Western Ireland and Misconceptions

Dear Readers,
I have returned 'home' safe and sound from our incredible trip to the West Coast of Ireland and with me comes an entirely new perspective on Ireland, its people, and its history.

Words cannot describe the beauty of this country. As a child, I always imagined Ireland to be a majestic place with castles and warriors and leprechauns. This weekend tore down all my perceptions and misconceptions of Ireland and rebuilt the country in my mind to a height far behind what I ever expected. Words cannot do justice to the beauty of this country, its people, and its history.

I arrived in the town of Galway on friday afternoon and split my day between wandering the city and exploring the local museum. Museums in Ireland are free to the public, and I highly suggest taking advantage of these opportunities if you visit the country. Ireland is a picture-perfect country and so a perfect tourist spot, but this makes it is so easy to forget about Ireland's disastrous history and the poverty that still exists here today. The Museum was my first true glimpse into how bad it used to be for citizens here, and left me with this quote:

To look at bodies abandoned on this rubbish tip, to
write details of torture, are experiences that cannot ever again be obliterated.
To risk a gaze at such wounds of humanity is to choose to be changed forever.
The conservative can exist in comfort only by averting his gaze. To choose to
know is to risk being presented with a dilemma. That dilemma, put simply, is that.
once one knows, you can, from that moment, live only in bad faith of guilty
silence, or act.

Our saturday was adventure-packed as we stopped at the Corcomroe Abbey (a ruined church with graves that date from the 17th century to as recently as 2007), a Faerie Fort that marks the location of a 11th century hut that has long disappeared, the Burrens, the Kilfenora Monastary and the Cliffs of Moher before ending our night in Doolin.

The Burrens is a section of the country that is made up of miles upon miles of limestone. Over the last few millennium, the limestone has slowly been corroded by rain water, creating extensive networks of underground caves that will eventually cave in upon themselves (some already have). The area is as dangerous as it sounds, and while I can assure you there are parts that can be safely traversed, it was an eye-opener to realize that Ireland is not just the green fields and grassy knolls topped with castles that we perceive it to be.

The Cliffs of Moher is a well-known tourist attraction and although it wasn't my personal favorite location on the trip, I would highly suggest visiting it - the view is incredible. Located on the Cliffs of Moher is known as O'Brien's Tower and was built in 1835 by Cornelius O'Brien specifically for visitors to stand upon to view the cliffs. Visitors can get some amazing pictures standing on top of the tower - unfortunately during our trip, hundreds of little flying midgies that wanted to eat us =(



A lot of our traveling has taken us to ruined churches and massive graveyards, but no matter where in Ireland I travel to, I am continually surprised by the care put into the conservation of grave sites. Many of the centuries old gravestones are no longer readable, but those that have been broken have been placed aside and remarked or labeled in some way. Fresh pebbles, stones, flowers, or random knickknacks adorn almost every grave we have visited. I mourn the lack of this type of extensive care back in the States, and I hold a great deal of respect for the Irish for spending so much of their time honoring their dead.

Before I continue my tale, I want to point out and break down another common misconception of Ireland. On Saturday night, we ate at a local pub in Doolin, and as I sat there for a little over three hours, having my meal, chatting with friends, and listening to local Irish music, I noticed that not a single Irish person around me was intoxicated. It made me realize that the only intoxicated people I had seen in Dublin were tourists, especially Americans.

We constantly hear of the Irishman's fondness for drink back in the States, but the truth is, while people may spend a lot of time in pubs, very little of it is spent drinking. Often a group of people will enter a pub and have one drink each over several hours of conversation. There is no binge-drinking, no constant drunkenness, or people falling all over themselves in the streets.

Sunday morning we set out on the ferry for the largest of the three islands that make up the Aran Islands, Inis Mor. We were lucky enough to have the sun shining for the fourth day straight and with only four hours to explore, our group immediately scattered to hike or bike across the island. Inis Mor was covered in an impossible number of fort ruins, churches, and natural phenomenons (The Wurmhole, a incredibly large hole in the ground caused by water pressure in an underground cave), and I was only able to make the 2mile hike over rough limestone and crumbling rock walls to a local ruin known as "The Black Fort".


(Previewed above: Pat (one of my roommates) posing on a set of stairs along the wall of the Black Fort)

All that remains of the fort is a very thick rock wall and smaller connecting walls on the cliff edge. On either side of the cliff were amazing coves that looked like they should have come out of "The Pirates and Caribbean" movie. This was, by far, my most favorite spot on the trip.



One of the final misconceptions I would like to break down in this post is the belief that you cannot get sunburned in Ireland. After 4 days of incredible sunshine and a final day of 70 degree weather, I came out looking slightly like a Maine lobster as did many of my companions. Nevertheless, this weekend was definitely worth the sunburn (especially since that means we didn't have any rain!).


Next week: Visiting immigration, the 250th celebration of Guinness, and more!

Cheers,
~Heather~