Mom, Joey, and I met up with Paddy, a distant family connection of ours, who is from Achill Island. He was a sweetheart, and took us all over to see various sights. On the way up to the island, he showed us this picturesque old church and cemetery near an inlet of the sea.
A view of the island.
Spectacular cliffs...and winding roads along them!
The castle of
Gráinne Mhaol, a legendary female pirate of the 16th-17th c. 
Paddy and his wife Mary showed us boundless hospitality (complete with tea and biscuits) for our short stay there.
After getting back from Achill, I had a couple of hours to prepare for my next trip, this time down to to Dingle with NUI. Along the way we stopped at Bunratty Castle. As may be noted from the umbrellas and other rain gear, this was a wet day. You may notice a trend on this trip...
Once we got to Dingle, we found our way to Murphy's Pub, where we got some hearty food to fill up our empty stomachs, and plenty of good music from this musical group, called Dreams of Freedom.
Sam requested "Galway Girl," which they very kindly sang for us!
On Saturday we visited some examples of the beehive huts. The one above was built later, to reflect how the earlier ones would look if still complete.
On our way down to the beach.
Gorgeous beach. Yes, there were surfers in the water. And yes, some people from our group were brave enough to go in. I put my feet in--it was cold.
The Gallarus Oratory. A very old church. I have to admit that we had trouble being thrilled about these kinds of sites when it was very wet and cold out.
A Romanesque church and monastic site.
A stone inside the church, with the alphabet inscribed along the side.
A view of Dingle today, which was, I'll admit, slightly more sunny and less rainy--thank goodness! The things I liked best about Dingle were probably the ice cream (Bailey's and Dark Chocolate) at a place called Murphy's--not the pub--and listening to the music of Dreams of Freedom (we heard them again last night, when they played at The Dingle Pub, and they played "Galway Girl" again especially for us!).
Well, I took a stroll on the old long walk
Of a day -I-ay-I-ay
I met a little girl and we stopped to talk
Of a fine soft day -I-ay-I-ay
And I ask you, friend, what's a fella to do
'Cause her hair was black and her eyes were blue
And I knew right then I'd be takin' a whirl
'Round the Salthill Prom with a Galway girl...
~ "The Galway Girl," Steve Earle
Lovely Galway, looking down past the Spanish Arch and toward the mouth of the River Corrib.
Looking up river, and over towards the square by the Spanish Arch.
The beach at Salthill.
Salthill is a small resort town of sorts, along the coast past Galway.
The water was actually much warmer than I expected--I think it's warmer than Pismo Beach, ironically!
Lauren Bergin and Lauren Nofi in the Townhouse Bar...It's decorated like a house, which is really cool, in my opinion!
Caitie and Megan...two of our Texas girls!
