Irish West Coast: Galway Bay

Cliffs of Moher

2 weeks ago I left busy Dublin to rest on the quiet Irish West Coast for a week end. It was a wonderful time in beautiful places.
On the Friday night, I caught the last train to Galway where I spent a short night at Sleepzone Hostel. The hostel was nice and cheap (18€ for 1 night), well located but my bed was just next to the bathroom so nice noises all along the night, then the individual lights were quite bright so hard to sleep while someone is using his/hers and well a white curtain doesn't stop sunlight on the morning (I think I should buy one of those masks for sleeping someday).

On the Saturday early in the morning I took a bus to Doolin, a seaside village in Galway bus. As I tend to be roadsick and forgot to buy medicines, the almost 2 hours were hard, especially that we were driving through wonderful countryside (yeah Irish countryside is just so marvelous) with narrow and curvy roads and a crazy driver (seems like all bus drivers drive like mad around here). Then I walked to the Pier with a nice Italian guy I met before getting on the bus. I arrived just in time to get my boat to Inis Oirr, a small and nice and quiet island, part of the Arran Islands.
It was wonderful and calm and empty, I stayed at the hostel which was very nice and cheap (18€) but no curtain nor blind nor closers on the window (I really have to buy one of those sleeping masks). Then I decided to go and walk around the island, I though that by sticking to the sea shore I shouldn't get lost, but at a point it became not praticable so I decided to turn away and not venture inlands as I sure did not wanna get lost as I was alone.

Inis Oirr Beach

The island was wonderful and it was so resourceful to be in such a quiet place, I'm a real city girl but I also enjoys to be immersed in nature. All this blue (for the ocean), green and gray (for the stones you can find all around the island) are such a delight for the eyes. And the beach of Inis Oirr: empty and clean, but I didn't go to swim, just walked in the cold North Atlantic Ocean.

After a peaceful night I headed back to Doolin by boat on a wild ocean which made me feel not very good and then took a bus to the legendary Cliffs of Moher: WOW! It was such a beautiful show, Nature is really something and can take your breath away (and whole Ireland is about breathtaking places), it was sunny and windy (so I came back home with sunburns and sore throat), I could have stayed hours just staring at this magical landscape but I had little time before catching my bus to Galway.

I had less than  3h in Galway so I went for a walk in the main streets, and as I was on Shop Street (yes that's the name of the street, and guess what it's full of shops), and I stopped by a shoe shop which was announcing big discounts and pairs starting @ 20€... and i found a wonderful pair for 20€! ^^ Galway seems to be also a nice place. I guess I'll just have to go back around there and explore more sometime.

It was a great week end, I really enjoyed it, and I advise you to pay a visit to this wonderful corner of Ireland.



PHOTOS


==Greetings from Dublin==