Another excerpt from my travel journal, dated Monday, April 14, 2008:
Early the next morning we were off. Before leaving Dingle Town we’d picked up some sandwiches, post-cards, and woolen souvenirs. The highlight of the trip to Galway was a thirty-minute ferry ride in the crisp, cool sunshine. The cold wind blew across the sound as we huddled on the upper deck of the ferry to enjoy the view.
The next stop was the Cliffs of Moher. I properly waited behind the fence while David ventured with others onto private property for better photographic opportunities. The sun shone brightly on the green hills and turned the water into silvery waves lapping at the foot of the cliffs far, far below. We ate a picnic lunch on some steps before admiring a tower and continuing our drive through the rugged and barren “The Burren” with its treacherous roads to Galway. (Cliffs of Moher picture belows, and my masterpiece panoramic in the blog’s header.)
We arrived at Galway during rush-hour traffic and checked in to Eddie and Helen’s Four Seasons Bed and Breakfast near Eyre Square. We wandered down to the town center, had dinner of sub-prime lasagna and sub-prime Chianti (David, on the other hand, had excellent roast duck quessadillas), explored the waterfront, and then enjoyed a pint at a crowded pub which featured a piper, three violinists, and an accordian player who might have been carrying a staff and garbed in a grey woolen cloak on a normal basis. Eddie had told us we’d have to “find the crowd,” and his one piece of advice had been to “follow the short skirts, lads.” Well, I didn’t see many short skirts in the warm, jolly inn, but there were many a person enjoying the folk music, fellowship, and satisfying drink.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008:
I could tell David was slowing down as he pushed his sausage and hash around his plate. We were downstairs the following morning enjoying a big breakfast–an omelette for me, and a full Irish breakfast for David. He’d already supplemented his with a wedge of cheese, toast, tea, and fruit salad. Partially not wanting to waste food, and partly wanting to see if he’d really do it, I challenged him to finish everything on his plate. He did, surprisingly and nauseatingly enough, and I gave him the 10 euro as promised in our bet.
The day was spent reading and relaxing–at a tea shop, near a 1960s stone cathedral, and on the quay. We had a light supper of sandwiches and then a pint at the sophisticated and masculine Skiff Hotel with its dark wood paneling, fireplace, and numerous staircases and balconies, right on the south side of Eyre Square.
This picture is either at the tea shop or at the sophisticated and masculine Skiff Hotel, I can’t remember which.
Sitting on the quay in Galway in the late afternoon sun.
Mulberry Street 