A Hike up Diamond Hill and the Oyster Festival and Arthur Guinness Day

This weekend was really busy, starting on Thursday which was the kick off to Guinness Live in Galway and Arthur Guinness Day.  Arthur Guinness Day is in celebration of when Arthur Guinness signed a 9,000 year lease on the St. James's Gate Brewery in Dublin.  He signed it in 1759 on 22nd of September and therefore at 17:59 (5:59) on the 22nd of September there was a giant celebration in the streets of Galway in honor of Arthur Guinness.

 A half pint of Guinness and a portrait of Arthur Guinness

 The ceiling of the Skeff, a really old and beautiful pub in Galway.

More of the interior of the Skeff

Then Friday kicked off the Galway Oyster Festival.  Most of the events of the festival were pretty pricey, so I didn't go the official events, but just the fact that it was occurring gave Galway a festive air.  There were street vendors and people on the main street all day playing music, all the pubs had live music every night.  It was a lot of fun and my friends and I ate a plate of oysters in celebration.

Guinness Live was just a continuation of Arthur's Day for the whole weekend.  It was a lot of fun, since all the pubs brought in good bands.

 This is the brochure for the event.

On Saturday, I went with my schools Hiking Club to Connemara National Park which is a northwest of Galway.  The landscape of Connemara was ethereal. The hills had this hazy glow to them, the writer Kate O'Brien described it best: "There is often an illusion that all is afloat, an uncertainty between hill and sky, an interchange of water and stone which the indescribably clear light seems to paradoxically exaggerate."  The hiking club climbed Diamond Hill (2,385 ft.) which is just outside the town of Letterfrack.  The hike was a blast, although it was very windy at the top and a little scary.

 Heather

Looking out onto Ballynakill Harbour.

 Diamond Hill

 Hiking up to Diamond Hill

 Looking out from Diamond Hill onto the Harbour again

 Diamond Hill

 From the top of Diamond Hill looking down onto Kylemore Abbey, which I'm going to visit next weekend or the weekend after.

 Top of Diamond Hill with Emily

 The Connemara landscape.  It's really boggy, rocky, and peaty, but somehow still beautiful.

 The way down

 That's the path, lots of rock steps and boardwalks to keep you out of the boggy areas.

 Diamond Hill

 The little town down there is Letterfrack.  We went there after the hike and had dinner at a pub.

 Diamond Hill

 Here is the map of the trail we took.  We started on bog road and then hiked up to Upper Diamond hill walk and finished the light blue loop on the way down using the upper trail.

The Mileage

I was exhausted.

   

Trip to the Cliffs of Moher and the Burren

On Saturday, September 17th, I went on a day tour to the Cliffs of Moher and the Burren, which is a large area of Ireland that's covered in limestone.

 Here is a map of the route that the tour took and what sites we looked at.

 This gives a brief description of some of the places that we stopped at.

It wasn't this sunny when we went, so I thought I would put this

 postcard on to show what it could look like during a sunny day.

 Me at the Ballyalban Earthen Ring Fort.

 A tree inside the Ballyalban Ring Fort.  If you tie a piece of cloth to the tree it will cure an ailment that you have.

 One of the little people in a tree in the Ring Fort.

 The middle of the Ring Fort.

 Galway Bay

 Aran Islands in Galway Bay

 Cliffs of Moher

 Me at the Cliffs of Moher

 Me and Emily at the Cliffs of Moher

 Cliffs of Moher

 O'Brien's Tower

 It was sooooo windy. I was just leaning into the wind.

 Cliffs of Moher

 Cliffs of Moher

 Me at the Cliffs of Moher.

 Cliffs of Moher

 Dunguaire Castle 

 Dunguaire Castle

 Dunguaire Castle

 Dunguaire Castle

 Dunguaire Castle

 Dunguaire Castle

 Dunguaire Castle

 Chocolate!! At a sweets shop in Doolin.

 Beef and Guinness Stew at the pub in Doolin! 

 Kilfenora Cemetery 

 High Cross at Kilfenora Cathedral 

 The Burren

 The Matchmaker's Bar in Lisdoonvarna, where the Matchingmaking Festival occurs all the month of September.  The Matchmaking Festival is the largest singles event in Europe. 

 The picture on the Burren when my camera fell out of my pocket.

 Poulnabrone Dolmen  

 The Burren 

The Burren

This is my adventure around the Galway Bay area. I know there are a lot of pictures, but I hope you like them all.