Galway!

Last weekend, we took a trip to Galway on the west coast of Ireland. It was our first overnight trip, and we were all so excited!

Friday, after work, we went to Heuston station with all of our bags. The trains in Ireland are really efficient, clean, and quick. Two hours later, we arrived in the quaint town of Galway. Classically, it was raining. 

First things first, we went and bought alcohol from a little window that opened into the street. I bought two bottles of wine. Very authentic.

After dancing to Beyoncé and Kanye West in our room, we headed out to a bar called the Quays (pronounced "key" and it means an area next to the river). There was an excellent band that played "Sex On Fire" by Kings of Leon and a bunch of American music. We met some guys from Galway who told us all about the farms they lived on. 

Afterwards, we ate pizza in the street!

After getting a solid 4 hours of sleep, we woke up and ate the hotel's free breakfast, which was one of the best I've ever had. All-you-can-eat yogurt, homemade granola, and fruit, as well as anything you wanted off the menu. Yum. 

To get to the Aran Islands, we took a bus (1 hr) to a ferry (1 hr) which was so rough that people were throwing up everywhere. I was lucky that I don't get motion sickness, so I was able to go outside and look out over the freezing Atlantic sea. I was being blown around like a doll. After an hour, we finally got to the Aran Islands. It was pouring and freezing. We were very underdressed and miserable, and some people didn't have rain jackets, so we went to get soup. 

We ended up getting really good bread and soup, and we got to dry our hair under the dryers. We were happy and we dried off a bit. Then, we got in a big white van driven by an old man. Haha. It was a bus tour all over the island and we trekked up this huge mountain in the rain to a fort that was so beautiful. I was so delirious from my physical discomfort that I didn't care about how wet and cold I was so I started running around and having a great time. 

That night, we went to the Quays again, followed by a bar called Busker Brownes. There, we danced and crashed a 30 year olds birthday party, ate his chocolate cake, and danced for like an hour downstairs. After, we went and got a slice of the same pizza, then walked back to our hotel. We were going to go back, but there was a huge party there! We danced for another hour, and it was so fun! We danced to ABBA, Taylor Swift, and old bands, and there were older people dancing who were so fun!

The next morning, we walked around Galway and shopped at the markets and listened to street performers. It was such a beautiful little city, and I wish we had more time there. Instead, we went to the Cliffs of Moher, which was beautiful but a tourist trap.

So far, Galway has been my favorite part of Ireland!