Sligo & Galway: A Taste of the Local Life

(We've added these maps to all of our previous Ireland posts to help give you an idea of where we have been each day. Enjoy!)

This post is for July 2nd - Happy Birthday Alex!

A&J: We woke up and had an early breakfast at the Adtardman House and enjoy our last few looks around the magnificent house and property. Then we headed 20 minutes east into the town of Sligo. We spent some time wandering the streets and shops in the city center.

Almost every morning with our breakfast, our hosts serve coffee in a cute little metal teapot. Alison really wanted to take one home, so we stopped into a local kitchen store to buy one. Sligo is known for influences on traditional Irish music, so we headed across the street to a music store. We had a great conversation with the man who owns the store about Irish music and County Sligo. He looked to be in his mid 30's and had his adorable toddler son running around with a bag of animal crackers. We really enjoyed learning more about Irish music, and he even allowed us to listen to some tracks from two CD's before we purchased them. We are glad that we waited until we got to Sligo to buy some Irish music. We were able to purchase music from two groups based in Sligo from an authentic Irish music store, rather than a touristy gift shop in the larger cities.

From Sligo, we drove two hours south to Galway city. We got there around 1pm, so we spent a few hours exploring the city before checking into our B&B. Galway is known as a good place to shop because they have several pedestrian streets. We purchased a cute pair of boots and some cheap jewelry for Alison and then headed a few blocks over to St. Nicholas Cathedral. The cathedral was huge with all stained glass windows. The windows were amazing with their vibrant colors and detailed Biblical depictions. What was interesting, was several of the windows and other decorations had a bit of a modern touch, which we didn't expect from such a traditional looking Catholic church.

From the cathedral we headed back to our car and over to the Branches B&B in East Galway. We got terribly turned around after a few round-a-bouts and it took us an hour to find a B&B that is a 5-minute drive from the city. We reserved a last-minute room at this B&B and ended up with a tiny double room that they usually rent as a single. However, the owner, Mike was very understanding and gave us a reduced price. After settling in and updating the blog, we caught a bus into the city to grab a late dinner and listen to some music. We went to the King's Head Bar, but we too late for food service, but right on time for beer and the second half & overtime of the Uruguay/Ghana game. What a finish! Due to how late the game ran, we were not able to stay for the band that was setting up because we had to catch the last bus back to our B&B. After a wet ride home with some bus route confusion, we made it back get some sleep.


Thanks to everyone for your thoughtful messages and prayers. At our halfway point in this trip, we have enjoyed all of the ins and outs of Ireland and have been having a wonderful time together on our honeymoon. Please pray for our continued safety and for good weather tomorrow as we will be heading to the Aran Islands for the day and can only travel by bike.

Donegal Coast & Drumcliff: There Are No Words to Describe

(This blog is about Thursday, July 1st)

A: We drove for most of the day today around County Donegal. This area is so spectacular, that we ran out of adjectives to describe the things we were seeing around each bend. We resorted to Ooohs and Ahhhs by the end of the day.

This morning we woke up and Jonathan went out for a run on the back coastal roads of Donegal. When he returned we had a wonderful Irish breakfast made by Geraldine, owner of the Ocean Spary B&B. After packing up the car and saying our goodbyes, Jonathan wanted to show me the end of the peninsula, called heads here in Ireland, that he discovered on his run. These pictures are from just down the road from our B&B at Muckross Head.

We couldn't drive all the way down the Muckross Head, because of some standing water on the road. If you look really closely, you can see our silver VW Golf down the road after the puddles.

Looking across to where we will be driving next.

Some small cliffs on the head.

Looking back at the B&B.

From there, we drove over to the Slieve League. The Slieve League is a ginormous set of cliffs about 15 minutes from the Ocean Spray B&B. We had wanted to view the cliffs from a boat trip, but they were not going out today. Some pictures from a hike up the side of the cliffs will have to do...

A view of our view from the VW Golf, and a perspective of how narrow the roads are in Co. Donegal - hardly wider than our car.

Hiking up the side of the Slieve League. You can do a 2hr hike up to the peaks of the cliffs, but we chose to just hike up the side this time around.

Slieve League

Slieve League

The roads are only wide enough to fit traffic one direction AND the sheep like to lounge on the edge of the road.

From the Slieve League, we continued to loop up and around Co. Donegal. Here are a couple of pictures from along the way...

Another set of cliffs father up the coast (I think we were near Ardara). There seemed to amazing views of cliffs around every turn in Donegal.

Mount Errigal (no snow, just rock - seems weird, right?)

After driving through Co. Donegal, we headed down to Sligo, after stopping in Letterkenny to buy a new cell phone (the other one broke). Funny thing is, because we did not have a cell phone, we had not booked a place for tonight. Also, since we did not have Internet for the past couple of days, we hadn't really researched a place. So, when we bought the phone around 3pm, we called the only place that was listed in our 4 tour books that we could afford. Turns out, they had a room and this was the most stunning B&B yet!

The Ardtarman Farmhouse is about a 20 minute drive northwest of Sligo. The family home hat was passed down to the couple that runs the B&B is tucked back in the country along the coastline. This gorgeous property looks like a castle on the outside and is perfectly Victorian inside. It is just a beautiful stroll away from a private beach (too bad it was too cold to swim!). We feel that this place is a gift from God, and that it was no coincidence that it is the only place that we had contact info for and could afford. It is perfectly relaxing!

The wooded drive up to the farmhouse.

Ardtarman Farmhouse B&B

The entry way.

The dining room.

The hallway outside of our room.

Mapping out our next route in our HUGE room!

On the short walk to the beach, you stroll alongside a few pastures.

The beach that we had all to ourselves! We had a very romantic walk along the water.

That is all for today! We pray that everything is well with everyone back home. Please pray that God would continue to bless us in our travels and that He would keep us safe.

Antrim & Donegal Coasts: It's 5 O'Clock Somewhere

(This blog is about Wednesday, June 30th)

A&J: We started out with a beautiful, sunny day today, but the afternoon turned quite rainy. From Ballygally Castle, we drove back up the Antrim Coast to the Bushmills Distillery. Bushmills is just past Giant's Causway, where we had our last adventure yesterday. We enjoyed our tour of the working distillery, despite that the factory was in a "resting period." This meant that no whisky was being processed while we were looking around. Also, no photography was allowed of the grounds or the tour, so unfortunately, we don't have any pictures to share with you.


Bushmills is special because it is distilled three times, instead of two, and they use hot air to dry their barley, instead of with peat moss. This means that Bushmills whisky does not have a smokey flavor and their whisky has a higher percentage of alcohol content before they dilute it to a bearable percentage. At the end of the tour, we were offered our choice of a shot of whisky, a "hot toddy" (hot whisky with cloves and cinnamon), or a fountain drink. Jon took the shot of whisky, which was unappetising at 11 o'clock in the morning, while Alison tried to hot toddy, which wasn't quite as painful. It was quite the experience.

From Bushmills, we headed over to Dunluce Castle. This was originally a 13th-century castle that was rebuilt and remodeled during the 16th- and 17th-centuries. It sits out on its own tiny island just few meters from the coast. The castle takes up the entire island. Today the roof has caved in and some of the walls have collapsed, but much of the cobble-stoned floors remain and the views are still spectacular. We were free to roam what is left of the castle, which we found very exciting. We even came across a tower which was mostly still intact. The bottom of the tower seemed to have been a dungeon of sorts, while up the stairs there was a small guard tower. We had fun in the guard tower as Alison pretended to be princess in captivity, while Jonathan a knight coming to rescue her. Unfortunately, Sir Jonathan got eaten by a dragon.

From Dunlace, we embarked on our two drive down to Donegal Bay. Thankfully, the rainy weather held off until we were in the car for the afternoon. We drove through Donegal town, where we believe Jonathan's family is from, and along the coast to the Ocean Spray B&B just past Kellybegs. It was quite the adventure to get out to the house because it is along a one-lane coastal road. We'll have more on that tomorrow. The B&B is in a beautiful spot right along the ocean, with gorgeous views of the cliffs near by. We had a lovely dinner near by at the Clock Tower. The servers and the food were wonderful.

We need to get some rest because we have a long drive ahead of us tomorrow. Please pray for our safety on the roads and we continue our way around Donegal and down to Sligo tomorrow.

Belfast & Antrim Coast: Rallying Our Way Up the Coast

Alison: Today, we were blessed again with amazing weather. We started our morning with a traditional Irish breakfast at Windmere House. An Irish breakfast consists of two slices of ham (which they call bacon), two links of sausage, an egg (either fried or poached), and a tomato (either roasted or raw). YUM! After breakfast we made a reservation for a black taxi tour of Belfast. By the time we were finished packing up, the taxi was waiting for us. Our tour took us around West Belfast, where there was a very violent disagreement between Protestants (British) and Catholics (Irish) over whether North Ireland should be British or Irish. This disagreement, called the Troubles, lasted from 1969 until 2000. We started on the Protestant side where our tour guide walked us around to the different murals on the sides of the buildings and explained what they each meant. The most interesting mural was that of a man in camouflage and a mask with a rifle pointed at the viewer. As you walk all over this neighborhood the rifle is always pointed on you. This is to represent to the people who live in the neighborhood that they are being protected at all times, and to visitors that they are being watched at all times.

Following viewing the murals on the Protestant side, we visited the Peace Wall. The Peace Wall completely divides the Protestant and Catholic neighborhoods, and to this day, the gates in the wall are locked up at 7:30 every night. The wall itself contains murals and graffiti. In Belfast, it is not illegal to write graffiti, so by a suggestion from our tour guide, we joined in on the fun.

From here, we crossed through the wall to the Catholic side. In the Catholic neighborhood we saw several monuments to people that had died during the Troubles and ended with some murals on a large wall. The tour was supposed to last an hour, but lasted two. Our tour guide was very generous and only charged us for one hour. He also led us out to the exit we needed to leave Belfast and head up the Antrim Coast.

This depicts a point in time where a section of the Catholic neighborhood was under a strict curfew by the Belfast government.

Jonathan: After a quick stop at our future hotel/castle at Ballygally, we continued our way up the northeastern coast of Ireland to Carrick-a-rede swinging rope bridge. Fishermen originally used this type of bridge to fish the sea below. We started with a brief walk out to the bridge. It is hard to describe the beauty here in Ireland. The climate is cooler than Virginia and some of the plants and wildlife look similar to those at home, but the sheer brilliance of colors, a patchwork of red, yellow, and pink wildflowers on a background of the most intense green carpet of foliage you have ever seen. I wasn’t expecting the ocean to look so similar to that of the Caribbean, intense shades of dark blue and aquamarine.

When we finally made it to the rope bridge, it looked like something out of a storybook. I felt like a six year old running across the rope bridge, excited and exhilarated. On the far side of the bridge was a menagerie of plants and animals as described before, our own little private island in the sea. Who can deny such a magnificent God when sitting on a lush little patch of land amidst the crashing waves. He not only can inspire you with his artwork but He can take your breath away.

Giant’s Causeway was our final stop of the day. This cluster of hexagonal stone steps is a geological phenomena. The Irish legends and folklore about the place seemed to be as numerous as the stones themselves. We spent some time walking around the causeway and took in the beautiful sight. Some say the stones look like a giant box of cigarettes being offered to God. Since it seems like 99.5% of the population here smokes, this interpretation isn’t surprising. The scenery was gorgeous, in fact it look incredibly similar to the mountains seen in Jurassic Park. We finished our 3 km hike exhausted but satisfied. We made the trip back down the coast to Ballygally, but not before I played rally car driver on the windy roads with an 80 mph speed limit that was almost impossible to maintain!

A & J: Time to sleep in the castle by the sea. Tomorrow will bring more coastline adventures!