A canal next to River Corrib
Latin Quarter, lots of restaurants, pubs, and street musicians.
The old Galway City walls were incorporated into the mall.
River Corrib
Birds!
Random shot.
I might have done some trespassing to get to this point.
Right in the middle of the Pokemon Go craze.
Galway is just an absolutely gorgeous little Irish town. The Latin Quarter is where most of the action is since it has a lot of restaurants, bars, shopping, and street musicians. There are things outside of downtown Galway, but this is the hotspot. There is another little entertainment district by the Galway Aquarium, but it nearly isn't as big as the Latin Quarter. I did my usual thing where I just walk around somewhat aimlessly. I've said it before, but I really enjoy it. I'll duck down some weird alleys just to see what is down them and I'll go from Point A to Point B by one way, and then I'll take a different way to go from Point B back to Point A because I haven't been that way before. I find cool little shops, cafes, and restaurants. Speaking of shops, I found this great dinner jacket that I wish I would have gotten.
Cool skull and crossbones.
Finally, some sun during my run.
Causeway to Mutton Island.
Tacos from Tuco's. They were actually pretty good.
The soap, conditioner, and shampoo at my AirBNB were the colors of the Irish flag. Nice touch.
Uh, the steering wheel is on the wrong side.
After my excellent time of doing nothing in Galway, it was time to go elsewhere in Ireland. I really tried to take a train or bus next, but getting to the little towns is very difficult. It would've taken me about 1 day and cost about 100€ or I could have hired a car and it cost me 70€. I chose the car. I have never driven on the other side of the road before. I was very cautious at first. However, going through the first roundabout 10 minutes later after I started driving was a near death experience for me. I'm sure I cut some people off, but I found a gap and went for it.
The rest of the drive wasn't bad and I actually got used to the other side of the road in about 30 minutes. I was just really cautious and took my time looking left, right, left, no wait, I looked right, left, right before going into traffic. It is true about the roads over there; they are pretty narrow and have no shoulder at all. It was pretty harrowing, but I thought it was fun. Then, you get stuck behind a big ass tour bus. I drove from Galway to Portmagee and I did a part of the Ring of Kerry.
I went to Portmagee to do 1 thing: the Skellig Islands. The Skellig Islands, Skellig Michael in particular, were featured at the end of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. I thought they were absolutely gorgeous and once I found out that they were physical, not CGI, I wanted to tack them on to this trip. They are a UNESCO World Heritage site and they housed an early Christian monastery on the islands. The ruins of the monastery still exist and you can see them in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Since they were featured in the movie, tours of the islands have obviously become very popular. Tours were booking 2 months in advance and luckily, I was able to get a spot, since it was just me, since someone else cancelled. The issue with the boat tours is that they are dependent upon the weather. If the seas are too rough, you can't land on the island. The morning of my trip, it was definitely too rough. It was so rough that some boats weren't even going out at all. Hey, a few waves wouldn't really bother me at all. We got on the boat and about 12 other people were on the boat. Then, we headed out into the sea. The swells were easily 6-10 in height at times. This girl and I were on the front of the boat getting soaking wet and we were surfing the waves. It was a blast! Pretty much everyone else on the boat had wide eyes fearing for their lives the entire time, but I was having fun. I think half the boat also got sick. Crazy land-lubbers. We went around the 2 islands, saw a lot of birds, and took a lot of pictures. I had my stormies with me to take a picture in the quest to find Luke Skywalker, but we couldn't land unfortunately. I guess I'll have to come back and visit Ireland again. I don't have any problems with that.
Portmagee itself is a great little seaside town. There are only about 4-5 restaurants, but it just seams so calm and chill. There is a gift shop there with a bunch of Star Wars merchandise. I gotta admit that Mark Hamill is known for only 1 thing: playing Luke Skywalker, and he has accepted that and is totally living it up. The gift shop had many pictures of him making ridiculous poses. It was awesome!
Ring of Kerry
Portmagee
Colorful happy little houses
See, Mark Hamill hamming it up
Morning of the tour
First glance of the Skelligs
My wave surfing buddy.
Little Skellig
Little Skellig
Skellig Michael, you can see some structures on the side.
Leaving Skellig Michael. You can see a trail going up the island in the green part.
Last view of Skellig Michael.
Killarney was a nice town. Because it is so beautiful around there, a lot of weddings are done there. I couldn't even count the number of wedding parties that I saw that weekend. It also seems to be where the more affluent people of Ireland have their weekend homes. The town was very, very clean and kept up well. Once again, I just wandered around a lot. I even rented a bike and rode it around some of the roads. The coolest thing was there was a pub there called The Shire which is a Lord of the Rings themed pub. I spent most of my drinking time there because it was a really fun place. Had lots of tourists, Irish and foreign, music, and friendly people. Great place!
Ring of Kerry
Ring of kerry
Killarney National Park
Killarney National Park
A guy playing bagpipes in Killarney National Park.
Killarney National Park
Killarney National Park
The beers on tap at The Shire, the LOTR themed pub.
Irish Whiskey Experience. It was funny because it was all Americans, the tour guide was speaking in proofs, and we all thought that proofs of alcohol was stupid.
Totes my goats!
So much green.
Ross Castle
St. Mary's Church of Ireland
Detour while running.
My GPS app didn't tell me that the trail was flooded when I went for a run.
This guy had some choice words about whether or not I should continue on my run or stay with him and keep petting him.
Killarney sunset.
After Killarney, I took a train back to Dublin. I had 1 last night in Dublin and I stayed in the dorms at Trinity College. Hey, it was only for a night so it wasn't bad. The highlight of the last night in Dublin was the Irish Folk Tours. This is about a 90 minute dinner where there are 3 courses and the tour guide tells some tales about the history of Ireland, some facts, some myths. It was very entertaining. It was highly recommended to me and I highly recommend it to you.
Trinity College. A single person could get this sculpture to move easily.
Trinity College while stumbling home at night.
Trinity College, last morning in Ireland.The next morning, I got an Uber to go to the airport and head back to Denver. After 14 days in Ireland and traveling, I was ready to be home in my own bed. I've been to Ireland twice now and I have no problems with going back again. The people are some of the friendliest that I have ever met and they are pretty outgoing. You also see many other people there and you can have some good conversations with them. I wish it was sunnier, but I guess that's part of the Irish charm.
Oh, and there's one more thing:
Dublin
Belfast
Galway
Killarney
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