So turns out this was a long weekend! No work on Monday meant it was completely necessary for me to rent a car again to do some exploring! This time I went straight west across the country to Galway, with a stop along the way at the Rock Of Cashel, a ferry ride to one of the Aran Islands, and New Grange on the way back! I'll explain more about each place with the pics. Overall it was an amazing weekend. Galway is really nice. I would recommend it as a main travel site to anyone going to Ireland. It is really beautiful and is pretty close to a lot of the most popular tourist sites. One fallback was since it was a holiday weekend and Galway is a popular destination, EVERYWHERE I attempted to stay on Saturday night was booked! I ended up sleeping in my car at the end of a culdesac near downtown. Now, this would have been fine and dandy if I hadn't suffered a heart attack when some random guy leaned up against the car at about 3 in the morning and started shouting to one of his friends. I had visions of them choosing my car with me in it for vandelizing or stealing. Turns out he was just drunk and after *ahem* relieving himself....he took off! Ah, good times! So Sunday I wanted to make sure I did something really amazing to make my sleeping in the car worth the hassle. I ended up booking a ticket on a ferry to the Aran Island of Inishmore. It is the largest of the Aran Islands off the West coast of the country. The island is ten miles long, three miles across, and has over 10,000 miles worth of stone fences! I think from the air it must look like an intricate puzzle of grass surrounded by jagged fences. The best part was visiting a fort that is literally at the edge of a cliff. It was breathtaking and made the whole trip worthwhile to see these cliffs! I haven't seen the cliffs of Mohr yet, but think these might be hard to beat in the "wow" department! After riding the ferry back Sunday evening I decided not to risk it again in the car and drove back to Dublin for the night (its only 2.5 hours away). It was definitely nice to sleep in a bed! What? I'm a princess you know! Anyway, I took my flatmate Sam's advice on Monday and visited New Grange. It is a site which dates back to the stone ages, 500 years older than the pyramids and 1000 years older than Stonehenge! Anyway, it is basically a mound they built with ancient tunnels and tombs within. There is a light window above the entry way that lights up the central chamber for a little over 15 minutes at sunrise on the winter solstice. Pretty amazing! I couldn't take pictures inside, but it was really cool. This site was discovered in 1699 and has had visitors since then... and there are names and dates from back that far! But the monument itself is also decorated from when it was originally made, and the drawings make up 1/3 of all the artwork in the world from this time known as of now! Nobody knows what they represent. The whole place was very mysterious, with little answers given to anything....kinda interesting to let your mind wander!
This is New Grange...its literally a rock mound with tomb passages and whatnot within.
Check out the designs on the rocks. They completely surround all the structures and nobody knows what they represent.
This is a wood henge...it was assembled much later than the intricate tombs, but is thought to represent the earth, moon, and sun based on the shapes of square, crescent, and circle which the logs form.
This is actually Howth, which is another tomb like New Grange. They are all over the Boylan Valley north of Dublin. Some haven't even been explored yet even though they know they're there. Its crazy to me to hear that.
This little cottage is where I had some soup to warm up on Inishmore. Cute little thatched roof!
Amazing cliffs to my left....
Hey its me!
There's a person in this one...which should give a reference to how incredibly high the cliffs were!
Here is one of the rock walls that are literally everywhere on the island!
This is one of the "seven sisters" churches from the 1500s or so on Inishmore
On to some pics of Galway. I liked these colorful buildings
Church in Galway
The streets are empty b/c I was up so early after having spent the night in the car!
Pics of Rock of Cashel now...its actually an assembly of four different buildings in one area. The tower was the first, then the cathedral (directly to its left in the pic) then there was an additional church built on the other side of that, and finally a palace to the rear. It was a good location b/c it is on a hill and you can see far in all directions.
On the drive to the Rock of Cashel. You can see the castle in the distance. Amazing!
Inside part of the castle...there are little heads all around the doorway. Each has a different look to represent the different cultures around the world (37 total)
This is the side of the castle which is the palace. It collapsed a few years ago in a storm. You can see stairways in the walls for secret passageways!
the church (fourth building on the rock). It is apparently famous for its architecture...advanced for the time (early roman)
The Rock of Cashel
This is New Grange...its literally a rock mound with tomb passages and whatnot within. 
Check out the designs on the rocks. They completely surround all the structures and nobody knows what they represent.
This is a wood henge...it was assembled much later than the intricate tombs, but is thought to represent the earth, moon, and sun based on the shapes of square, crescent, and circle which the logs form.
This is actually Howth, which is another tomb like New Grange. They are all over the Boylan Valley north of Dublin. Some haven't even been explored yet even though they know they're there. Its crazy to me to hear that.
This little cottage is where I had some soup to warm up on Inishmore. Cute little thatched roof!
Amazing cliffs to my left....
There's a person in this one...which should give a reference to how incredibly high the cliffs were!
This is one of the "seven sisters" churches from the 1500s or so on Inishmore
On to some pics of Galway. I liked these colorful buildings
Church in Galway
The streets are empty b/c I was up so early after having spent the night in the car!
Pics of Rock of Cashel now...its actually an assembly of four different buildings in one area. The tower was the first, then the cathedral (directly to its left in the pic) then there was an additional church built on the other side of that, and finally a palace to the rear. It was a good location b/c it is on a hill and you can see far in all directions.
On the drive to the Rock of Cashel. You can see the castle in the distance. Amazing!
Inside part of the castle...there are little heads all around the doorway. Each has a different look to represent the different cultures around the world (37 total)
This is the side of the castle which is the palace. It collapsed a few years ago in a storm. You can see stairways in the walls for secret passageways!
the church (fourth building on the rock). It is apparently famous for its architecture...advanced for the time (early roman)
The Rock of Cashel
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LOVE THE PICS!
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