Day 7: Clonmacnois and Galway

Clonmacnois
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Our tour began very early today as we were setting off for Clonmacnois which is situated in the center of the country. The ride from Dublin took nearly 2 hours.

Clonmacnois is a monsatic site in Ireland with a large round tower, old stone churches and examples of old High crosses.

All along our drive to Clonmacnois the weather was pretty good but as we got closer the skies became more and more overcast.

When we arrived we went inside the visitor's center to watch a short film about Clonmacnois and also do a short guided tour inside. Clonmacnois has the origional very important High Crosses inside the visitors center to protect them from further damage. The guide showed us all the crosses and explained their significance to us. The guide also explained that some of the major crosses on the site are replicas of the real crosses inside the building.

High Crosses at Clonmacnois
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After the tour inside we were to go outside to the grounds to do a short tour. When we went outside it was starting to rain. Our guide pointed out the crosses that were replicas and talked a bit about Clonmacnois but our tour broke up early because it started to pour.

I was very disappointed because I was looking foward to walking around the grounds and seeing all the old crosses. I braved the weather for a bit to get a few pictures but eventually I had to go inside because the weather was foul.

O'Rourke's Twoer
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After Clonmacnois our tour continued onto Galway city which was nearly another hour and a half ride. When we arrived we went on a short bus tour that pointed out all the major sites of the city.

We were dropped off in Eyre's Square to do some shopping. Eyre's Square is a great pedestrian area in Galway city where alot of great pubs, restaurants, art museum and shops are located. This area of the city has a real bohemian feel and you can often find street musicians, actors and artists working outside in the streets.

Galway City
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We walked around and went into the little mall to look in some of their shops. Afterwards we wondered around in the streets until we came across a pub and decided to go in and have a drink. Irish is still spoken in Ireland and the West coast is a great place to hear it. While we were in the pub several of the locals were conversing in Irish. I was able to pick up some of the conversation.

Afterwards we walked around and took some pictures and then it was time to load the bus and go to our hotel to check in. We were staying at the Galway Bay Hotel which is in Salthill, just outside of the city.

Galway Bay
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Our hotel sat just on the bay and it was gorgeous. It was a four star hotel and it was lovely. That had a balcony outside that overlooked the bay. We got checked in and situated in our room and decided to go for a walk on the board walk.

The weather was nice and there were lots of people walking on the beach and fishing. We walked all the way down to where Salthill meets the village of Claddagh and then walked back up to the end of the boardwalk.

We were told about a local tradition of kicking the wall at the end of the board walk as a promise to return to Ireland someday. We found the wall and gave it a few good kicks just for good measure. Its odd how many people you can see doing this. We took a ton of pictures and then returned to the hotel for dinner.