Galway Girl

We’ve reached the halfway point, folks! Is there really only 5 more weeks left in Ireland?! My parents might have to start worrying for real this time because owning a home over here is looking like a pretty dang good idea. Don’t worry mom and dad, you’ll always be welcome to visit! :D

Four lovely days in Ennis came to a pleasing end as we turned our attention toward our next destination: Galway. However, on the way to this very much talked about city, we were going to make a few stops along the way. The first was to catch a glimpse of another ring fort that our literature class has been discussing. What’s super interesting about them is that they were constructed by dry masonry, meaning that the builders did not use any kind of adhesive to ensure that the rocks stayed together. Instead, they simply placed rock upon rock in a “corbelling” fashion: layering the rocks so that as they rose higher, they slightly bent so that they came together with a keystone, similar to an arch construction. This method kept the rocks together and water would slide off the sides instead off in. The not super-interesting part: it was the third one we’ve seen in a week. I had my sights set on another attraction at the ring fort establishment: sheepdog demonstrations!!!! Unfortunately, it was not part of our tour, and I became extremely sad to the point that a 

 friend made sure to photograph my reaction.

I couldn’t be upset for long, though, because our next stop was the most famous tourist attraction in all of Ireland: the Cliffs of Moher. Our professors made sure to give us an extra long lecture on proper safety measures to consider on the drive over there as well as informing us of a very scary incident: earlier in the week, one of our professors took a trip to the Cliffs, and apparently a woman who was coming to the Cliffs from Cork on the same bus had committed suicide the very same day by jumping off. When our entire group arrived that day on the way to Galway, the search team was still looking for her body. The Cliffs are a terrifyingly wondrous thing to see, and I admit that at some points where the fence ended, I was shaking and not from the wind. Being on the Cliffs was like the sensation of looking at the stars in the sky and acknowledging your insignificance in the world. All in all, though, it was breathtaking to realize where I was, a little geek came out as we fangirled over the site of Princess Bride’s cliffs of insanity.

We all made it back to the bus (thankfully), and continued on to our final stop before Galway: a portal tomb. This particular tomb is well-known for its durability throughout the years, and its placement within the Burren. The landscape is covered in karst limestone, and it looks like puzzle pieces of rock sticking out of the ground. We had a fun game of “the grass is lava” as we hopped over on each stones.

*Quick note: we were pretty sure our bus driver was a hitman.

Finally, finally, finally Galway came into view. In the late afternoon, we drove with the River Corrib flowing by us and the hubbub of the town coursing through the streets. We arrived at Jury’s Inn and settled down long enough to throw our suitcases to the ground and run out. Galway awaits!