"Boys I ain't never seen nothin' like a Galway girl"

The title of this post is part of the lyrics of a song by Steve Earle called "Galway Girl" which is the most popular pub song (literally, at least once a night), and is also featured in the movie PS I Love You. As you can guess, this weekend we went to Galway! We woke up super early Friday morning and took a two and half hour express bus to Galway's city center, where we checked into our hostel and boarded a ferry to the Aran Islands, a rugged area off the coast of Western Ireland. It was downpouring in Galway, so we were pretty sad about spending the entire day outside in it, but happily when we got to the Innis Mor, the biggest of the three islands, it was sunny! We actually had an amazing day weather wise. Because we didn't have that much time and I wanted to see everything, I took a tour bus around the island while everyone else biked. Our first stop was Dun Aonghasa, an ancient ring fort on the highest point in Innis Mor. While it was definitely a hike to get up there, the view from the top of the ocean and the island was absolutely incredible. Plus, there were no fences or anything, so you were able to get really close to the edge if you wanted. Then we saw various other stops on the island, none as cool as Dun Aonghasa in my opinion.

Beach on Innis Mor

View from the top of the cliff!

The next day we got up early again and took a bus out to the Cliffs of Moher. This has been the background on my computer since Christmas, so I was super excited to finally see them in person! While it was kind of expensive to take the bus there, and it took two hours one way from Galway, I definitely recommend doing it that way for anyone interested in seeing the cliffs. We drove all through the Burren and Connemara regions of Western Ireland, and it was one of the most beautiful places I've ever been in my life. I would love to come back some day and go hiking through that area.

After the Burren we finally made it to the cliffs, and they were everything I could have dreamed of and more. We stayed there for a couple hours and ate a lunch overlooking the cliffs. This was such an unbelievable experience that the pictures I put up won't even come close to summing it up. Definitely a place everyone should visit at least once.

From there we headed back to Galway in time to go to their famous market, where we had delicious home made donuts from the Galway donut man, and shopped around their Quay and Shop Street areas (kind of like State Street). Overall a great weekend with lots of amazing photo opportunities!