After telling friends and
family I was staying in Galloway and not Galway, I realised I’d better stop
sleeping on the bus and start listening to our tour guides.
The first thing they said to
us was, “anyone notice anything weird last night? Anything strange happen to
anyone? Well the hostel we stayed in last night is HAUNTED!”
‘Ohhh myyy gooodddd!!!!’ was
my reaction. Thank heavens we didn’t know, or we wouldn’t have slept a wink.
Apparently the man who used to
own the hostel enjoyed throwing large parties. And when his debt became too
heavy to handle, he hung himself in the building.
Luckily we were too tired from
the day before and slept through the entire night. But two sisters on our
tour did experience some supernatural activity.
Opting for a private dorm, it
was just the two of them in the room. One couldn’t sleep, and had her blanket
covering her head for some darkness. She swore she heard her sister pacing
around the room. She wondered, what is she doing? Impatient with the footsteps
she withdrew the blanket expecting to see her sister walking. But her sister was
fast asleep in bed across the room. Holy shit balls!! Ghost!
The Evil Ranga's castle
We spent the morning
sightseeing, where we came across an old ruined castle. Legend says that the
woman who owned this castle was essentially, an evil ranga. When her husband
died fighting an opposing clan, the woman concocted a plan to marry a new
soldier to keep the castle from being stormed and inhabited by the enemy. When
she ‘got bored’ with her new husband, he would ‘mysteriously’ fall from the
roof of the castle, or ‘accidentally’ cut himself shaving. She went through 25
husbands before anyone realised what was happening.
On New Year’s Day, the people
of the town tried to storm the castle. Not wanting anyone else to take control, she burnt
it down instead. Consequently, as this woman had red hair, it is said that on New Year’s Day
it is bad luck to speak to people with red hair. Sorry Livi!
Lucky it's not New Year's Day
Next stop was the Poulnabrone
dolmen rocks in County Clare, said to be older than the pyramids.
How did it get here? Was it aliens?
As if it is older than Pride Rock
We visited a fairy fort, where
our Irish guides were so superstitious they wouldn’t let us go inside the fort,
but led us right the way around. The fairies can grant wishes, but they can
also be cheeky if you don’t respect them. Our guides have had buses break down
after people have damaged or desecrated the fairy fort. You don’t mess with
that shit.
Walking around the fort making wishes
Next up were the Cliffs of
Moher, or the Cliffs of Insanity from the Princess Bride film. Their sheer
vertical drop was intense.
You drive me crazy
The cliffs are the most
visited natural attraction in Ireland, ranging eight kilometres over the
Atlantic Ocean, at a height of 214m at the highest point.
What is the meaning of life? I don't understand boys. What am I going to wear tomorrow?
Have you ever? Ever felt like this? Where strange things happen, are you going round the twist?
We learned about the mystical
Gireeps – giraffes crossed with sheep. Turns out the tour guides were joking
about this, and we were all fooled for days. They were actually alpacas. Stu-pid.
That night was a group dinner
in Galway (not Galloway) before heading out for some live music at the Quay.
Not Trad music, thank god.
Instead of drinking the usual
disgusting Guinness, we drank baby Guinness shots instead. A shot of Kahlua
with some Baileys on top; much more my style. And they were delicious.
Baby Guinness shots!
Classic before shot
Classic after shot. Ooohh, feel the burn
We hung out with our tour
guides and bus driver, before turning in after a big day of sightseeing. The
ghosts, fairies and evil red heads really took it out of us.
Nikki the friendly ghost
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