My Day as a Galway Girl

Salmon Weir Bridge and Galway Cathedral

Remember when I said Barcelona was my last trip? Well, last Monday I decided to visit Galway and the Aran Islands. Galway was the one place in Ireland outside of Dublin that I really wanted to go to, and since my time here is running out, I knew I needed to find a way there. Final exams are now in full swing, but since I had most of my finals either during the last week of classes or have them next week, I had some time to spare for one last getaway. So, Tuesday morning, I took a bus to Galway and spent the day exploring the city on my own. Since I have to fly back and forth from school alone, I didn't have any apprehensions about traveling by myself, and since I've been in Ireland for a while now, going to Galway alone was the perfect solo trip to take. Galway itself felt very small; when I got there I immediately found a map and planned out what I would walk around and see. After only being there for about two hours, I felt like I knew my way around most of the city. I saw all of the major Galway landmarks, like Eyre Square, the Salmon Weir Bridge, the Spanish Arch, Galway Cathedral, and St. Nicholas' Church. I walked down to the water and along some of the Salthill Promenade and ambled along Shop Street, which felt like a mini version of Grafton Street in Dublin. By dinner time though, I was getting a little bored because I had already done everything on my list of things I wanted to do in Galway and seen all of the main attractions that the lady at the hostel I stayed in told me I should see. Fortunately, two of my friends met me there later after they finished exams, and I didn't have to stay in the hostel alone. When they got there, we found a pub near our hostel, and much to our delight, the band there played "Galway Girl," which made my day in Galway feel perfectly complete.

Shop Street

Dun Aonghasa Cliffs

The next morning, we woke up early to take a bus and then a ferry to Inis Mor, which is the largest of the three Aran Islands. There isn't really anything to do at Inis Mor besides see the island itself, and the best way to do so is by bike. Fortunately, it wasn't raining too hard, so we rented bikes and set off along the 12km trail throughout the island to the Dun Aonghasa cliffs. To get to the cliffs, we biked through a village, where we saw lots of cows, wild horses, and tiny houses. We didn't really see any people though, which was cool but kind of creepy at the same time. The ride was very peaceful; it felt like we had the whole island to ourselves, and the scenery was beautiful, which made the almost completely uphill bike ride enjoyable. When we got to the cliffs, we parked our bikes and hiked for about 20 minutes to get to the top. The view from the top of the cliffs was beautiful, but the winds were really strong and it was starting to rain so we didn't stay at them for long. On the ride back, we took a different path that was along the water. With fields on one side and the ocean on the other, this ride was just as peaceful and even more beautiful than the ride up. The ferry ride back to the mainland was far from peaceful, though. It was raining pretty hard, and there were a few times when I thought the boat was going to flip over. Fortunately, we made it back to Dublin, and now I can say that I safely survived all of the trips I took this semester!

the bike ride back along the water

I have less than a week in Dublin, and I'm filling all of my spare time with a mixture of doing things I've always wanted to do and going back and re-doing some of my favorite things. Yesterday, I went to Phoenix Park to enjoy the scenery and tour the president of Ireland's house. Anyone can tour the president's house for free on Saturdays, so a friend and I went. We got to see his car, the dining room, the room where all famous guests meet him, and even his personal study. I couldn't believe we got to see all of this, especially since there was no security at all to get inside! Our tour guide told us we were all "very welcome at the president's house," which are words I never thought I'd ever hear!

President's house! 

It's still raining here, as always, so even though nothing can top touring the president's house, I've been finding other cool indoor things to do, like visiting the Leprechaun Museum, the Dublin Writers Museum, and finding new restaurants to try. In the rare moments of sunshine, I'll go for a run outside at UCD or take a walk and have a picnic in St. Stephen's Green. Everything on my "Dublin Bucket List" is almost all checked off, and I'm going to do my best to finish everything on it by Saturday, which is when I come back to America!