Spring Break Part II : ...and We're Irish to the Core...

 (oh how I love the South Side Irish song)

Saturday

Wicklow Day Tour

"When Life as You Know it Ends"

Saturday morning all ten of us boarded a tour bus to see some of the Ireland countryside.  Our bus driver/tour guide's name was Martin.  He was very funny and informative.  He started out the morning telling us he didn't want to get out of bed because he had a late night at the pub with his friends, so he came up with a plan B: taking us to a pub and just telling us what we would have seen.  Not many people found that funny, so the tour went on.

We went in the Wicklow Mountains National Park.  Through it, we made plenty of stops to take in the scenery and snap some photos.

The Sally Gap was very neat.  Martin told us that in the spring and summer all the brown turns a brilliant shade of pink and purple.  It was wonderfully fabulous while brown, so imagining it even more beautiful is difficult.  You've probably seen the Sally Gap in many movies, as it is a popular place for filming.  Braveheart and P.S. I love you are two of the more well known ones.

The dark brown will be pink or purple in the spring and summer.

A look out into the mountains.  All of the tress are replanted if one is taken down.

Also in Wicklow Park we saw the Loch Tay, or more commonly known as Guinness Lake.  It's a very dark shade, like a Guinness, and the sand that surrounds it is very white.  Not surprisingly, the family who's estate borders the lake is the Guinness Family.

Loch Tay (Guinness Lake)...you can't really see the white sand in this one because of the fog, but you can tell how dark the water is.

This is a view from our hike to the lake

We went to Glendalough Abbey next.  It's an abandoned monastery with only the ruins left.  The cool thing about the tower, is that the door is 12 meters of the ground.  Legend has it that the reason for the door being so high is protection, but in actuality that legend is false, because if they needed the protection the tower would not offer it to them due to the narrow inside and height of the door.

You can see the tower in the back, the graves are of those who lived in the abbey.

View from the Abbey

Old chapel in the Abbey

Near the Abbey, about 30 minutes walking, are beautiful lakes...an upper lake and a lower lake.  It almost reminded me of the lake in Harlan, Kentucky, but even more stunning.

Upper Lake

We stopped for lunch at a little pub called Fitzgibbons.  I had some delicious seafood chowder with a slice of homemade brown bread.  It was amazing.  We then started to head back to Dublin, but on the way we stopped at Avoca.  Avoca is the oldest, still operating, wool mill in Ireland.  We got a tour of the mill, and then looked around the shop for a bit.  It was so cool to see the machines, and they explained the process.

This is part of the mill...mostly the spools of wool, but you can sort of see the machine in the background.

When we got back to Dublin we headed straight for the bus station to hop on a bus to Galway.  As soon as all the little situations were settled, four of us in a different room decided we needed to go out.  So we went to shop street and ran into two of our friends from JFRC.  We just hung out and talked for a bit, walked around the streets, and headed back.

 Sunday
Cliffs of Moher Tour

MORE PICTURES TO COME ASAP, BUT INTERNET IS BEING TOO SLOW.
The next morning we got on a bus for a tour of the Cliffs of Moher (and other things in the surrounding area).  We saw so much on this tour, that for space sake I'll just give you the basics.  First off was a stop along the coast!

We stopped along the coast on the way for a few minutes to take pictures and soak in the view.

Along the way we stopped at Corcomroe Abbey.  It was similar to the abbey we say the day before, but also completely different.  Here we saw the Kilfenora, or the high cross.  They are wonderfully beautiful.  I prefer the simple ones, but the others are so intricate also that there is something special about them.
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We stopped to eat lunch, but in an effort to save money some of us  had packed Peanut Butter sandwiches.  Mary Beth and I sat outside with our new German friend chatting.  She's doing this awesome thing working for WWOOF.  It's where you live and work on a farm for 4-6 hours a day, doing whatever the family needs you to do and you get free room and board.  She says the families treat her like she's one of them, and that she absolutely loves it.

At the Cliffs of Moher, I fell even more in love with Ireland. They were so breathtaking.  I don't even know where to begin to describe them.  The group split up, and Mary Beth and I wandered past the sign that said caution, don't go past.  But other people were doing it also, so it was safe.  And I'm so glad we did.  We went all the way to the end, and each step farther that we got was more and more beautiful.  I promise to add the pictures as soon as I can.  Looking down over the cliffs was amazing.  You can see the water splashing up against them.  The crashing waves sound almost as beautiful as it looks.  From the end of the cliffs you can see the lookout far in the distance.  Personally, I think we got a better view from where we were than in the lookout, but adventure isn't for everyone.  I honestly cannot describe how I felt just sitting and staring out into the distance.

A look from far beyond the cliffs. 

On the way home we stopped at a castle while the sun was setting.  I have to steal a picture from another girl, because she got one when we passed on the way there too.  The tide hadn't come in yet so the same scenery looks completely different only hours apart.
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We also stopped at a Ballyalban Fairy Fort.  Fairy Forts are when the trees form a circle.  No one ever thinks of cutting the fairy forts down.  Our tour guide bus driver told us that one time it caused such huge debates because they wanted to knock one down for a road, but in the end tradition won and they built the road around it.
picture.

The two days of tours were amazing, but exhausting. We attempted to go to the pubs that night, but Sundays in Ireland are very similar to Sundays in Italy in that everything shuts down rather early.

Random Facts
1.  Unemployment is a major issue right now in Ireland.  Our bus driver explained to us told us that it is very common for temporary hire.  You never know how long you'll have a job for, and they all understand it's not necessarily because they aren't good workers, but because the employers don't have the money to pay them.

2.  I sat next to a woman (for part of the bus ride) who has lived in Milan for the past 25 years teaching English.  She's from Portland and says she hasn't been home in over ten years. (she's going home to visit her siblings in a few weeks)  I really want to continue traveling, and maybe even work abroad, but I can't imagine not going home for ten years, especially if I still have family there.