"In the Misty Morning Fog"
- sanderssam
- Jul 7, 2019
- 4 min read
Man this was a long, full day of rain, sights, and randomness. It's about 2 hours from Galway to Doolin, where you can take the ferry for either the Aran Islands, the Cliffs of Moher cruise, or both. Quick side note-- when Irish people say Doolin it REALLY sounds like how they say Dublin (Dooblin). Anyhow, that aside, I knew that from 830 - 7 today at least *something* interesting was going to happen.
As you might imagine, it was rainy and gray almost all of today. To the point where I was happy to clamber on to a full bus just to get out of it. On the plus side, we had a charming driver named Damien who had a rapid fire array of jokes that helped pass the time. What didn't help pass the time was the winding, bumpy roads that lead down the road from Galway to Doolin. If anyone who's not me actually reads this, you're probably better off renting a car and booking your own ferry... you can make up your own witty commentary and get less sick in the bus.
At one point a Spanish lady begged the bus to stop, annoyingly, about 15 minutes from Doolin, as the bus driver explained "there's no real toilet or anything before we get there and we're almost there". Eventually though, she got him to stop regardless, then ran back in the bus and said, "actually it's an emergency for my son too". We watched them do nothing for a few minutes as the pub we stopped by was closed, and there indeed, was nothing else around. When the truth of it finally set in, they boarded back on the bus. #sorrynotsorry #notsympathetic
Anyhow, the ferry to the Aran Islands. We do finally get there! And the ferry was a bit late, so we had a bit of time. Everyone was buying fresh fruit and using the legit toilets here. Here's a view from the dock.
Turns out, there are 3 Aran Islands-- Inisheer, Inishmaan, and Inishmore. They're all pretty simply named... Inisheer, for instance, means east or rear island, and Inishmaan means middle island. I like that simplicity. Everyone goes to Inisheer pretty much. Once there, everything's in Irish (though people speak English) with very few subtitles once you get there. Here's some pics:
Now, this is clearly both a very small town and a tourist trap. Everything here costs 10 Euros-- renting a bike, doing a tractor ride, horse and carriage ride... I'm sure there were other things. It was a cold and miserable day so I made friends with a person from Cleveland and went to go eat lunch first instead. First bacon [corned beef] and cabbage of the trip!
Also, there was this bizarre music playing, and presented without comments is the CD it was coming from
Anyhow, we explored the island after lunch and things were a little less chilly, and got all of the pictures I posted above. A few random thoughts about the Aran Islands:
1) (mostly for my Mom here) Everyone sells Aran Island Sweaters, so you'd think this would be a big deal where they'd sell Aran Island wool or yarn right? Wrong. Turns out, all the wool they use comes from Connemara, which makes sense, since all the lamb I've seen on menus has been advertised as from there. Also, in the actual shops, any yarn was in plastic bags and imported from Italy (thinly disguised). So, sorry mom, didn't plunk down the cash on Italian yarn for you, but hey, if I get to Connemara, looks like that is the spot!
2) There are watchtowers all over the place, both hear and nearby at Doolin. Apparently this was ground zero for invasions to Galway back in the day.
3) I have *NO* idea what the locals do here, other than look wistful and go to the pub. Not a ton going on. But if you ever want to get away from it all at a seaside fishing village, give the hostel/hotel here a shot!
Anyhow, after basically 2 hours here, we boarded a ship to take us on a cruise of the Cliffs of Moher. The idea being, you can see it from the water, then see it from up top. I'll spare you guys the 100 shots it took to get a couple decent ones, and just plunk them all down here.
These things are really much more beautiful in person... you gotta go if you're in Ireland. What looks like a white spec in the top left of a picture is actually a decently tall tower. So if you want to see 700 ft cliffs that you've seen before in movies (top left is best for the "Cliffs of Insanity" from Princess Bride, bottom right is best for Harry Potter), you'll like it.
One note from my guide: Damien says that he gets asked all the time, how many times do people jump off the cliffs? And he always says "only once, no one jumps off them twice" [eye roll emoji].
Anyhow, after that we boarded the bus and pretty much all napped until we got back to Galway. Lonnng day.
...but not yet done! I have no pictures to flesh this out unfortunately, but went to a show at the Roisin Dubh tonight called "The Dirty Circus". Basically, cabaret, burlesque, bad comedy, etc. You haven't lived until you've seen a bald, handicapped Irish lady play 2 songs on a ukulele and say "shite" and "fanny" a dozen times each. Also, turns out Galway really is the hen party capital of Ireland, because I "shite" you not, I saw no less than 3 bachelorette parties in this place. The 92-year old Irish man in the front row was not amused by these antics, leading me and others to question "what exactly are you doing here?" as he continued to be made fun of by all the performers.
Last, met up with Alex Newton for a drink! Only Chimes come into town for traveling choral tours. A quick whiskey and even quicker tour, and I was done for the night. I'll make it official, anyone who wants to visit will get one free drink.
Random Thoughts:
No joke, for my single friends out there, there is a *tiny* village (739 ppl) in Ireland called Lisdoonvarna that hosts a *huge* (about 60,000 ppl) matchmaking festival each year. As Willie Dealy, the guy who runs it, advertises "Some matches are made in heaven, but the best ones are made in Lisdoonvarna". Amuse yourself
Moment of Zen
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