"I want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride it where I like"

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Wow, what a couple of days. Who would have guessed I'd spend my time driving up, and backing down when another car comes my way, country roads so much? So much travel in the last past couple of days that I actually had to consult my last post to figure out where to start here.

Something I knew before leaving Galway City-- the southwesterly road leading to Doolin, where we were heading for the day-- is winding, goes through beautiful mountainsides, and impossibly narrow for a "two-lane road". It was my bright idea, as we're driving through the beautiful Burren landscape, to visit something called "Pourlnabrone Dolmen", or what looked like a giant stone house in pictures. Something I didn't know-- there's also a beautiful seaside road you can take, which is exactly the same distance and much more alluring.

Well, looks can be deceiving. Wish this could be shown to scale, because this thing was shorter than I was.

Look, I didn't drive an hour to see some Flintstones set. But, here we are.

Historically, interesting because of the 33 bodies from the prehistoric area found in this cairn. Visually? Less than stunning. And possibly not worth driving 30 minutes out of the way up roads that could barely be called roads.

That being said, the nice thing about the Irish countryside is you are constantly surrounded by beautiful vistas like the below

Just something you take at the side of a random hill... I think it was called "corkscrew hill"

Enfin, we arrive in Doolin. Doolin is a tiny village of 280 people, but apparently this is the biggest weekend of the year for it! Still, not hugely teeming with folks despite that. It's also the nearest town to the Cliffs of Moher, and as I said before, if you see one thing in Ireland, you should see that. So naturally had to take the parents there... plus it was way better weather than last time!

Please see earlier comments about how/where Harry Potter/Princess Bride was filmed here. A once in a lifetime that I've somehow now made a twice in a lifetime!

After the Cliffs, we scouted out some dinner at a local pub in Doolin.

All the freshest seafood... and all the irishest version of chicken wings available.

Afterwards, it was to the local pub Gus O'Connor's for some more trad music. This place *was* teeming with tourists, mostly Americans I think, but still some great music. I had one major takeaway from the performance-- when an old one-legged man and 4 dutch ladies in the front row combine to sing "Red Rose Cafe", it's magical.

Tried to capture the magic!

Anyhow, after this we headed back for the night. I tried to catch the perfect "donkey in the field in a sunset picture, but failed". Here was my best effort:

Next morning was Aran Islands day! You may recall, if you read this blog that I'd already been to Inisheer, the smallest of the Aran Islands. It was a miserable day, and there wasn't that much to do... wasn't a huge fan.

Inis Mor, on the other hand, the largest of the Aran Islands I really liked! Pro tip-- if you really just want to go to this island, there's a quicker way to get there from Rossaveal...but then you don't get to bundle it with Cliffs of Moher. Priorities!

As with the other island, pretty much most things to do here cost 10 euro-- I decided to rent a bike while my parents got a guided tour. You'll have to ask them about the history of the place (Mom? Guest post? Jk....), but I really got to see some beautiful stuff and pet some farm animals. Here are some highlights

Quick aside: for the above video, the farmer's daughter who was supposed to be showing me how much her donkey loved to eat flowers wouldn't stop licking the rock, which I found hilarious.

Skip to moment of zen if you want to see my best animal video of the day!

My parents and I met up for lunch-- somehow my biking to the village of Kilmurvey actually took the 30 or so minutes they recommended despite my bike *SUCKING* and not being able to change gears. I don't like watching European old people pass me by because "oh, we ride bikes all the time" and they think I'm just a lazy American when really I'm just stuck in 27th gear for no reason.

Anyhow, we had a lovely meal by Dun Angus (I'm not spelling this right, but I'm spelling it in a way where I'll pronounce it right after), then met up back by the ferry after more bike riding to head back after. Side note, may or may not have bought over 100 Euros worth of sweaters here... pretty sure I don't care about clothes that aren't tank tops enough to warrant that. But hey, if the order's over 100 euros the delivery is free!!! What a deal.

After we got back to Doolin, we drove to Limerick for the night. Quick few takeaways:

1) This is *way* more of a city than Galway or any of the other places I've been recently. Busy, fun, and a river.

2) Our hotel we're staying at should not host non-teenager guests, as the band outside our window played til at least 1

3) Our hotel we're staying at needs better ventilation. You know what, despite it's ideal location, I'm gonna go ahead and say it-- don't stay at "The Boutique" at City Centre in Limerick.

Nice views though here!

St. John's castle in the distance in Limerick

I will say this, I went to a restaurant in Limerick called "Coqbull" with the most immature, juvenile, wonderful names for dishes I can recall. If you're offended by such things, please skip straight to "Random Things", but I found it hilarious.