galway

anna and i headed to galway for four days to get away from the hustle and bustle of dublin. we wanted to go the aran islands, as well as the cliffs of moher. galway itself was a nice little town, and quite a change from dublin. its basically a bunch of pubs around one square - with a pedestrian walkway going off one side which has more shops and pubs.

we made it out to the largest of the aran islands - inishmore - and we had quite a walk from the dock all the way to Dun Aengus - an ancient fort built on the edge of the 300ft cliffs down to the atlantic ocean. along the way i also picked up a couple of sweaters for myself, and we also stopped by a gorgeous beach on the island. thankfully we decided to take a van back to the dock, as i dont think we would have made the boat otherwise - there were even a few brave souls taking a swim at the beach on the way back.

we ended up going to the cliffs of moher twice, as the first time we went, the weather was horrible by the time we got there, and the fog was so thick we couldnt see across the street, let alone see the cliffs across the way. at the time i thought it was stupid to take pictures of whiteness, but now i wish i did just to have comparison shots.

it was well worth the second effort to see the cliffs, as they are just spectacular. 800ft down to the atlantic. while the official path isnt very long, it does continue past the sign asking you to stop - which really doesnt stop many people at all. only the old lady next to me who was complaining as i continued on. the path actually goes quite far.. it would take a couple of hours to go all the way to the end of the cliffs and back, i would say we made it 75% of the way before we had to turn around and head back to catch our bus. im glad we went as far as we did, once you get out there a ways, the number of tourists drops dramatically and you wont pass another person for quite a long time.