Also, get ready for pictures of one of the world's most beautifully rugged countries (tied with Scotland, in my opinion), because I'm pretty sure I took close to 800 photos in the past 8 days. I couldn't help it. Ireland was gorgeous.
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| Welcome to the Middle of Beautiful Nowhere |
Let's start at the beginning (and I'll try to fast-forward through all the endless travel details): as Thursday, October 24th morphed into Friday, October 25th, the hours found me, as usual, throwing all my clothes into a duffel bag at the last minute. What was new was that Kat was in my host family's house as well, watching as I hastily packed.
You see, our travel plans for Friday were as follows: 4:15 am bus from Strasbourg to Frankfurt, Germany; a 10:00 am flight from Frankfurt to Dublin; at noon, a 3-hour bus from Dublin to Galway; around 4:30 pm, an hour-and-a-half bus ride from Galway to Clifden; and finally a 20-minute taxi van from Clifden to my friend Bridget's house, which is in the middle of nowhere. As you can see, Friday was shaping up to be an exhausting day of travel. We ran into a snag, however: the trams in Strasbourg don't run at 4 in the morning (why not?) and Kat and I had to catch the bus to Frankfort at the train station, which is at least an hour's walk from my house. The plan was to stay up all night in a tavern close to the train station with all our luggage, then walk over to the bus stop at like 3:30 am........ but when my host parents heard that one, they shot it down and insisted on driving the two of us to the bus stop at 3:30 am (they're so sweet!! But I felt so guilty about it!).
Which is how Kat and I ended up staying up all night (what is the point of sleeping for three hours? and what if we didn't wake up in time for the bus?). I'll skip all the flights and bus rides, but I will say that Frankfurt is a pretty city to drive through just before dawn, and that the long bus ride from Galway to Clifden is a very scenic one.
In Clifden, we all spent an hour crazily grocery shopping for the weekend's meals. There were 9 of us Holy Cross study-abroaders who were staying at the house for the weekend: the Strasbourgoisie (aka: Kat and I), along with Julianne, Bridget, and Christian (our friends based in Dijon, France), Molly (Juilianne's friend who's spending the year in Galway, Ireland) and finally, Maura, Chelsea, and Kate (good friends of Bridgets, all of whom are in Leon, Spain for the year).
Also, if you haven't guessed, the groceries included a lot of wine and beer.
Finally, after an extremely long day, we arrived at Bridget's family's house: which is completely in the middle of nowhere. Seriously. The street it is on has no name. The house itself has no address. The closest town is a 35 minute walk, and it has four buildings of importance: a church, a pub, a hotel with restaurant, and a gas station that has a mini grocery store inside. However, the House in the Middle of Nowhere has one huge perk: a fantastic (if isolated) location.
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| Panoramic view at dusk from Bridget's house |
By the time the 9 of us arrived at the house, it was past 8 pm, and it was pitch black outside. Kat, Julianne, and I helped Christian cook dinner (Spaghetti with lamb bolognaise, along with homemade garlic bread and buttered carrots) while the others caught up, and then the rest of the night was followed by games and food and chatting and some drinking.
Saturday morning, however, was a much more exciting story.
After a late breakfast (fruit salad, scrambled eggs, and bacon), the nine of us set off for hiking! Bridget's house is set on a hill overlooking the ocean, but behind the house arises three distinct mountains that I couldn't wait to climb. It was slow going at first (and quite muddy after all the rain, hiking across fields with no pathway to follow) but the day was relatively warm and a heck of a lot sunnier than I thought it would be (I mean, it is Ireland. Like England and Scotland, it's known for ample amounts of rainy weather).
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| It was so muddy that sometimes puddles were a bit deeper than they first appeared to be |
An hour in, the three girls from Spain were tired and thought that the mountain we were heading for would take too long to climb, so the group split up: Kate, Molly, Maura, Chelsea, and Bridget turned back around for the house, while Kat, Christian, Julianne, and I kept hiking towards the mountain.
It did take a good two hours to climb up the mountain, but I was up for the challenge from the very beginning (I do love hiking) and it was 150% worth it. Honestly, when else do you have the opportunity to get chased by rams up a gorgeously rugged mountain in the middle of nowhere, Ireland? (Yeah, that actually happened. And I can laugh about it now that I am far from the territorial rams that were eying us). And where else do you get these views? THESE VEIWS? Honestly, I think this is in the top 3 hikes I've done in my life, and most of my family vacations include at least two good, long hikes. The views from the top were simply breathtaking. The amount of wind at the top of the mountain was amazing as well. At one point, I thought I was going to be blown away!
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| The wind was so fierce |
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| At the top! |
I know this is a lot of pictures, but I simply could not get enough of the scenery in Connemara. This first weekend was also the most scenic part of our stay (we stayed in Cork and Dublin, at actual addresses, for the rest of my visit).
My sneakers were completely soaked and I was a bit chilly by the time the four of us hikers made it back to the house, and it was the perfect time to grab some hot chocolate and some warm sweaters and curl up by the fire while looking out the huge bay window of Bridget's house to a sweeping view of the ocean and the surrounding mountainous cliffs. (It sounds too perfect... take me back!!).
Christian, Kat, and I made dinner (well, Christian made dinner -- Kat and I were just the sous chefs, peeling carrots and chopping garlic and onions) but it turned out fantastic: sheppard's pie with carrots, peas, lamb cooked with onions, and homemade mashed potatoes. Goodness, I love my host family, but sometimes I wish I could be living in an apartment with my own kitchen--I do enjoy cooking. Additionally, while we were making dinner, it actually began to hail, followed by thunder and lighting! It was a very cool storm.
One of the other best things about Bridget's House in the Middle of Beautiful Nowhere is that it has absolutely no WiFi, no television, and no computers. It doesn't even have clocks! The nine of us played games and talked after dinner instead of being attached to our electronics, and it felt great not to be constantly "plugged in."
Early Sunday morning (October 27th), the three girls from Spain had to leave (they didn't have a week-long holiday for Toussaint like us French students do!). The six of us who remained took a long, leisurely walk over to Tully Cross, the closest "town" (more of a village, really). After buying a few more grocery supplies from the gas station grocery, we stopped in at the warm, cozy town pub. It was full of friendly locals, and as we sat down for a drink, a group of men started playing traditional Irish music. It was so lovely, really. We sat there for a good while (perhaps two hours?), talking and listening and drinking--the others had Irish coffees or pints of Guinness, while I chose hot chocolate with a good amount of Bailey's in it!
Walking back from the little town was such a pretty little stroll along the Irish coast. The afternoon was relaxing as well; we all set in the big room by the bay window, talking and reading, and eating the grilled cheeses made by Julianne and Kat.
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| The tiny town of Tully Cross |
Molly left the house Sunday night before dinner (Irish universities don't have a holiday this week either). With Daylight Saving's time, it started to get dark early, but the remaining five of us walked down to the beach for a little while. Then we came back and played Boggle and a few card games, which was followed by dinner (last of the pasta with lamb bolognaise, along with thin-sliced potatoes oven-roasted with butter and onions). Another good night.
Monday, October 28th, was the last half-day in the house, but the five of us made the most of it. We all woke up at 7 am to strip the beds and start laundry, along with tidying up the whole house. Christian and I made breakfast: he made lots of French toast along with carmalized bananas and custard, while I baked some sliced apples with cinnamon, sugar, and butter. Hands down the best breakfast we had of the weekend, although honestly, we ate extremely well for all the meals in that little house in the middle of nowhere.
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| Baked apples, French toast, custard, and an ocean view |
With breakfast over and the laundry still spinning, the five of us once more wandered down to the beach to frolic for a bit in the sunshine. We climbed up Faery Hill (tied to a Celtic myth that the faeries would snatch away and harm any person who climbed the hill--they aren't the nicest of creatures) and our risk was rewarded with a stunning panoramic view of the ocean and the surrounding mountains that sprang up from the rugged cliffs.
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| Faerie Hill |
Bridget even decided to go for a "quick swim" in the freezing October ocean--she ran in and ran right back out! At that point, though, it started to rain, and the five of us headed back to finish the last of the dishes and pack up (and for Bridget--a nice warm shower to drive away the ocean chill).
The van arrived at half past noon to take us back to Clifden. It was really sad to leave the House in the Middle of Nowhere--the weekend felt like it had passed in another world, one that I already missed dearly--but happily I knew our adventure in Ireland had only just begun. Next stop: Cork!
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