August 20th. Connemara and even more of Galway

This morning Dan drove out 20 miles to find the only place locally that stocked the tire brand we needed to replace. In the process he found out that someone else has already gone through a similar experience with another tire on our car and did not go through the bother of finding the exact match. At least I hope the gods of good karma were pleased with the effort.

Kids and I started out on a walk around town but very quickly ran into a shop that had "Catimini," "Desigual," and "Out of business, Everything must go" signs in the window. We experienced a few euphoric hours not too dissimilar to our time on the jasper beach until the store owner explained that it is a few remaining things in the corner that were out of business of being in season and so were on sale. Very disappointing! By then, Dan had returned and we hurried back to the hotel snapping a few pictures along the way.


Car restored to its former glory we drove off to see Connemara stopping on the way to see the beautiful ruins of Ross Errily friary. It is challenging to reach for large tourist buses because it is off the one lane overgrown road, so we only got to see a handful of other tourists at the ruins. And they too had left the place just for us soon.

It is a really interesting local custom to bury fresh dead at abandoned places of worship. Maybe it is comforting for the loved ones to know that their departed are in a place that used to be a place of worship. But how do you get permission to use the space? It is a bit disturbing to be in lost in a moment and imagining how the place used to be hundreds of years ago and then running into a grave stone barely 10 years old. That being said we saw a fresh looking femur sticking out from a hole at one of the ancient stone sarcophagi. A paradox? Georgia could swear she saw a ghost peeking from the tower window to wave goodbye.


The next stop was Ashford castle hotel. It is a truly giant non-defensive castle on the shore of a lovely lake with some mini islands. It is probably larger than Versailles. Plebs are charged 5€ a pop for a visit to un-maintained but equally extensive grounds. No map or bathroom is provided. It is 200-500€ to stay without a promo code. Truly a place one can feel like a royal. Somewhat disgusted we continued our journey stopping at the ruins of Cong Abbey. Those were more extensive and much better positioned for mass tourism so not as interesting and ghosts are all scared away.

Next we went towards Lough Nafooey covering the route suggested by this guide. In general there are so many ways to explore this truly magical region. This is where it looks like "real Ireland" in so many shades of green one would not think it is possible. It is very very pretty. Unfortunately it started to rain, and mists arose around the mountains. We were not able to capture any of the beauty with our camera.

Passed the beautiful fiord too but did not see any dolphins.

Kylemore Abbey was next. It was raining so hard by now that we barely could transfer ourselves to the cafeteria hoping to wait it out. A mediocre meal later the rain did not relent so we got back on our way. It was interesting to find out that Angelica Huston attended the International Boarding School while it was ran here at the Abbey. Living in a place like this must definitely have rubbed of and had influenced the richness of the character she played in the Mists of Avalon.

The rain had stopped 20 minutes from Galway. Next on our program was the walking tour performed by professional actors. Tribes Alive re-enacted stories in the lives of some of 14 merchant families living in town and revealed some of the secrets about the city. The actors created a magical performance seamlessly changing costumes, disappearing to show up in some second story house window or inside a pub. We were all blown away and it further added to the charm of this wonderful city. We will miss it when we will get back on the road tomorrow.

August 19th. Aran Island Inishmor

Today we were picked up by Michael Flaherty of the tour that goes by the same name. Half an hour ride down to the ferry and another 45 minute ferry ride later we were at Inishmor, the largest of the islands. There is plenty of information available online. The really cool and amazing thing about it is that a huge portion of the island is on a tilted raised plateau that used to be the bottom of the sea. There are horrific looking cliffs that clearly show the scale of an event that took place millions of years ago.

Very graphic window decor. Kids 

could not understand why. This
could be possibly a reaction to a 

very-sect like vegan mission 

operating here.

The rest of our time on the island was not that eventful. It has a very well developed infrastructure for tourism, extensive biking - though sharing the one lane road with traffic in two directions is akin to walking on the edge of that cliff, horse rides, and lots of overnight options. It was relaxing though to be driven around and Michael shared lots of interesting things about living on the islands. Today was also the day it did not rain at all. Almost forgot, at the restaurant on the island that is close to the visitor center they serve impressively original and interesting dishes.

Back in Galway we enjoyed the rest of the day. It is the nicest city in Ireland. So relaxed and beautiful. Gray stone buildings intermix with multi-colored ones. There are many musicians on the streets and in the bars - and some of those are first class like Daniel Vasiliev and Ivan Ivanchenko (Marimba and Vibrophone). Even in the restaurant of our hotel there were multiple acapella groups practicing for some event and we got to listen to some pretty cool Irish gospel.

Due to the wind it is safer 

to lay on the edge

Original cloth covered boats

Two Wildes

At night we walked around some of the numerous canals that seem to be converging from multiple directions - some even with the mini waterfalls.

Interesting local thing - we keep seeing the signs for hat rental both here and in the UK. I guess it is very important to the way of life here. 

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.

August 17th. The Northwest Circuit

We woke up from a good night sleep in our Steeple View B&B. Breakfast was not as nice as in Knock B&B. Clearly the hostess has served many of them and though key items were the same: coffee, Irish breakfast, cereal, yogurt, it did not taste nearly as good.

We did a lot of driving today. First we tried to get back to Letterkenny to get some good coffee and put up the blog since the B&B last night did not have the internet. But equally importantly we wanted to get a glimpse of the hotel availability for today to see if we are in for the same busy evening as last night. To be fair, even though it took a long time, kids were OK watching cartoons in the back, and we had a fresh supply of buns, cheese, and salami, and a tankful of gas. But everything was still closed at Letterkenny so we kept going.

We passed Glenveagh National Park - closed until 10am if you could close such a thing, Glebe Gallery also closed. On the way we've stopped in a little town before Horn Head and had some coffees. Finally, the first stop where we could stretch our legs was not to far from Malin Head yesterday but on a different penincula. It is a beautiful viewpoint on the North coast of Ireland.

It was incredibly windy there. One could lean into the wind and we held on to kids lest they would be blown away. They liked the wind. There is a cement hut on the top of the mountain. The windows are long blown away but it offers some protection. There are remnants of the fireplace inside.

Next we drove back for a long time finally stopping right on time to catch a ferry to Arranmore island. Dan navigated the car inside a 6 car ferry and on we went. Supposedly it was the island to get a better glimpse into the "real" Ireland. We got a very good idea on the beauty of nature negotiating narrow roads between the various combinations of cliffs and turf bogs.

The nature is indeed breathtaking but it is a very lonely place. And if we are experiencing the warmest days of the year that has got to be a pretty tough place to live in. That's why many inhabitants emigrated to Beaver Lakes of the Great Lakes region as one of the signs we saw stated. We had originally planncd to stay overnight. Then decided to go with the 6pm ferry and ultimately worried sick that we won't get the place on the 3pm ferry. Fortunately we did and so we continued our journey to Narin.

On the way we've stopped at Leo's tavern, run by Enya's parents, a fact that is broadcast for miles around, hoping for some lunch but that does not start until 1pm so on we went.

At Narin  we did the first check of hotel rooms and were fortunate to get two double rooms for 100 euros at Carnaween B&B. The place is a dream come true - amazing beach views, stylish white decor, and gourmet food. We checked in and ran out to cover the remaining sites. And soon realized that the guide was just trying to be nice - Assarancagh Waterfall is but a mountain spring that Georgia accidentally spotted. Other travelers searched aimlessly for the same thing. Even locals are hazy on what it is and where to find it.

So we came back and had one of our best dinners on this side of the pond and then walked along the beach in the evening. Kids, happy to finally do some walking had boundless energy. It was great!

We are through with exploring the Northwest and are ready to hit some musical areas. As clarification note turf is a top level of soil, very rich and dark. Locals cut it, dry it, and use it for fuel here. It like dried up soil in log-like chunks.We saw it at Knock hotel but until seeing it cut up and drying up in the fields today did not connect what it was.

We keep trying to understand why there is so little hotel space availablity and still have no idea. This area is not that populated. And we barely see any tourists to the places we go to, but still even today, we were able to get our rooms only due to the cancellations.

August 16th. Nature's Playgrounds

This morning we had a great breakfast. The hostess had really outdone herself pampering us with freshly made Irish breakfast (that tasted much better than usual because of the very nice components), awesome coffee and warned up buns for Isabella and I. Her oldest son, the 8 year old (she has 4 children) lit up the fireplace in the living room for us. She also gave us some helpful tips for going to the Giant’s Causeway site: to park near the hotel on the property to avoid the unnecessary parking fee and to skip on visiting the visitor center and head over straight to the site. She also gave us the map. Staying at the hotel was great.

The Giant's Causeway site was incredible. In addition to having the usual beautiful coast line it also featured sections of the rock shaped like hexagonal columns pressed together. There are local legends explaining the phenomena and scientific explanation suggests that this was due to the unusual combination of factors during the volcanic activity. But the end result looks fantastic.

We were almost the first ones on the site and so enjoyed ourselves walking up and down those columns. It was like a giant playground. When people started to arrive brought over by a completely unnecessary bus from the visitor center 1km away we did a walk around the site encountering more of those fantastic rock formations along the way.

After that we moved over to Bushmills to grab another cup of coffee and visit the distillery.

The distillery looks like a big shop. And the selection is pretty much similar to what is in the store so it was not interesting. The town was interesting. Since it appears that most of the business was brought on by the distillery the town seems larger and more developed than others around it. However distilling business may be moving elsewhere because now and then they have abandoned shops in town that have very realistic looking photos of the shops that used to be there on the doors and windows.  This looks kind of creepy.

Here is the green grocer store, the shoe repairs shop, the court building. What are they going to do when the last shop tanks? However there is one shop I hope does not disappear. It is called Ground Expresso Bar and it is located in the old bank building that was redone in a modern way. In addition to having great coffee in appropriately sized containers, they also make nutritious confections by mixing molten chocolate with cereals. We had our coffees at the vault. I also had cornflakes with dark chocolate. So good! There is also a playroom for kids to enjoy themselves while parents are having a quiet moment. Only our kids were also enjoying healthy sweets :)

The next stop was White Rock beach nearby. It was drizzling a little but we are used to it. However we were not used to groups of families swimming in cold water or playing beach sports in full rain gear. I guess vacation is vacation and when you are on the beach you do what you are have to do. We picked some shells and kids and I ran up and down the giant sand dune. Some kids were sliding down it on the boogie board.

Then we headed North for Greencastle and stopped for lunch at Kealy’s Seafood Bar. It was recommended very highly in the guide and had signs around indicating how special it was. Other than the presentation we did not notice anything a typical restaurant in US won’t be able to beat.

So we headed down to the North most point on the Island: Malin Head. It is just a rocky outpost with abandoned cement viewing tower. There we saw the largest number of tourists we saw on any of the nature sites. The nature this far North seems less lush and more stern. However as we took the shortcut through the mountain bog we saw a wide selection of plants – just some really short ones. 

We took a walk down the path winding through the bogs to see the Hell Hole, a gap in the mountains where water hits the shore with particular violence. But the waves were quiet and there was nothing hellish about it. We walked back through the bog to save time. Interesting experience. Some places feel solid but have water underneath. Slate and quartz rocks mixed in in the middle as not very reliable as footholds.  

The next stop was at another playground. There is a beach nearby where one can find semiprecious stones like jasper. We headed there through some narrow gravel farm roads. The beach was filled with pebbles and those that were wet indeed resembled shiny richly veined green and red pieces one would see in the store. For the next 45 minutes we felt like we were inside the Alladin’s cave. Those beautiful pebbles were all around us. Could not stuff our pockets enough. Isabella helped us a bit, but then she got tired of it and picked some shells instead.

When we got to the car (for a while I actually doubted we would have it in us to part with this place) we had a fool’s gold moment. All the stones that dried up looked just like regular pebbles. Gray and uninteresting. I guess if we get a polishing machine we would be able to see which ones are indeed semiprecious but for now they are just a pile of rocks.

   

 Next was the most challenging time in our journey today. We did not book a hotel hoping to catch something on the way. The problem is that today is Friday and there is a music festival at the nearby Derry. Big enough festival to completely close the hotel and B&B market on the perimeter between Malin Head and Donegal. A pretty damn big perimeter. We were really starting to worry having checked everything and not having found anything on our route from 6pm through 9pm. Finally we got lucky – there was a cancellation in Steeple View B&B and we were able to get in. It is not as fine as the one yesterday and there is no Internet but it was so great to finally check in, put kids to sleep, and take a shower and get down to wring the blog!! The bad thing about B&Bs is that for security reasons they would not let one in after 9pm so we really got lucky with this one.    

Some logistical things. Should have brought the rain boots for everyone. It would be fitting for when we have to go through wet muddy places. Also I find myself doing laundry every day. I had been hoping to keep our luggage small by wearing some things twice but we are moving so much that clothing does get dirty very fast. Then, when I wash it it does not have the time to dry and we have to have it spread out in the car and in the trunk during the day to dry.

Speaking of the B&Bs.. even though they bring great benefits to the owners – they are able to rack in about 100 euros for every room they have available every night, but it is kind of weird to let absolute strangers stay in your house every day.