Friday Sept 29

My longtime friend from BC High, Jesse MacDonald, sent me a note after I posted a band playing in the street in Galway last night. That band was just one of the many experiences that confirmed the ‘Ireland is Magical’ theory with me. I have heard that theory many times over the years, but as Jesse continued ‘It doesn’t make sense to hear that until you’re there’, and I now subscribe to that notion ten times over. Yesterday was nothing short of BREATHTAKING for me. I booked a tour to check out The Aran Islands, The Cliffs of Moher and a quick stop for lunch in Doolin. I found the tour on http://www.viator.com…a site that offers up an array of fun tours and activities. I used them to book a horseback riding tour in Killarney in a couple of days. I recommend them highly.

Back to yesterday’s life changing experience. A couple of weeks ago, I put it out to the world on the Facebook that I was looking for suggestions for a solo trip to Ireland. One friend suggested I HAD to go to the Aran Islands; I had never heard of the Aran Islands, but I am glad he introduced me to it.

It was about a 90 minute bus right to get from Galway to just past Doolin, where we hopped on a ferry (not like a MV or Nantucket ferry: think Whale Watch boat) to go to Inisheer – the smallest of the three Aran Islands. The ferry ride took 15 minutes or so, and you get the treat of admiring the Cliffs of Moher from afar as we go. Once on the island, we had 90 minutes or so to explore. I elected to rent an e-bike to zip around the island and check things out. A couple of things about Inisheer:
• It is roughly 1.8 miles x 1.2 miles
• There are roughly 300 people that live on the island
• There is a school, a hotel, a pub, a runway and rock walls. LOTS of rock walls.

I was told that the rock walls were built up around the island because most of the land was cover with this stone, and the people living there needed to do something with the stone in order to cultivate the land. It is quite magnificent.

As soon as I got back to my hotel later that night, I found a video on YouTube that is a drone tour of the Island. I highly recommend watching this 2+ min video. It really gives a great view of this beautiful island.
ARAN ISLAND DRONE VIDEO TOUR

The Cliffs of Moher

Breathtaking is really the only word I can come up with to describe this truly magical spot. At over 800 feet tall at its highest point, it is hard to understand this natural wonder. The cliffs are truly majestic, and the pictures don’t do it justice. The sun was OUT yesterday, and it was BRIGHT! A brightness that maybe we aren’t used to in the States, due to fog and air pollution, but my sunglasses weren’t really helping with the piercing sun! Scenes from one of the Harry Potter movies was filmed here at the Cliffs. Finally, a couple that was sitting behind me on the bus got engaged on top of the cliffs! A day they will never forget, I’m sure. I didn’t get engaged up there yesterday, but it will be a day I don’t soon forget either!

The Galway Nightlife

I had heard all about the exciting Galway Nightlife all the way back in college when I was studying abroad in London. Friends gave me recommendations of pubs and restaurants that I need to check out, and the nightlife experience have lived up to all of my expectations. Everyone was just having a great time. There was this ‘joie de vivre’ in The Latin Quarter that I can’t remember experiencing anywhere else! No one was pissed off and angry like you see in Boston (for sure) and other places in the States. I ended up in one of the recommended pubs, Tig Coili…and it was exactly what I was looking to experience.

Tig Coili

The owners of this charming little pub in the heart of The Latin Quarter call it ‘a country pub, in the middle of the city.’ They have ‘Music Sessions’ on a nightly basis and it was everything that I had hoped to experience. These music sessions are basically just jame sessions. Musicians will just come in, without previously making plans to do so, and just sit in and jam with the other musicians that are already there. They set up shop in the ‘Nook’ in the front of the pub, and just play and play and play. It is absolutely brilliant. Check out the Tig Coili website HERE.

Funny story from the pub: I sat down next to a guy who was clearly a fellow American. His wife was back at the hotel and he was just enjoying a couple of pints out on the town. He and I started talking: He was from from Upstate New York and worked in marketing for years. He and I had played a bunch of the same golf courses, so there as an immediate connection. I told him I was from Boston. That’s it. His next question:

”Did you got to Trinity College?” (Hartford, not Dublin)

I told him I did. He then asked me if I knew Jay Monahan (The head of the PGA Tour) and Billy Hogan (The top guy for Liverpool Football Club). Mind officially blown! He told me he worked with both of those guys years ago when his company was a major sponsor for PGA Tour events. It is a SMALL world! My mom would have been tickled to hear that story! When I moved to Kentucky way back int he day, she said she was never worried that I would be lonely in a new place, because as she said ‘you’ll just meet someone over a beer somewhere, and you’ll be fine.’ And that is exactly what happened in Hopkinsville, and it happened again last night in Galway. Fun stuff!

Saturday’s Plan

No real plans in the books for today. Just going to wander around and see some sights. There is a Hurling match later this afternoon that I might go check out. There is a Pizza Place called The Dough Bros that apparently was named the 16th best pizza in THE WORLD! Between, Santarps, Regina’s and Papa Ginos (I’m being serious) in Boston, I will be the judge to see if this Dough Bros place is worthy of the 16th best pizza in the world. I will report back tomorrow!