Ireland has much to offer just about any traveler, and for this hedgewitch it offers many items on my travel bucket list. Outdoor adventure, wide open vistas and beautiful landscapes to explore on foot, bike, horseback, muleback, boat, kayak, or motorcycle. A rich history and culture to enthrall the mind, a hearty food and drinking culture and a unique culture of music, folklore, poetry, drama, art and artisans to entertain.
I was fortunate to be able to visit Ireland as a teenager, for two weeks in 2004, and saw some of western and southern Ireland and Dublin. It was a magical and mysterious place for me, and one I’ve wanted to revisit someday for a longer period. The country has so much folklore, music, dance, drama, history, writers, food culture and outdoor adventuring one could be easily overwhelmed making a bucket list for Ireland. One thing I learned in that trip so long ago, it was unwise to try to fit so much of a country into so little time. Rather, for me at least, the way I want to travel is to stay in a place for a good 1-3 months and really get to know a place and explore it thoroughly, get to know some of the people and the culture and take my time and live there, rather than “visit” a place.
Western Ireland (Country Galway area) Bucket List:
Next year in 2019 I’ll be travelling and writing abroad, and I hope to spend a great chunk of that time in western Ireland in and around County Galway. For this post then I’d like to focus on my Bucket List for County Galway and the neighboring counties. I’m hoping to be staying in Galway City most of that time, just outside of which is Connemara, one of the most magical and moody landscapes of Ireland with a 1,600 hectare (4,000 acre) national park and Kylemore Abbey. Next door to the city is Lough Corrib, a great expanse which holds some of the world’s best fishing and 365 islands, an island for every day of the year. Offshore of Country Galway lies the Aran Islands–Inishmore, Inishmaan, and Inisheer.
Galway City:
When I visited Ireland years ago, I passed briefly through Galway city on the way to Doolin and then the Aran Islands, Galway city has long been on my bucket list. Galway is supposed to be the perfect small city, with vibrant, colorful and buzzy streets. Ask any Irishman his favorite city and chance is you’re likely to hear Galway. A university city, a port city, and the self-acclaimed arts capital of Ireland with music, theater, dance, and a vibrant street life, a home to artisans, writers, and artists and the summer Galway Arts Festival. A major city by Irish standards, but still manages to retain the feel and accessibility of a small town. I will be likely in Spain during July and miss the summer Galway Arts Festival, but should be there to enjoy the fall Oyster Festival!
Galway Oyster Festival:
This festival usually takes place on the third or fourth weekend in September, it is supposed to be a colorful ceremony in which the lord mayor of Galway starts off the festival by opening and eating the first oyster of the season, the it’s 2-3 solid days of eating and drinking! Oysters, prawns, salmon, anything that comes from the sea pretty much are eaten with buckets of Guinness and champagne. The entire town apparently becomes a party!
Kirwin’s Lane:
Kirwin’s Lane is located in the center of the area that was originally within the city walls, and is named after one of Galway’s fourteen “tribes,” the families who ruled the town as an oligarchy for several centuries. Kirwin’s Lane has been restored and become the heart of the historical town center. Home to cafes, restaurants, craft-shops, and the Druid Theatre, a 100 seat built in the late 18th century by Richard Martin for his wife, and feature Anglo-Irish classics, modern international dramas, and Irish folk dramas. Sounds like a great street to sit at a café and write for hours to me!
Gather and Make Ogham Staves:
One of my biggest goals re-visiting Ireland is to gather and make my own Ogham staves. Ogham staves are sticks or stakes gathered from trees with the letters of the Ogham alphabet inscribed on the wood. The Ogham alphabet has 25 letters, 20 of which are used for divination, like Tarot cards and Runes, and they have historically been written on stone, wood, and manuscripts. Each letter corresponds to a different sound as well as a different tree or wood. No trees need be injured in the making of Ogham staves, if you are prepared to look around for fallen branches or twigs. You can inscribe the Ogham on sticks from the same type of tree, or go above and beyond and collect similar size sticks or stakes from the 25 different types of trees the Ogham alphabet letters stand for.
The Celtic tree Ogham (pronounced OH-am) lies with the Celtic tribes who migrated to Britain form the continent around 700-500 BCE. The knowledge of the Ogham was passed down orally until it was recorded in medieval manuscripts. Each letter is related to a tree, and is full of poetic and magical reference which holds clues to their deeper meaning. The Ogham Staves can be used for divination, either for oneself or for others, as a guide to working with the energies of trees and a map to the deeper realms of the Celtic otherworld. The different trees indicated by the Ogham are: Birch, Rowan, Alder, Willow, Ash, Hawthorn, Oak, Holly, Hazel, Apple, Vine, Ivy, Reed, Blackthorn, Elder, Silver Fir, Furze, Heather, White Poplar, and Yew.
Coole Park:
Coole Park is the home of Lady Gregory, some 1000 acres which were formerly the estate of Lady Gregory, and Anglo-Irish born woman known for her contributions to the Irish literary Revival. Her home and grounds were a magnet for writers such as William Butler Yeats, George Bernard Shaw, John Millington Synge and Sean O’Casey and others have carved their initials on the famous “autograph tree.” The tree still stands on the grounds, and travelers come to admire the artistic and literary landscape and museum.
Connemara:
West of Galway city is Connemara, a place of bogs and lakes, mountains and villages. The coastline is dotted with the islands of Connemara, some inhabited and others long since deserted and all of them wild and remote. The capital of Connemara, Clifden, hosts a ~11 day long Clifden Arts Festival every year in September. For the nature enthusiast, there are plenty of walks and cycle routes to choose from, and places to fish, beaches to visit, the scenic drive along the Sky Road, and the vast Connemara National Park.
Kylemore Abbey and Victorian Walled Garden:
Originally built as a castle in 1867 as a romantic gift, this is one bedecked abbey! It became home to a community of Benedictine Nuns in 1920 and has been known as a place of spirituality and education. The story of Kylemore Abbey/Castle is a rich one, nestled at the base of Druchrauch Mountain on the northern shore of Lough Pollacappul in the heart of the Connemara Mountains, it’s seen as one of Ireland’s most romantic buildings.
The Aran Islands:
The Aran Islands lay just outside Galway Bay, also not far from the Clare coast and the Cliffs of Moher on the west coast of Ireland. You can travel to the islands be ferry or small plane, from County Clare of County Galway. The Aran Islands are known as an outpost of traditional Irish culture. The islands can be seen with different spelling, such as Inis Oirr or Inisheer, Inis Meain or Inishmeer, and the largest Inis Mor or Inishmore. Each has it’s own unique character and many bike and walking trails to choose from, on each island the natives speak Irish, and ancient forts, churches and monuments dot the island. You can go for a day trip or stay overnight at a B&B, hostel, hotel, self catering, or their new luxury glamping venue. I visited the largest island, Inis Mor (Inishmore) when I was sixteen, and my mother and I actually missed the last ferry back to Doolin. We’d spent our time walking around the island, ancient churches, castles, and visiting Dun Aengus, Dun Duchathair, Dun Eochla (Dun being Irish for Fort) old stone forts offering defense to ancient armies. Since we missed the ferry we stayed at the B&B by the ferry dock and visit Joe Watty’s Pub. One thing we missed seeing on Inis Mor that I regret and would like to this time is Poll na bPeist, also known as The Wormhole. Like most of the Aran Islands, the natural features there tell a story of time and the sea and erosion. The Wormhole is much the same. It can be reached only by a more challenging hike, the wormhole (worm being more of a serpent in the Irish language) has been carved by the sea into the limestone blocks of the Aran islands, fracturing the rock into straight lines, making it look almost artificial. Erosion can sometimes carve away a subterranean passage, laving a hole in the rock that is connected to the sea. Several small holes of this nature exist on the island and they are called Poll Seidein, or “puffing holes” because water will often spray out of them during stormy weather or rising tides, and much like the exhalation from the blowhole of a whales. Sometimes these waters are stormy and rush and churn like an angry sea serpent, other times they are calm, like a sleeping serpent, and only during this time should visitors jump in for a dip.
Father Afield….
The Burren, County Clare:
South of County Galway is County Clare, which I spent more time in during my visit as a teenager. One of the first things we saw in Ireland was the Burren, a seemingly desolate moonscape of an environment dominated by glaciated limestone. The Burren (Irish for “great rock”) is disputed to measure some 250 sq km (220 sq mi), and while to the untrained eye appears barren, it actually has a rich and unique flora and fauna and food culture based off of its unique environment. You can find over 70% of Ireland’s species of flowers there, the region supports arctic, Mediterranean and alpine plants, all side-by-side, and many rare species. The area sports 22 species of orchids! The region is known beyond Ireland for the Cliffs of Moher but also the many major show caves, dolmens and prehistoric sites and centers of cultural activity. Since I’ve been there, ecotourism and gastro-tourism have become a bigger factor in the area. The Burren Food Trail, launched in 2013, has more than 20 members offering hospitality and/or food and drink products and won the Irish prize in the European Destination of Excellence- Tourism and Local Gastronomy competition in 2015. In association with the food trail are events such as the Slow Food Festival and a Food Fayre in October.
Skellig Michael:
Skellig Michael is a much much further afield place from Western Ireland and County Galway that is on my bucket list to visit in the country. You may know of Skellig Michael from the more recent installment of the Star Wars universe, Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Skellig Michael, an island off the coast of County Kerry on the southwest side of Ireland was the filming location for Ahch-To, Jedi Master Luke Skywalker’s hideaway. Rising 714 feet about the Atlantic Ocean, the island served as a Gaelic Christian monastic settlement from the 6th or 8th century (varying accounts exist) to the late 12th century. Today, boat tours run to eh island from late March to early October each year, but demand is high and the waters around the island are turbulent. Up a climb of hundreds of rock steps you will reach the U-shaped valley where Rey found Luke in The Force Awakens. Venturing further up visitors can find the remains of the monastery on a terrace shelf 600 feet above sea level, six beehive huts, two oratories, a later medieval church and a graveyard, all remarkably intact and in good shape. The island is host to a large colony of puffins who live there from March to early August for the breeding season, these birds aren’t shy, and are the inspiration for the cute porgs of the films (because they couldn’t get a shot without them in it!)
