Weekend in the West

Our weekend in the west has come and, unfortunately, gone. This was our chance to get a tour of the "real Ireland" and see a side of the country that most of us had never been to before. 

Like all of our trips, we were up bright and early on Friday to board out bus. On the way to Galway, we stopped at Cashel and had a chance to take some pictures. 

After Cashel, we went to the site I had been dying to see since I arrived.... The Cliffs of Moher!! We were extraordinary fortunate with the sunny weather; however the typical coast line winds were there as promised. The cliffs were an absolutely breath taking view! Just standing at the top of them made me feel so little as we looked out onto the Atlantic Ocean. 

Next stop on our trip was Poulnabrone where we learned how dogs are used to herd sheep. The dogs are trained to bite the sheep in the butt, so that they are afraid of the dog. The dog can then run in a semi-circle behind the sheep, making them go in any direction which he pleases. To make it even more practical, the header trains the dog with a whistle... Certain sounds will tell the dog whether to run left, right, straight, or stop. The whistle can even make the dog run with the sheep or walk. 
The owner then demonstrated this! It was so cool to see how just by simply blowing a whistle, he could control anywhere that the sheep went in the giant field!
I also got to pet a sheep... Strange Ireland goal accomplished!

After the long day, it was finally time to get to the city of Galway and check into our hostel. We got our crazy 10 person room and then enjoyed a wonderful dinner cooked by Carmel (Tom Keith's wife) and her daughters. I cannot thank them enough for taking the time to make us a home cooked meal!!

Before we all went to sleep, we had some exploring to do in Galway! A few of us found a traditional Irish pub and enjoyed the live band. It was a great end to an awesome day!!

Saturday was spent entirely on the Aran Islands! (Blogged about in previous post)

Sunday was the last day of our trip. It wouldn’t be a complete Tom Keith tour, however, if we didn’t tour any castles! We left Galway early in the morning and drove to the Athenry Medieval Town where we toured the castle and went to Mass. After that, we concluded our trip with a stop at the Bunratty Castle. It was such an amazing weekend, but I’m glad to be back in little Dungarvan J