A Mall By Any Other Name

We changed our plans a bit and booked a tour of Kylemore Abbey for tomorrow.  That left us at loose ends for today.  The rain had been falling in spurts and the wind was less blustery then it has been.  Earlier in the week we had talked about exploring the Salthill neighborhood where we are staying, so today seemed like a good enough time go.

Cooking white pudding for breakfast.

Looking at a map of the area on-line we really couldn't find anything that called out to us.  I did however see Westside Shopping Center.  It sounded close enough to Westfield Shopping Center to seem promising.  We checked the status of the rain and headed out.

Since we don't have phone service here or a mobile Wi-Fi connection we've learned to download a large area on Google Maps on our phones so we have a great portable map with turn by turn directions.  Very helpful.  You see so many things just walking around the neighborhoods and outskirts of town.

Either a school or a prison.  Just kidding it's a school.

Typical houses in the Maple Park neighborhood.

We made it to the Shopping Center...hmm yeah, not a mall.  We were really hoping for an American style mall.  This was more like a small strip mall.  It had a large Dunnes Stores (like a Fred Meyers), a butcher's shop, a newsagent, a credit union branch, and an appliance and lighting store.  So we ended up in a McDonalds to come up with a new plan for the day.

Sadly the plan was just to take a long round-about way home.  I say sadly but I am not really all that sad about it.  I needed a bit of a down day.  We had laundry and dishes to do and since we're touring tomorrow I wanted to spend some time packing and cleaning.  We take the train back to Dublin on Friday and head to the airport for our flight home.

The following are pictures we've taken on our walks around Galway and a few other places this week.

Heading into downtown Galway.

Old mill houses sitting on the canals around the downtown area

Maintenance work on a weir.  There were men fishing for salmon just downstream.

Jeff watching Irish football in the pub.

Looking toward the Galway Cathedral.  Built in the 60s, it just looks old.

These beautiful houses are in Cobh.  I just wanted to share the photo.

And this is actually in Dublin.  We saw it on the way to Kilmainham.

St. Joseph's church.

Townhouses on Nuns Island (I think. I lost track of where we were)

The only Free Mason sign I've found.

Entrance to Galway Cathedral.

Interior of Galway Cathedral

I don't know the Irish name for Pre-Fab but that is what these look like.

Typical street scene from our walk today.

We leave in less than 48 hours I am sad beyond words.

The Key to a Sunny Day

Cliffs of Moher

When we woke up this morning I had no idea what to do.  I told Jeff, 'You're in charge of today's entertainment.'  Next thing I knew we were on a tour bus to the Cliffs of Moher.  Even better we were driving into some much needed sunshine.

Included in the tour was a stop at The Burren.  I was pretty excited to see this area.  I wish I had a geologist with me while we walked around.  A botanist would have been great too.  The area supports plants from the Arctic, Mediterranean, and Alpine regions. Unfortunately the extended winter this year meant the spring flowers that are usually blooming between the limestone slabs at this time weren't up yet.

Now we know where all the rock for the thousands of rock walls come from.

Sheep grazing in one of small grassy areas.

A small pond formed in the limestone rock.

One of the 90 megalithic tombs in the area.

Part of the great fun of these bus tours is going through all the wonderful little towns. We got to see ruins, buildings with thatched roofs, and lots of animals.  One of the towns we went through a little town called Lisdoonvara which is known throughout Ireland as The Matchmaking Town.  Every year the town has a matchmaking ceremony for the entire month of September.  40,000 people we go to the town for the music, dancing and more importantly the matchmaking.

I was slow getting my camera out and I missed the actual town.

Cutest grocer shop ever.

One of the many tower houses.

I don't remember the correct name but this place was built by the O'Brians

 

After we stopped for lunch in Doolan where we briefly lost William we headed for the cliffs.  On a side note, our lunch, while okay, we all agreed was the worst meal we've had while here.  I think the pub we all went to was a bit overwhelmed with two tour buses at the same time.  So I'll give them a pass.

The beautiful Cliffs of Moher

The view from a bit higher up.

William letting his hair fly.

Cheesy squinty grins courtesy of the bright sunshine.

The boys holding on for dear life.

I wasn't sure we wouldn't be blown away

Looking away from the cliffs

We thought we'd survived some pretty rough wind here in Galway.  The wind gusts on the cliff were crazy!  There were times when it was hard to walk in a straight line or even stand still.  At one point Jeff climbed out on this large rock plateau and laid down on the edge to take a picture.  I couldn't look.  I was terrified he was going to get blown off.  I found out on the trip back that my fear wasn't that unfounded.  Last year 16 people died from falling off the cliffs, 6 people have died so far this year.  The latest one was just last week when a 20 year girl stumbled and went over the edge.

I took a brief nap on the way home.  All that fresh air and walking did me in.  But now we know how to find sunshine - get out of town.  The 2 sunny beautiful days we've had, have both been when we've gone out on a tour.  Kind of a no brainer for what we should do tomorrow.

Blown Away

All the guide books say Galway is a compact city that can be walked around in a day.  The people we've talked to in town all say the same  thing.  Yesterday we were going to take our shot at doing just that.  The wind had other things in mind. 

William running from the camera.

Jeff taking it like a man.

We started our walk by going across the street to the beach and walking out on the causeway toward a lighthouse we saw yesterday. The wind was really picking up as we walked along the beach, by the time we made it up onto the causeway it was getting hard to walk in a straight line.

Jeff soaking up the sun during an all too brief sun break

Looking down the road to the lighthouse

The tide is going out

Looking back toward the Claddagh, home of the famous Claddagh Ring

Looking toward Salthill on the other side.

This is a far as we could go

Out walk was cut short by a gate with a Not Open to the Public sign hanging off of it.  I was disappointed that we would get to reach the small island but I was happy to turn my back on the incessant wind.

The River Corrib with Galway Cathedrial in the backround.

On our way back into town we cut across a football field ad then followed the River Corrib into the city.  We were very ready to get out of the wind so we quickly found a place to stop and have some lunch. I gave Jeff the seat by the fire because he has come down with a cold which he's doing his best to fight off.  We've never taken a vacation when he hasn't gotten sick sometime during it.  I am doubly grateful that he isn't whiny when he get's sick and he's still willing to go out and do things with us everyday.

The food was amazing and we spend sometime soaking up the heat and watching Irish Football. It's an odd game, kind of a cross between Rugby and normal football (soccer).  All the players are unpaid amateurs who have to go back to their day jobs after getting the hell beat out of them for an hour each night. It was great fun.

Back on Market St., the rain was just starting to come down in small spurts and the wind from the coast had found it's way inland.

Even with the wet weather the street was busy.

Crossing the river on our way back home.

We cut our walk short, after visiting a few shops.  I was getting tired of fighting the wind and William was getting bored.  On the way home we found a proper grocery store and bought supplies for dinner and snacking. The rest of the walk home was miserable.  The rain was like frozen needles blowing straight into our faces.  The wind had picked up to the point where you had to lean into it to made forward progress.  I have rarely been so happy to get back to a dry and warm house.  We spend the rest of night, watching movies, listening to the wind howl outside and checking to see if the waves were making it up onto the road.

The tide coming back in.

The ship out there came into the harbor to wait out the storm.

The wind continued until well past midnight.  I told Jeff we need to get t-shirts made that say, We Survived the Galway Hurricane. 

It's looking better today so we may venture out again and see if we can make it all the way into town this time.  Wish us luck.