This past weekend we had truncated work-week in order to go and visit the West Coast of Ireland, which was really nice. We started our trip off with a long drive to the cliffs of Moher, and we passed the historic Lahinch Golf Club on the way. I had heard a lot about it, but it was incredible to see in person; I think I’d shoot about an 110 if I were to play it now, especially in windy conditions and my current lack of play. The cliffs of Moher were breathtaking, but there were so many tourists there, and it was so built up that it definitely took away from the natural beauty a little bit. After the Cliffs, we went to a pretty fancy hotel for lunch, and even though I’m not a huge seafood fan, I figured it would be a good spot to finally try fish and chips. They were pretty good, I really liked the tartar sauce, but the fact that I don’t love fish had me choking down the last couple bites. I think I still want to try one more more fish and chips from a takeaway place here in the city, with some greasier batter and loads of malt vinegar to mask the fish taste.
After another bus ride, we eventually made it to Galway, where we would be staying for the weekend. We stayed in a hostel, which was my first hostel experience. It honestly wasn’t too bad, except for the terrible smell. Galway was a really cool town, with nightlife that was definitely a lot different from Dublin, it was a small downtown contained to a few streets, and it was a nice change of pace. The next morning we took a rough ferry ride to the Inishmore, the largest of the Aran Islands, where we rented bikes and rode around the island. It was nice to get on a bike again, as I miss mountain biking back home. The ruins on the Island were really remote, and really only accessible by bike. One of the forts on the island was right on a cliff, and my friend Evan and I estimated how high the cliff was based on throwing a rock off the cliff. Approximately 50 meters, or 164 feet. This lead to a nearly tourist-free viewing experience, which was pretty magical just because of how quiet it was. After a much smoother ferry home, we enjoyed the Galway nightlife for one more time, and I had a delicious lamb wrap from a middle eastern restaurant.
The next day we visited Kylemore Abbey, which was a private castle turned Monastery, where they have the largest walled garden in Ireland. Later that day we went to a sheep farm, and following an awe-inspiring demonstration from a shepherd and his border collie, we got to feed and hold lambs. I almost regretted my dinner from the night before. After getting back, we had class and a tour of a recreation of one of the ships Irish emigrants took to North America during the famine, or The Great Hunger, as they call it here.
On Monday night, we I went to bed really early, and woke up at 1:30 to watch the Celtics become the 2024 NBA champions, I really enjoyed watching them win the finals, but thank goodness I don’t have to watch anymore games in the middle of the night. We finally got our fix for golf on Wednesday afternoon, and took a ride to a local pitch and putt, which was really fun. Overall this was a really fun week, and I’m starting to really hit my stride in my internship.
