Ireland (Éire, Iwerddon)

Hello again.
on Monday, my four-week break ended, and the real world started up again. but before that, I went to Ireland. I spent three weeks there, and went around the whole island, beginning and ending in the same place: Rosslare, where the ferry goes to and from Fishguard, in west Wales.
my first stop was Drogheda - north of Dublin, to Brú Na Bóinne, ancient burial chambers and mounds (older than Stonehenge, even!). I went to Newgrange, which is the biggest and most popular site. on the Winter solstice, the sun creeps down the passage and lights up the chamber. while I stayed in Drogheda I also went over to the Hill of Slane, which is famous for being the place where St Patrick introduced the shamrock.

Newgrange

The Hill of Slane

After Drogheda I headed up to Newcastle, which is very nicely situated in Northern Ireland between the Mourne Mountains and the ocean. I took a day and hiked up Slieve Donard, which is the highest mountain in Northern Ireland (although not the highest mountain in all of Ireland, taking second place there). it was extremely foggy for 3/4 of the hike, but the view on the way down the mountain was gorgeous.

Slieve Donard

after Newcastle I spent a day in Belfast before heading up to Portrush, Ballintoy, and the Giants Causeway. Portrush has an amazing beach, Ballintoy is very close to the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge (a rope bridge across a gorge to a small island with amazing views), and the Giants Causeway was really interesting (and also very beautiful, but I have the feeling I'll be overusing that word in this post).

The Belfast Wheel

Portrush Beach

Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge

The Giants Causeway

from the Giants Causeway I went over to Derry for a day, before heading southward to Achill Island, on the west side of the Republic of Ireland. it was extremely windy and cold on Achill Island, but it was also very pretty and diverse - beaches and fields and mountains and ghost towns and lots of rain.

One of the Bogside Murals in Derry

abandoned house on Achill Island

Next I went to Galway for a few days - I took a ferry to Inis Mór, the biggest of the Aran Islands, and rode a bike around the island all day (with absolutely perfect weather). I also spent some time just wandering around Galway, up and down streets. Galway has a very interesting feel - it's becoming a modern city but it still retains that old-school Irish village charm and feel. I had a lot of fun in Galway.

Inis Mór

After Galway I went over to Ennis, which is a cute town in County Clare, southeast of Galway. while I was there I took a bus over to the Cliffs of Moher. the day was pretty foggy, very windy, and a little rainy, but the Cliffs were absolutely stunning and completely worth the high winds. From Ennis I headed down to Dingle, in the Dingle Peninsula, for a night. the town and the peninsula are gorgeous, and the weather was also starting to clear up and get warmer by this time (which was very nice).

The Cliffs of Moher

Dingle

after Dingle I went over to Killarney, which is right next to Killarney National Park and the Ring of Kerry (famous for its beautiful drive around the peninsula). my first day there I rented a bike and (in perfect weather again) rode around the National Park. the next day I took an organized tour of the Ring of Kerry, which did live up to its hype - it was a beautiful drive, and the tour guide had some interesting tidbits as well.

Muckross House

Torc Waterfall

The Ring of Kerry

my final leg of the trip was Cork. I spent a couple days just wandering around the streets, seeing the sights. I walked over to Blackrock Castle, which also functions as an observatory, and went through the exhibits they set up. the weather was wonderful - sunny, warm, and with the occasional soft breeze, so I spent most of my time just wandering around. and it was pretty perfect.

Blackrock Castle-Observatory

from Cork I went back to Rosslare, back to Fishguard, and back to Swansea. I had a couple days to relax and readjust before classes started up again on Monday. this week I've got a couple books to read and a paper to write. before the semester ends I have another paper to write and an exam to study for, but when that's all done, I plan on heading to Norway and Denmark, Austria, Spain, France and Scotland, hopefully with a friend who is planning on coming to visit. I have a couple months between my exam and my plane ticket home, so hopefully I'll have enough time to go everywhere I want to.
I'll update again, when I've got a better plan of what I'm doing. hopefully this ash cloud that's hovering over all of Europe will go away, and I'll be able to fly places that are really far away (like Norway and Austria).
thanks for reading, everybody.