The Aran Islands to Clifden to Donegal

We left the Aran Islands in the morning, taking ferries from Inish Oirr to Inish More and then to the tiny coastal town of Rossaveel (the names of places have only gotten more charming).  We were still with Mike, a fellow traveler, so we left the pier and started walking towards the main highway where we thought we'd all try our luck at hitch hiking again.  I'm still constantly surprised at the endless kindness of the people here, with no exception to when we didn't make it 100 meters from the pier and an older couple walking in front of us stopped and waved us over.  Apparently they had been discussing driving to Clifden and after hearing we were heading that way, simply said, "Well, you'd better come with us then."  We settled in for the ride, enjoying hearing about their lives and other hitch hiker experience on the hour or so ride to Clifden.  They were incredibly charming and kept saying things like "You looked like three lost sheep out there, and and you know what you call sheep with no legs-- clouds!"  Uh, adorable. The beautiful Kylemore Abbey was also somewhat on the way to Clifden, and the couple very kindly drove about 20 minutes out of the way because they just wanted us to see it.  Somewhat in awe of how lucky we had been, we arrived in Clifden in the early afternoon and said goodbye to the couple. 

 We found the hostel in town (easy enough when there was just one!) and walked around the town for the evening.  We listened to some local music (as usual) at the pub and called it a night.  The next morning we debated our next move, and decided to head further north to Donegal.  We have about 3 more days to make it to Belfast to catch our ferry to the Isle of Man, so we've kind of had to plan our schedule accordingly.  We spent the night in Donegal; local pub for a bit in the evening to enjoy the music-- although it's become our routine here on the west coast it's been great hearing different musicians in every city, and a nice way to meet some locals.  It's funny though, we are usually the youngest people in the pubs here, but we really were youngest by FAR at the pub in Donegal (as you can see by the clip) which still made for a great evening. To Northern Ireland next!

Rossaveel Pier

Kylemore Abbey

Drive to Donegal

The woman sitting between the two guitarists chose the song because it was her 97th birthday and everyone sang along...love this place.

Donegal

Donegal Castle

Saw our first rain in Ireland today-- not bad for the 10 days we've been here!

Dingle to Doolin to the Aran Islands

The west coast of Ireland has been so lovely so far.  Dingle was a great first stop on our trip up the coast-- really kind people and a beautiful coastline.  Our time was spent lounging by the bay and going to listen to music at the local pubs.  Can't complain. 

Dingle Bay

The statue in the center is to honor "Fungie" the Dingle Bay dolphin.  Yes, we are in the cutest town in the world.

Just a dog on a donkey in Dingle. Say that three times.

Dingle at night

We met some girls staying at the same hostel who were also going to Doolin the next day in their rental car and they offered to give us a ride.  We left early and including one car ferry got to Doolin within about 3 hours in the early afternoon. We were eager to get use out of our new two man tent we picked up in Dublin so we found a hostel with camping space in the back (the same hostel Elliot camped at 6 years ago in Doolin-- memoriiiees).  After some laundry we headed to the local pub for some live music and a couple of pints.  We had a full day the next day in Doolin so we hiked up to the Cliff of Moher and enjoyed the beauty and a picnic.  We cooked a bit for dinner (after the 2 mile walk to the only grocery store in Doolin which is actually a petrol station) and then hung out with a few travelers we met at the hostel.  One of the guys, Mike, also from the US, was heading in the same direction as us the next day to the ferry so we made plans to go together.

Beautiful Doolin

McGann's Pub

Great hiking

Path to the Cliffs of Moher

Little friend we spotted in the water---look closely!

Some amazing rock formations along the path

A good spot for a picnic

The Cliffs

Cave we spotted on the way back

There's something wrong with that horse.

Time in the pub with other backpackers

 The following day we headed down to the pier, and after a bit of confusion finally got on a ferry headed to the Aran Islands.  While waiting for the ferry we met some locals and had a pretty magical encounter with Dusty the Doolin dolphin (seriously, I think every adorable coastal town in Western Ireland has their own dolphin..)

The Doolin Pier

Seriously friendly wild dolphin (although one of the locals we were talking to told us a story about how they think some of the solitary dolphins were dragging swimmers out to sea... I decided not to get too friendly)

Mike, Elliot, Dusty

 Of the three Aran islands we chose Inish Oirr because every local we spoke to told us it was their favorite though the smallest.  After a very quick ferry ride, the three of us walked down the beautiful coast to find a campsite (Mike was camping too).  After setting up our tents we spent the rest of the day walking almost entirely around the tiny island enjoying the quiet and almost complete isolation.

Ferry ride

Finding a spot for the tent

O'Briens Castle, we could see it from our campsite on the hill and decided to start our hike by checking it out

The hundreds and hundreds of stone walls that completely cover the island

Heeeeeeey buddy. Another miniature horse (no, I am not gigantic.)

Elliot and Mike

On the tiny map we had of the island there was simply something marked shipwreck  and this is what we found

Amazing

Inside

When we got back to camp we started a fire and had a little barbecue-- first "american style" (as the package said) hot dogs in a long time.  Delicious.  We headed to bed fairly early after the long day (it was about 10:30pm but the sun wasn't down completely--we're sooo far north) after watching the sunset for a bit.

Our new home

At around 10:15 at this point..

Breakfast of champions

We woke up this morning (a couple hours after the sun came up around 5:00) and had a breakfast of leftovers from dinner.  We headed to the pier to catch a ferry off the wonderful little island.  The plan is the continue up the coast towards Belfast--- more to come!

Paris to Dublin to Dingle

For me, we've entered the truly nostalgic portion of the trip. I spent about 6 month going to school in Dublin 6 years ago, ending it with a three week bicycle trip up the west coast to Northern Ireland. I had visited a few of the places on our trip - Istanbul, Budapest, Prague, Paris - all for a few days each during my time abroad, but it's a totally different sensation revisiting the city that I was moving around every day for half a year. Quite bizarre in a lot of ways, feeling countless little familiarities flooding back as we wander around the center city; it feels a bit like a ghost city, with all the experiences from my first time really living abroad years ago feeling like distant foggy dreams (the city also famously haunted anyway, so my flowery analogy works). We had a long travel day getting to Dublin on Monday, checking out of our Paris hotel at 5am, catching the first metro of the morning (which is an eerie experience in itself), switching twice and then scrambling to the bus depot while other travelers dragging their carry on rollies started running ahead as if we were all competing for some last bus (which we weren't). Easy (and remarkably cheap - about $60 for the both of us) flight into Dublin, being quickly reminded as we descended towards the airport how incredibly green this country is. We grabbed the local bus from the airport to city center, and were dropped off right in front of the same hostel I stayed in when I first arrived in Dublin in 2006 before I found a place to live. It was clear pretty quickly driving down through the city how much has changed since I left. Ireland had been in a huge economic boom, struggling with overwhelming growth, investment, construction, and for the first time in their history, dealing with loads of immigration themselves. The skyline was completely crowded with cranes then, and I'm not sure I saw a single one during our three days back in the city. Maybe I'm just projecting my own dealing with memories of the place, but I swear the city felt a lot more somber. 

We didn't do a whole lot during our time there. I gave Cindhu an impromptu tour of my old university (it is seriously old), we spent some time lounging on St Stephen's green with the throngs of locals celebrating a rare sunny afternoon by getting a bit burnt, introduced her to some of my old favorite pubs, her first proper pint of Guinness, some shared fish and chips, and a bit of traditional music at my absolutely favorite pub tucked into an inconspicuous corner on the north side of Dublin. 

The old school

Many class breaks taken on this square

A bit of rare Irish sunshine on St Stephen's Green

Bank of Ireland, I remember opening an account here. 

St. Patrick's cathedral

River Liffey and the four courts

Every good pub needs a good dog at the door

We decided to devote the rest of our time before our ferry to the Isle of Man on June 3 to retracing bits of my cycling trip up the west coast. We had a bit of a snafu yesterday sorting out trains down to the southwest when we got to the station and realized the prices were double what they would have been online. After finagling some free wifi and buying tickets for the subsequent train down to Tralee, where we were to get a bus out to Dingle (I'm not making these names up, get used to it for the next few posts), but we realized all to late that the last bus to Dingle that we were counting on from the schedule, only runs on Fridays. We had talked a bit already about trying to hitchhike much of this portion of the trip (I had some success with it during parts of my trip years ago) and figured that it was at least worth a shot, there were several B&Bs and hostels in Tralee anyway if it didn't work out. Lo and behold, within a few minutes of finding a reasonable spot to hitch a ride to Dingle, a young couple in a little souped up Mitsubishi pulled over and offered to get us out to the main Dingle road. We hopped out at the edge of some cow pastures, and spent a few more minutes with our thumbs out, at the same time scoping out potential camping spots that would be safe from the view from the road and any stray cows. It couldn't have been more than 5 minutes before a couple of young guys out on a holiday from Dublin pulled over and generously offered to let us squeeze into their back seat with our bags and their friendly collie. We enjoyed a beautiful drive, some great conversation, a quick stop near Connors Pass (which allowed me to feel impressed with my 20 year old cycling self for having made it up the other side) and then dropped off at our hostel (of course where I stayed 6 years ago, again) in town. We wandered the quaint streets a bit, browsing menus and finally settling into a pub for some fish and chips and shepards pie (both fantastic versions). After the filling meal and a pint each (Guinness for me, Bulmers cider for Cindhu), we moved a few doors down to a pub I had remember fondly for great music and were promptly welcomed with the sound of a guitar and a set of beautifully played uilleann pipes. A few more pints and then off to bed. While Ireland may seem a little cliche for a nostalgic trip, I can't imagine any place better suited.

PS a huge HAPPY BIRTHDAY to mom - glad to be following in your Irish hitchhiking footsteps!