August 18th. Midland Route To Galway

We have been on the road for a week already and have covered exactly half of the coastal Ireland. We really enjoyed the ride but some thing are starting to get repetitive in the Northwest and we were happy to head out to the capital of music, Galway.

In the morning we took a stroll down on the beach hoping to use the low tide to walk over to the neighboring island that has some interesting ruins. But the tide was not low enough yet so we headed back for our breakfast, just as good as at the Knock B&B's.

As we set out on our way we barely had made half the mile before Dan had to swerve to avoid the incoming car whose occupants did not have their coffee yet. Our car hit a stone and we got a flat tire. Kids were very uncomfortable when we asked them to get out of the car for Dan to change the tire. After we got back  on the road they both went to sleep at 10am for the next two hours as we drove to our next destination, Carweel, high in the mountains. The site there featured some more of those interesting passage tombs we saw in Knowth and Newgrange.

These ones were also 5000+ years old. They looked like huge piles of rocks on top of the turf hills. They did not overgrow with grass for some reason. We were able to crawl inside the two of them.

They were much smaller than those we saw earlier but featured the same architecture of the overlapping slabs that could support incredible weight for literally thousands of years. It was amazing site - to see all the beautiful scenery below and to be able to explore cairns at our own pace. There were not guides, displays or the ticket office. And there was just a handfull of tourists.

After that we decided to head straight to Galway to get oriented and find tire replacement places to reach out to tomorrow since everything was closed today. The navigator had picked the most unscenic of roads. We passed one dead town after another. Everything was closed. Galway was such a welcome change - everything is open. It is a lively city. Music is indeed playing everywhere. It is very beautiful. We got a room at Jury Inn for a few days. Found a few dry cleaning places and got the list of phone numbers of the local mechanics. And also reserved a tour to Aran islands tomorrow. This time we do not want to deal with booking ferries and worrying if they would return us back. So tomorrow morning we will drop off the laundry and hopefully the car and enjoy something different.

Forgot to mention that we drove past Donegal castle in the morning. While the kids were asleep I stopped in inside. The interesting features about this castle was the fascinating election process owners for the first 400 years had used: O'Donnels elected the most capable clan member to rule. That person had to stand in the footprints of the first clan member barefoot and listen to the rules being read. He has to leave his weapons behind and hold the white staff symbolizing his purity. And when the rite concluded he had to turn three times clockwise and counterclockwise to show themselves to their people and see their people and lands. The other cool thing was that the bathroom shaft was built above the river and it was angled to avoid being speared in the sensitive parts. There were also holes in the bathroom benches to allow in air with the "fumes of ammonia" said to have antibacterial properties.

Some other observations. Palm trees grow everywhere, even in the North. We saw some run over foxes on the roads but otherwise it does not seem likely that any other predators survive on this highly developed island. Even mini islands accessible only during low tides are sometimes developed. All the Russians only hang out in the cities. We saw noticeably many of them in Dublin, Belfast, and here but none during our other travels here. They are not like palms.