So yeah, hell of a last weekend here. We took Friday off work and went down to the Galway Races, some of the most famous horse races in the world. It is a whole week of races, with more than 5 each day, including 7 on the day we went.

There were passengers from Limerick
And passengers from Nenagh
The boys of Connemara
And the Clare unmarried maiden
There were people from Cork City
Who were loyal, true and faithful
Who brought home the Fenian prisoners
From dying in foreign nations

We ended up missing the first two races entirely due to getting out of Dublin late, picking people up in Athlone, and getting stuck in traffic. It turns out that the Galway Races arn’t famous really because of the individual races there, the horses are mostly unknowns and up and commers and the purses are rather small, it is just famous because of the festival and the atmosphere (and the song).

And it’s there you’ll see the pipers
And the fiddlers competing
And the sporting wheel of fortune
And the four and twenty quarters
And there’s others without scruple
Pelting wattles at poor Maggie
And her father well contented
And he gazing at his daughter

We did make the last 4 races though, and with tips from Paul’s insiders, managed to come away with two winners.. I can see why people have so much fun at these sorts of things. If you go in with the right mindset, that you are just spending your money, you dont get upset if you lose and are really happy if you win.

And it’s there you’ll see the jockeys
And they mounted on so stably
The pink, the blue, the orange, and green
The colors of our nation
The time it came for starting
All the horses seemed impatient
Their feet they hardly touched the ground
The speed was so amazing!

We all soaked in the atmosphere, it was fantastic. The weather kinda sucked, so not alot of pictures, but also there was lots of action and i was busy enjoying it, so whatever.. you have to see it for yourself..

There was half a million people there
Of all denominations
The Catholic, the Protestant, the Jew, the Presbyterian
Yet there was no animosity
No matter what persuasion
But failte hospitality
Inducing fresh acquaintance

I was surprised though about the race course. There is a ruined castle in the dead center of it, and it isnt flat, there is a down hill part and the finish is an uphill straightaway, which must be hard on the horses. Apologies if they are a bit blurry, a few did turn out, but here are the pictures:

from: http://renstar.smugmug.com/gallery/1479791/82

to: http://renstar.smugmug.com/gallery/1479791/110

As it stands, im all packed up and will be going to Peter’s for tomorrow night and taking a cab to the airport. Before that I’ll head into town though and try to get some more pictures.. since thats all im doing I have plenty of time for it. Untill then, ciao

The Approaching Storm, Cliffs of Moher, Doolin, Co Clare, Ireland

The Cliffs of Moher, Co. Clare, Ireland

Farmland Path Near Cliffs of Moher, Doolin, Co Clare, Ireland

After returning to the town and getting something light to eat at the local deli (much cheaper I might add, suckers) the rain came back, so it looks like I got the best photos of anyone because they were all inside eating (suckers).

We then drove to the Cliffs of Moher proper, that is, the touristy area of it. It was quite stunning, even in the fog and rain. I can see where I’d want to hike and all when I come back for a more serious amount of time (of course, after 2 hours at waste of time and 1 hour at lunch, we spent a whole 30 minutes here.. one of the most beautiful sights in Ireland.. 30 minutes..).

After that, we bussed over to The Burren, a limestone landscape formed from volcanoes. Absolutely stunning, and again, crappy weather. If we had given the stupid dumb place a miss and eaten later we could have seen the cliffs and the burren with stunning light.. jerks.. We had a whole ten minutes here.. ten freakin minutes. Fortunatly, I made the best of it, here is an example of the coast line there. I’ll get some up of the limestone fields later.

Cold North Atlantic, The Burren, Co Clare, Ireland

Then we drove to Galway for the train back, passing by the Galway Bay along the way.. just getting to see it. Not even stopping, how asinine. Stupid effing castle…

All in all, a good scouting trip i guess. I know where I could spend entire weeks, but dear god, never go to Bunratty and cross your fingers that it burns down, falls over, and sinks into the swap.. then the swamp is hit by a meteor.. an acid meteor that eats through the swamp and castle remains and turns it into something more useful, like, i dunno, pennies or what have you…

Cliffs of Moher, Doolin, Co Clare, Ireland

Sandycove Boat Launch, Sandycove, Co Dublin, Ireland

Glendalough Fields, Glendalough, Co Wicklow, Ireland

Howth in the Distance, Sandycove, Co. Dublin, Ireland

The High Lake, Glendalough, Co. Wicklow, Ireland

St. Kevin’s Church, Glendalough, Co. Wicklow, Ireland

So, I was picked up at the DART (Dublin’s local train system) station in Dun Laoghaire (pronounced Dunn Leery). But first, since I’ve told a few people about how nice the view is from my local Booterstown Ave. DART station, here is a pano that I took yesterday morning, just to rub it in.

The following is a description of the goings on starting here: http://renstar.smugmug.com/gallery/1479791/23

and ending here: http://renstar.smugmug.com/gallery/1479791/47. As usual, the better shots will follow in later posts (that is, when I have time).
After getting on the tour bus, we took a very short drive down to Sandy Cove, which is not far south of Dun Laoghaire. This is famous because of its Martello tower. The Martello towers were built around the east and south of Ireland to keep watch for Napoleon’s invasion force. (An invasion was threatened, but instead he went to Russia.. and we know the result of that). This particular tower is famous because James Joyce spent a week there (or something like that). Every seat he ever sat on and stone he stepped on seems to be famous here.

After only a few minutes there, we drove up to the Avoca Handweavers shop, which was a real waste of time for me. It was really a coffee stop for those that got on the bus at 8 or 9 (i wasnt picked up until 10).

After this, we went to the highlight of the tour, a stop in Glendalough (pro. Glenn-da-lock). Glendalough is an Irish Christian Monastic City that has the ruins of seven different churches, all dating back to somewhere around the 6th Century. The entrance is a famous double archway. This monastic city has a huge old grave yard (and I do mean old). Some of the gravestones are from the 17 and 1800′s. Others cant even be read at this point. In one case, the path even goes straight over one. It also has one of the two remaining round towers left in Ireland, which are apparantly the only native architecture. Also, interesting fact, all the buildings are built with no mortar (except the tower). The most famous of the churches, and the only one with its roof remaining, is St. Kevin’s Church. The roof is actually the original roof (from what I recall). Also, it is accoustically designed so that chants and prayers echo throughout the surrounding valley.

Glendalough means the Valley of Two Lakes and as such, there are two lakes. I didn’t have as much time as I would have liked to explore, but thats more for another visit. There are things to see like St. Kevin’s prayer cell, but I didnt get to see them. I did, however, hike up to the High Lake, which is absolutely breathtaking. I have some really nice shots of this that I will put up later, but some simple ones can be seen in the linked gallery. The only problem is, at this time of year there are lots of tourists about so it is hard to take in the tranquility that made this such a spiritual site. I’d like to see it sometime, maybe at 6am or so when no one is there.

After a hike back and lunch, we drove high up in to the Wicklow Mountains. OK, so, not so high, only a few thousand feet, but still, the roads were very windy and dangerous, so I highly admire the tourguide’s driving ability, maneuvering the bus up there. The scenery is abslutely beautiful. I can’t believe such places exist on the earth. The whole area is mountain bog, and some people still harvest the bog as fire fuel, but for the most part it has been left untouched.

We stopped at a cliff over a bog lake on land owned by the Guinness family. Incidently, the lake looks like a giant pint of Guinness. It as really a shame that we only stopped for 15 minutes or so, I could have taken that in, and hiked through it for hours. Again, some very spectacular shots to come.

Finally, we made the drive back, though, we took high mountain roads which are very windy. And saw some more wonderful sites. We didnt stop though, so no pictures.

The whole tour was an Irish history lesson as well, I learned alot about the early Celts and how the current Troubles are intricately related to the history of the island, going back to the 1600′s and further. It really was a fascinating trip, and for only 25 euros was definitely worth it.

Hopefully next weekend I’ll be heading somewhere else, perhaps Belfast, perhaps Galway, Clare, or Connemara, we shall see.

Better shots to come..