Connemara: Galway the Prequel (Otherwise Known as Family Time)

Yesterday, I decided to tag along on the first leg of my aunt and uncle's journey around Ireland. Their first stop was Galway, which was the last have-to-go-here place in Ireland for me. Connacht was also my last of the four Irish provinces. So now, I can feel accomplished. 


The day started a little later than usual, I could wake up at 8:30 instead of my usual 7:30 for work, which was a nice little treat. I met Deener and Kellea up at the rental car part of the airport, and after the usual amount of floundering, we got on the road at around 10:40. The scenery along the way was beautiful, as to be expected with Ireland. Green hills, even some ruins of castles right along the highway. All pretty standard.


 We got to Galway City around 1, but instead of getting out we went straight on to Connemara. Connemara is the region west of Galway City in Co Galway. When Oliver Cromwell came into Ireland and banished the people off their fertile, green land, he told them, "To Hell or Connacht!"  Connacht is the least fertile province in Ireland, and when you look at Connemara, you see it. It is beautiful, but in a harsh way. There are very few trees. The ground is not the emerald green that you are used to, but instead full of rocks, boulders, and a manner of other things. There are real mountains there, instead of the typical Irish hills and many, many lakes and inlets. It's quite remarkable. 


In Connemara, there are  bunches of houses with yards designated by either knee or waist high dry stone wall fences. One could argue that most of the houses look like little cottages. In the yards, sometimes there are cows, horses, or sheep. None of the yards are very flat and the fences are by no means straight. 


Connemara is also the largest Gaeltacht (Gaelic-speaking area) in Ireland. Almost all the street signs have no English translations. This is quite different from Dublin. In Ireland, it is mandatory that all the street signs are in Gaelic as well as English. In Dublin, it seems like it is a forced effort to put them into Gaelic, with English being everywhere and the Gaelic translations under it. In Connemara, it's the real deal. So while some people, if they only come to Dublin, may think that the Gaelic language is dead or dying, they clearly haven't spent very much time out west. It's quite alive and thriving there. 


Needless to say, it's a whole different world out there.

The Rest of Ireland v. Connacht

After getting out of Galway City, we made our way along the coast. We ventured into Spiddle, which was a cute coastal town with some B&B's, pubs, and a grocery store along a small main street. However, before long, Spiddle seemed quite metropolitan. Connemara had a funny way of turning completely isolated. We had only been driving for a half hour, but we felt like there were no people around, only these small houses and their livestock. We went through Inverin, which hardly even seemed like a town. Pulled back inward and then made our way to Carna, kind of sort of a halfway point between Clifden and Galway, not really. 


By the time we finally got to Carna, we were starving. It was 2:30PM and none of us had eaten since 9AM. So we stopped at the first pub we could find. It was called Tigh Mheaic, and was on an otherwise uninhabited road in the middle of nowhere close to Carna. And from what I gather Carna is a fishing village with a collection of a few houses closer together than normal and a small hotel. Outside the Tigh Mheaic promises "Ceol agus Craic" (Music and Fun), and inside, it looked very interesting. There was a deer head mounted on the wall, even though I am pretty certain there weren't any deer for miles. The normally wood-burning fire place was burning peat bricks on account of the lack of wood in Connemara. There was also a Chicago license plate that said "Michigan Avenue" on it and played American country music. On top of all of that, they were selling t-shirts, which seemed odd. I can't imagine that there were many tourists out that way. 

Our waitress came up to us, and I was surprised by her accent. It wasn't thick and incomprehensible, which I was expecting given the guys at the bar, who may or may not have been speaking Gaelic. I really have no idea. Anyways, I ordered fried cod and chip, and Deener and Kellea split the Haddock and chips. We also ordered a bowl of seafood chowder and three Smithwicks to tide us over before our food came. When the seafood chowder came, I was in heaven. It was the best seafood chowder I have ever had. Similarly, the fish and chips were beautiful. I am pretty sure they went out to catch the fish after we ordered, as it did take quite a while to get our food. But it was so delicious I didn't really care (and the Smithwicks was a good appetizer). 


After we left the pub, we continued on our merry way. It was about 4:30 and I had to be at the bus station by 7 to catch the bus back to Dublin. So we continued to make our way up the western coast. And everything was so beautiful. At one point, we encountered a waterfall just along the side of the road. Next to it, some sheep were just chilling. Not long after that, we nearly ran over some sheep who were just chilling on the side of the road. I asked Deener and Kellea if I could get out and pet them, but there wasn't any place for us to pull over. Finally, we found a beautiful spot to pull off. It was right by a church, but the church was literally the only thing in the area. Otherwise, it was just a river with a few trees and beautiful mountains in the background. It was one of the most breathtaking things I have seen since I have been here. 


After stopping at the church, we started to make our way back towards Galway city to ensure that I caught my bus. I got there quite a bit early, so I got some Subway, and when I got back to the bus stop, I started talking with an American girl who was an au pair in Loughrea, a small town about 30 minutes outside Galway City. She had just graduated from BYU Idaho and was spending the year in Ireland. She told me some pretty interesting things. For example, the sweaters on the Aran Islands. Every family has their own unique sweater pattern, which they are super proud of. It would be cool, but they do that so that they can identify a battered corpse after a rough day out at sea. Pretty morbid.


After that happy note, this is where I shall leave you. Tomorrow, I am heading back out westward with Kari and Megan, to Galway for the weekend. I am quite excited. On Saturday, we are going to see the Aran Islands, which are supposed to be incredible.