard the local musician, "Mad Paddy" was something to be seen. boy was he! He had an wireless mic and wireless guitar and played a combination of honky tonk and Irish music with the volume blaring. He went all over the bar, from dancing on the tops of tables to going outside and singing with the smokers. He is about 45, 4'5 tall and wore a camouflage hat, and was hilarious.

Today I am off to the least touristy of the Islands, Inishman. Hope to report more adventures later!