Conquering Clifden

This past week, Chris has his good friend Corey and his girlfriend Krista come and visit. Due to my appendicitis I was not able to do the day adventures, but I was feeling pretty good by Saturday, so luckily I was able to join them for one day.

We took the bus up to Clifden in the morning. The drive is only an hour, and Clifden is located about 1 hour and 15 minutes NW of Galway. It's a quaint little coastal town, with a significant amount of history in it. We had lunch at a little cafe in town, and started walking around. We ended up of Sky Road, which had a cool old gothic church and graveyard. As we continued down the road, it become incredibly scenic so we decided to keep walking down towards the coastline. On our way, we noticed the crest of a castle tucked into the hillside, it was barely visible from the road. There was no house nearby and nothing that said "no trespassing" so we figured we would give it a shot. We hiked down through a few fields of sheep and found ourselves at the basin of an abandoned castle. When we got home I was able to research it, and found that it was built in the early 1700's, and was abandoned during the famine in 1840. Clifden was one of the hardest hit areas by the famine.

We were able to explore inside the castle, and it was really cool because it hasn't been restored, so there were remain of the staircase, and old walls, put many portions had crumbled. There was an incredible view from the castle of the inlet from the ocean that leads into the town of Clifden. Many parts of the castle were overgrown with vines. Adjacent to the castle was the old stone farm and remain of a few smaller houses, probably the servants quarters. It was such a cool adventure because everything was so untouched. After the castle we continued out to the coastline, the view was incredible. We walked back into town later that evening and took the bus back to Galway.

I took the next day pretty easy as I was exhausted, but I'm feeling pretty good since my surgery. I've been studying quite a bit for my psychology exam on Wednesday. After Wednesday I'm officially done with my courses in Galway. I can't believe it, but I fly home next Tuesday. It's going to be very bitter sweet. I'm excited to get home for summer, but am definitely going to miss this place. It is all starting to hit me as my good friends Lauren and Beth departed over the weekend.

I have posted pictures below of the castle!