Weekend Rambles

The weekend started by a trip to the farmers market. Held every Saturday just off Shop Street in downtown Galway, it hosts farmers selling locally grown and organic produce and so much more. There are also loads of other booths including a cheese monger, a purses and jewelry guy, hand made pottery, and various food stands, namely falafel. I had been craving one of these Middle Eastern delights ever since we arrived but either I wasn’t hungry (imagine that) or the line was 20 people long. But this day I was not to be denied as there wasn’t a line to be seen. It was worth the wait. Toasted pita, fresh veggies, creamy tahini sauce, spicy chickpea patties. Yum! After I ate my treat it was time to take in more of the market and make our way towards a pub to watch the rugby match.

Eventually we ended up at The Kings Head to watch the match vs. Scotland. This time Ireland squeaked it out at 19-18. It was back and forth but with less than 10 minutes to go Ireland took the lead for good. And for those who have been following the 6 Nations Tournament, France lost so now we have a chance at the Grand Slam! (Which means winning the whole shebang). Going into the last set of matches, it’s a tie with England France and Ireland all with one loss. The tie breaker is total points in which we are only 4 behind France. We play Italy, this Saturday, St Patrick’s Day, so if we do well we might have a chance to win it all!! And on St Patrick’s Day no less!

Sunday was a bit different as there were no pubs and definitely no falafel. We took the bus south to Co. Claire. We tried, tried being the operative word, to see The Burren, a beautiful limestone rock formation with numerous trails and interesting plant life. We made it on the bus ok but we didn't have enough time to see The Burren as the Sunday bus schedule limits us to a measly 2 ½ hours pretty much where ever we would choose to go. Well this trip went wrong in so many ways! We got dropped off in Ballyvaughn, a very thoughtfully planned out place because from our books this is in the heart of the Burren, and there is a great exploratory center only ¼ of a mile away! We got off the bus in the continual rain and asked at the information station (which was a miracle in itself to see because it wound up being pretty much a one road town) and got informed that that center is no longer there. Ah, of course. Surely there is a way to hike through this Burren, being in the heart of it after all, and being able to see its presence all around us on all the hills- imagine hill after hill of what looked like stacked rectangularly shaped stones, as if they were planned and placed there… certainly the land wouldn’t just be formed that way with such lush green fields all around, but yes that is the mystery and beauty of the Burren. Well, all those hills were someone’s farm and property, which made sense why they were sheep and cows attempting to graze on some of those stones. We were then informed that we could take the Burren walk that would EVENTUALLY take us through some of that stone work we want to see. But we only had 2 ½ hours and this walk was about 3 miles just to the first hill top. We then decided to forego that walk and try a closer, albeit more touristy, cave instead. We were told it would be 2 km. away, very walkable, however, it wound up being closer to 4 km one way, and remember, all in the rain, by foot with no “footpaths” and mud everywhere. We never made it because we had to get back for the ONLY bus that would take us back to Galway, so we ended up with a tour of the countryside and a chance to see some sheep close up. It rained all day and we didn't see what we set out to see but actually it was a lot of fun. We definitely had to adjust our attitude at times towards the whole thing, but in hindsight, it was just neat to start our exploration of the rest of the country. We have plans to go back already but this time we will spend the night nearby so we have the whole day to hike and explore… in the right place.