The day started off VERY early. We were out the door at 6:20am to get to our tour bus location on time. We found our location, but things did not go so smoothly. I guess that is karma because I wrote in the Blog yesterday everything was going exactly as planned. When we found our tour bus (there were tons and tons of people) our bus driver told us we were not on the list. I had a receipt too from our Hostel and he told us it was the wrong receipt...even though we had the right pamphlet stapled to the receipt. We were all freaking out to say the least. A real sweet Irish man, probably in his late twenties, asked us what was wrong. He was a stereotypical Irishman red hair and a burly beard. We explained to the man how we put a down payment on this tour and now we aren't on the list. He went into the bus and talked to the driver. He said he worked for the company and not to worry. We got on the bus right after that no questions asked!!! We were so thankful. The coach bus was completely full and we just made it on. The ride was about two hours long through the suburbs of Dublin. It reminded me SOOOOO much of Upstate New York. I could not get over it. Also, Dublin itself reminds me so much of Troy, New York. It made so much sense to me that my Irish ancestors settled in Troy and eventually my family moved to the suburbs. Its just like being in Ireland. My ancestors must have felt real at home in Troy.
The drive was really pleasant. It was so strange though to see people driving on the opposite side of the road and the wheel on the other side of the car as well. I do not think I could get used to driving like that. We stopped halfway through our trip at a rest stop. I got the most delicious Breakfast wrap every. Bacon, egg, sausage, cheese and hash brown. It was absolutely delicious and a taste of home. I haven't felt this at home since I got to Europe. Between the food, the people and the environment it just reminds me so much of home. I finally figured out why my mom is such a good cook....shes Irish!!!! Every single meal I have gotten here since we got here has been delicious AND nothing freaky!! In Spain a lot of the food was exotic with weird fish and other unknown creatures....in Ireland everything is simple and delicious.
Eventually, we made it to Galway City!!! The reason we chose this tour was because it was the only one that did a tour of Galway City as well. The tour was excellent. Each tour we got throughout the day had an authentic Irish guide. Our tour began right outside of Galway City and our tour guide explained a little bit about the city before we entered inside. Galway has approximately 72, 000 people living there. It is a University city and about 35 percent of that population is students from the University. Dublin is the political capital of Ireland and many consider Galway the cultural capital of Ireland. It is also the bilingual capital of Ireland. Most people speak both English and Gaelic. To the west of Galway it is completely Irish speaking...not English! I could not believe people still only speak Gaelic and nothing else. The city center of Galway is Medieval and has so much history. At the exact center is a Medieval Church - St. Nicholas. Galway is almost 900 years old established in 1124 by an Irish King.
Ireland used to be divided into four kingdoms. It is still divided into four, but they are considered provinces now. There are only two days in Ireland where the pubs are closed. Christmas Day and Good Friday. The entire day not a single pub was open nor was any alcohol being served in any of the restaurants.
We entered into the city from the West entrance, the entire city during the Medieval time period used to be surrounded by walls... I will get to that later though! The streets were all tiny and filled with people and shops. It reminded me just how I always pictured the city parts of Ireland.
Our first stop was the first shop in Ireland to make the Claddagh Ring. I could not believe that!!! For my 16th birthday my mom brought me my first Claddagh Ring and I have treasured the message the ring possesses ever since. Our tour guide explained the hands are for friendship, the crown stands for loyalty and the heart stands for love.
Next we made our way to St. Nicholas Medieval Church. St. Nicholas was the Irish Saint for Sailors. The church is the oldest in Galway City nearly 800 years old. It was rebuilt in the 16th Century to its current structure. It was orginally a Catholic Church, but the Protestants took over the church during the religion wars in Ireland during the 17th Century. To this day this church remains Protestant.
Inside the Church
A lot of famous people visited this church over the years. In fact, Christopher Columbus came to this church twice. The church was Catholic at the time and Columbus came before he even discovered the Americas. He was not yet famous. Also, what I found extremely interesting as well is Jane Eyre is buried in this church.
Right outside the church our attention was directed to a wall, that used to be a house. Right in this very spot it is thought the word lynching was coined. Many people in America believe the term lynching derived from Lynchburg Virgina, but the Irish will beg to differ. The legend goes as such... In 1490 James Lynch was the mayor of Galway. At the time, his son murdered a Spanish merchant. He admitted it and was sentenced to death. His father was in charge of seeking justice for such crimes and his father was the person who sentenced him. The day came that James Lynches son was to be executed and the executioner refused to do it right in the moment. This not only looked bad upon the mayor, but the Galway justice system in general. James Lynch grabbed his son and dragged him to their home. He tied a rope around his neck and threw him out the window....hanging him. As the story goes, this is where the term lynching first began.
A lot of historical buildings throughout Galway have the name Lynch in them. Lynches Castle being one of them. It was built by people that worked for Lynch. It has now been converted into a bank.
It is really cool to walk around Galway and recognize so many last names of people I know. O'Brien, O'Connor, Sheridan, Flanagan, McCormick and so on. Over and over again I kept saying to Adrian..."Omg, I know someone with that last name!".
Next we were brought to Galway's shopping center. Inside the center is located the original Medieval Wall that surrounded the entire city. Literally, right in the middle of the shopping center! It was unbelievable!!!! The wall was built in the 13th Century so it is about 700 years old. It surrounded the entire city and was to block out intruders and enemies. It has fourteen towers all around and four gates (north, south, east and west). The biggest attack the walls ever faced was in 1681. It was a siege that lasted for five months. Galway eventually surrendered and lost their independence. There was a moat in front of the walls to try and make it difficult for enemies to penetrate the city. The area was dug up in the 1980's and only human skulls were found...no bodies. It was later found out it was an old execution sight as well. The main point of execution we saw later on our tour.
Next we were brought to a different part of town where a lot of famous people were from. In 1735 John Disney, a relative of Walt Disney was born here. Also, Napoleons Jailer, Hudson Lowe was born here. Probably most interesting Patrick Lynch a descendent of the Lynch Family. He was a ancestor of Che Guevara, the extremely controversial Spanish revolutionist. His daughter visited Galway a few years ago and the first place she wanted to visit was the Lynch house...she knew her history.
Next we were onto the execution sight of Galway. The sight no longer has any reminders that it was once an execution sight and instead has been made into a beautiful park. Executions took place here about once a month. It was brutal and inhumane taking about 20 minutes for the people being executed to actually die. It was a simple structure they died in, two timber poles. After the people were killed their heads were boiled to preserve them. The heads were then placed by the entrance of Galway City to remind people of the laws of Galway and why they should be followed. The last execution in Galway took place in 1741. The last public execution in Ireland took place in 1868 and the last execution in all of Ireland took place in 1954. You cannot be a member of the European Union if you allow executions in your constitution.
Right behind the execution sight was, "Occupy Dublin". I could not see much, but our tour guide explained it is a lot like "Occupy Wall-street". Even though we were in Galway it was still called "Occupy Dublin". From what I could see it seemed like a village of tents.
The structure at the execution sight was put in place in 1984 after President Reagan's visit. It represents a Galway Hooker. A hooker in Galway is not exactly what we think of in the United States of a hooker. It is a common term used to describe a type of fishing hook.
The park where all of this is located is called Kennedy Park. Both Reagan and Kennedy have ancestors that originated in Galway. Five months before John Kennedy's assassination he came to visit Galway. After his death the park was named after him and a memorial was put in place.
Because Galway is the culture capital of Ireland it has a ton of festivals. This upcoming weekend is the Food Festival, there is also the horse racing festival in June that attracts 25, 000 people a day and the famous Art's Festival as well. Galway is currently preparing itself for a huge event. The end of the Volvo Ocean Race concludes in Galway Bay. They are transforming the city for this event and are extremely excited.
Our tour of Galway basically concluded here, but there is still so much more!!!! We were now on our way to The Cliffs of Moher!!!! On the two hour trip to the Cliffs our tour guide did a lot of talking. We also made some stops as well. I would love to cover everything, but that would take days!! I will try my best though!
On our way the tour guide explained why a lot of Irish towns have "Kil" in the beginning of the name. For example, Kilcolgan. He explained Kil means Church in Gaelic. So, if you see "Kil" at the beginning of the towns name it is saying the name of the towns church, which is also the name of the town. Church Colgan in other words. I never knew this and was fascinated.
It is clear Ireland is being hit by the recession hard. A lot of unfinished projects were throughout Galway because the money to finish them ran out. It is sad to see...everywhere in the world is really suffering right now.
We drove through a lot of various towns on our way. They included Kinvara fishing town, the County Clare, we saw The County Clare castle now owned by Shannon Heritage company, 1,000 year old burial site, countless rolling hills and beautiful ocean water. I saw my name everywhere!! I loved that so much. There was Shannon Airport, Shannon Street and Shannon Bridge. I really appreciated my name today.
Our tour guide also described the Irish famine in the late 1800's. The reason so many Irish immigrants came to America. In 1845 there was a plight on food in Ireland, especially potatoes their main crop. Thousands of people died of starvation because of it. Many of the rich went bankrupt trying to help the homeless and poor. In a little town in Cork Ireland, 10,000 people in one Parish were killed by starvation. Many Irish fled to America, Canada and Australia. Unfortunately, a lot did not make it. The boats that took them out of Ireland were nicknamed "Coffin Ships". These boats that took people were cargo boats that did not pass inspection for cargo so they started taking people instead. I could not stop thinking about my ancestors as our tour guide explained all of this. I wondered what they went through...how did they suffer? Did my great-great grandmother lose children? Did she go hungry? How many of their friends died? How many of my relatives died? I may never get answers to these questions. I am here though...I am alive... and I owe it to my ancestors who fought to survive.
Our next stop was a 600 BC fort built by the Celts who were traveling through Europe at the time. They lived inside the circle of trees. We walked around the circle viewing inside. Our tour guide joked it is now home to ferries.
Next we were brought to a 400 BC wedge tomb. We were allowed to walk straight up to the tomb. Remains of over thirty adults were found here dating back 5, 000 years. They were most likely hunters and gatherers. The tomb itself is one of the oldest things in all of Ireland. We also got some great pictures here of the rolling hills and green grass.
We passed by a lot of churches as well. 15th, 14th and 13th Century Churches. Some were graveyards as well displaying the Celtic Cross. Eventually we reached our lunch destination...O'Connor's Pub. The pace of the restaurant was extremely quick. It was such a cute place...I absolutely loved the environment. I ordered a burger....DELICIOUS!!! I still cannot get over how yummy it was....JUST LIKE HOME!!!
After lunch we continued on our way to the Cliffs of Moher. We drove along Galway Bay. Our tour guide warned us it may be raining at the Cliffs and he wasn't sure if it was the best weather to view the Cliffs. Thankfully, he was wrong! Despite being a little cloudy we got a perfect view of the Cliffs. It was one of the most astonishing and beautiful natural structures I have seen thus far abroad. It may even top Capri, Italy. We also got some really awesome pictures. I think they speak for themselves.
We got to spend about two hours at the Cliffs. We explored the little tower you might have seen in my pictures. A mini castle. It was built in 1835 by Cornelius O'Brien. We also passed a memorial that was dedicated to all those that lost their lives at the cliffs. At some points looking over the edge made me nauseous. We all agreed (Adrian, Dana, Sean, Nora) that this trip was absolutely completely worth it. I have never witnessed such natural beauty in my entire life. The water was so blue, the air so fresh and everything was green. I tried to soak it all in and got a little choked up even. I am in Ireland...living out my DREAM. At one point I turned to Adrian and said my parents would love this so much. I know my mom has already been...but to experience this with them would have been so cool. I know I keep saying this...but one day I am coming back here with my family. This is not the last of Ireland I will see.
On our drive back to Dublin our driver paused at the Atlantic Ocean so we could take some more pictures. We could see the cliffs from this spot. It was another really beautiful thing. There were even some flowers popping up in the cracks of the rocks. They were pink too!
One of the last things we passed was a herd of....Alpacas! We had been passing sheep and cows for miles...but Alpacas I was not expecting!!! Our driver explained they are from Peru and have been being bred in Ireland for their wool for the last ten years.
The drive back to Dublin was pretty long...but I did not notice because I slept the ENTIRE time! We even stopped at a rest stop and I did not even wake up!!! Adrian woke me up about fifteen minutes before we reached Dublin. He surprised me with a Cadbury Egg!!!! I was so excited. I haven't seen Cadbury Eggs since we got to Europe and around Easter time they are my favorite. They remind me of home! It was so thoughtful of him.
Currently, everyone is asleep in our Hostel room but me! It was a long day for sure and we have a busy day tomorrow up ahead. I am so excited though. The more and more I get to know Ireland the more and more I think...I AM MOVING HERE! Just kidding mom and dad.......maybe........
Well, I am off to sleep!!! Thank you so much for reading...I know it was a long one!!! Have a great Easter weekend and hopefully I will be able to Blog again soon!
PS - a lot of these photos are Adrian's and he was generous enough to let me use them for my Blog!!!
XOXO
Shann
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