Weekend in Galway!

Hi all! I've been having many requests for some details regarding my weekend to the Galway area with the photography society, so here I am! Friday evening we met at 5pm to leave from Cork. I didn't know anyone else going, so I was hoping to meet some new people to maybe chat with on the bus ride there (about a 4 hour drive straight through). While we were waiting, a German girl named Luby came up to me and asked me if I were alone too. We ended up sitting together on the bus and generally hanging out a lot over the weekend, which was fun.

So, anyway, ended up leaving Cork around 5:30pm. Took forever to get through all of the rush hour traffic though, so it was already 6:00 by the time we actually made it out of the city. We stopped after awhile at Bunratty Castle in County Clare, a great castle built in 1425. It was definitely dark by then, which was kind of a bummer, but they do keep the castle illuminated to some degree at night, and it was kind of fun trying out some nightime shots (of which I got a few decent ones). From there we just headed the rest of the way to Galway City. We got in fairly late (after 10pm) and so everyone just split up and got some dinner in small groups (I think we had 47 overall in the group that went on the trip). Luby and I ended up at a McDonalds... haha. However we did go to an (amazing!) crepe shop afterwards where we had coupons from the hostel for 20% off. Cheap AND delicious! We called it a night after that, since we were pretty worn out from the long bus ride.

Saturday morning we headed out around 9:30am by bus. The hostel we were at provided a simple, free breakfast of cereals and toast, which was convenient for a group as big as ours. Our plan on Saturday was to drive through a region called Connemara and make lots of photo stops. Our first stop was in the town, Cong, where the movie "The Quiet Man" was shot if you're curious. Very cute little town, with a great old abbey that we were able to look around a bit. It was pretty crummy weather though, lots of rain that wasn't agreeing with my camera. Did get a few nice shots though, and it was nice to see even if the photos didn't turn out great. From there we mostly just did a lot of touring of the countryside. Stopped at the Kylemore Abbey, a famous old abbey that is absolutely gorgeous, espeically with the fall colors around it right now. Again, crummy, crummy weather though. Some stops along the way were just unbearable. Freezing temperatures, heavy rain, and very high winds. Didn't make for the greatest site-seeing day, but oh well. Ended up back in Galway around 5pm, and everyone just did their own thing again that night (which meant I HAD to go back to the crepe shop just once more of course!!).

Sunday ended up being much better weather-wise. Very cold still, and some rain, but not nearly as bad as the day before. We drove through the Burren, a very particular landscape consisting of lots of limestone rock. Hard to explain, but very neat. Had some great, great, scenic stops, several of which were by the ocean. I was really glad to see the ocean so close again, even if the Atlantic did decide to attack my feet at one point and make them cold and wet for the rest of the day....

Yesterday afternoon then we got to see what I considered to be the highlight of the trip, the Cliffs of Moher. Really incredible. It was great too, because just when we got there it stopped raining for a bit and the combination of the sun trying to peak through with the rain clouds made the sky look gorgeous! Definitely a place worth visiting, and somewhere I'd like to get back to one day. The Cliffs were our last stop, and we headed back home and made it back into Cork around 7pm last night.

I think I hit the main points of the trip anyway. Aside from the miserable weather that one day, I had a great time and was so glad to be able to get to that area! Incredible, incredible, incredible!