This past weekend, we had the incredible opportunity to visit the Irish city of Galway. Our trip started off Friday morning with a trip to the cliffs of Moher. No matter where we stood, there was always an incredible view. What amazed me about this trip was how blue the water was. When you think of the coast of Ireland, you think of a dark and cold water. But here the water looked light blue and tropical. While looking at this water, I remembered a fun fact from my first trip to Ireland over eleven years ago. A tour guide told us that there is a current of water that stems from the Gulf of Mexico all the way to Ireland. When I got home, I googled this current and found that it was called the Gulf stream. It starts in the Gulf of Mexico and travels through the Florida Keys and into Europe.
One of the downsides of traveling over the summer means I’m missing a summer of warm weather back home in Point Pleasant Beach, New Jersey. I’ve been getting jealous while my friends sending pictures of the beach when I’m walking back from my internship on a cloudy and rainy day. That all changed on Saturday when we had time to bike around the Aran Islands. Instead of a cold and rainy day, we were treated to a sunny day biking by beautiful beaches. We were a little daunted at first when we realized we didn’t have a tour guide to help us navigate the island, but quickly realized the freedom of being able to bike from beach to beach was the perfect way to explore the island. We were able to go to the famous Aran Island Wool store where I bought an authentic Irish cap and flask. After hours of biking, we waited for the ferry by laying down on a nice warm beach, something I neve thought I’d say I did in Ireland.
We ended this trip to the East coast by stopping at a local sheep farm. We walked a mile to the farm with sheep casually walking past us on both sides of the road. When we reached the farm, the shepherd showed us how he used his dog to herd all the sheep in to be sheered. It was incredible just how responsive the dog was to his owners every command. After the sheep were sheered, we got a chance to feed and hold the lambs.
This trip was great because we got a chance to see multiple places in Ireland and see what life is like in Ireland for cities other than Dublin. I said that going from Galway to Dublin was like going to Boston from New York City. The cities are smaller and feel a little more historical. Driving past suburbs and small towns made me think about what life would have looked like if I lived in Dublin. All in all it was a great trip and I can’t wait until our next weekend trip to Belfast.
