Fenechs et al in Ireland: Goodbye Galway…Goodbye Ireland

Our last day in Galway, Easter Monday, dawned. After our breakfast we decided to head to Dublin for my family’s last day in Ireland. We dropped our luggage at my apartment and then headed to Dublin City centre, where our first stop was LUNCH :). After that we did some shopping (we needed to update my sister’s wardrobe, so Bernard, Michele, mum and myself set on that task, whilst my bro and her boyfriend scuttled off). We managed to make her spend quite a lot of money (Ireland needs to recuperate its economy) and I again ended up buying some stuff. That occupied most of the afternoon. After that we went back to my apartment where we relaxed a bit and discussed plans for my brother’s wedding in August, and we booked accomodation for our stays in Tallinn (for my, Ann’s, Michael’s, Bernard’s and mum’s pre wedding trip) and Helsinki, where my brother is getting married.

We then went to Eddie Rockets since Bernard had been wanted and Oreo Milkshake and then came back home to sleep :). 7 people managed to successfully sleep in my room (and in comfort I must say). Thanks to Monika and Rachel (my apartment mate) who supplied me with inflatable mattresses and David (my other apartment mate, who offered but there was no place to put any more). We had a short night’s sleep, cos at 4:45 am we all woke up to go to the airport.

Thankfully all flights were within a short time frame, so we got the car and headed towards the airport. We dropped off Stephen and Michele (departure 7:10am to Helsinki), Mum and Bernard (departure 7:20am to Malta) and Ann (departure 7:30am to Berlin). Then Michael and myself took the car to the car hire place, which opens at 6am, and dropped off the car. No issues there wippie 🙂 We were then dropped off at the airport where I said goodbye to Michael (departure 8:15am to London) and I got the bus back to DCU, where I snuggled back into bed for a couple more hours of sleep before heading back to Uni to get back to my daily routine.

Overall, I must say it was a really successful trip, especially considering it was our first trip as a family in ages, and the first ever with the extended family. I was expecting it to be much more stressful, which it was not, and I think everyone had a great time. The next time we will all be together is at my brother’s wedding in August. However we are already planning our next family Easter trip in 2 years’ time. Destination: Unknown. Depending on where the different components of this family are (which is not easy to say 🙂 ).

Thank you all for coming to visit 🙂 Come again 🙂

Fenechs et al in Ireland: in Galway

In our first (and only) full day in Galway, we decided to visit Connemara, and more specifically Kylemore Abbey. But before leaving to make our way there, we were informed by our Danish informant that the Easter bunny had successfully made the trip to Galway. So he left to meet up with him in the nearby park whilst we finished our breakfast. We then went to the park where we went on our Easter egg hunt.

Easter Egg Hunt

I am pleased to say that I found the most eggs (7 small, 3 big), followed by Bernard (8 small, 2 big). The others trailed miserably behind. So I guess Bernard and I make a good team…goooo team 🙂 Happy with our chocolates, we made our way to Kylemore abbey. Where we got to meet the Easter Bunny ourselves:

Kylemore Easter Bunnies

Apart from the Easter bunnies, Kylemore is really breath taking, as can be seen below:

Kylemore Abbey

We took a tour of the Abbey, had tea in the tea house, walked around the vast area and visited the walled garden (followed a tour organised by Mr Bernard Brincat himself and his ‘posh’ accent). After a couple of hours here, we then started our way back, taking the long route through Clifden, and then back to Galway, where we headed back to town for some lunch/dinner, and walked round for a bit.

In the evening, mum, Stephen and Michele went home early as they were tired, but all of us remaining wanted to take in Galway for just a bit more, and so we stayed in town. At 9:30pm we however made our way to The Crane where we got to experience some great Irish music in the upstairs room, which was really nicely decorated (simple but nice) with candles. We got chatting to the people around us whilst waiting for the music to start (being Ireland it started more than 30minutes late I think). However we had around 8 musicians, most of which switched instruments continuously. The music was great, the atmosphere was great and we really enjoyed ourselves. Have a listen yourselves. The quality is not really that good, but you can get an idea of the amount of people playing, the amount of people listening and the general atmosphere.

We were all tired but tried to stay as long as possible, but when they stopped for a 30minute break we decided to head home to our beds.

Fenechs et al in Ireland: On to Galway

On leaving Kerry, we made our way up to Galway, stopping first at the Cliffs of Moher:

The Cliffs of Moher

My honest opinion? Yes the cliffs are impressive, but that is what they are…just cliffs. I would certainly not pay 6Eur just to stand on the top of the cliff. In fact we took the advice of the Lonely Planet guide and parked slightly further down from the visitor centre, and walk to the cliff side, where you can get such impressive views of the Cliffs of Moher nonetheless 🙂

The Fenechs at the Cliffs of Moher

We then drove through The Burren, which looks quite similar to the Mediterranean landscape of garrigue, and made our way to Galway. This time we were staying at Griffin Lodge. This place is just next to the city centre, such that we could walk to the main street within 5 minutes, making it quite convenient. However the rooms were much smaller, although sufficient for our needs. We settled in and made our way to Galway city, which was full of people who had come out on Easter Saturday to enjoy the beautiful weather.

Busy Galway Street

We had some lunch/dinner and walked around the city, did some shopping (supposedly for Ann, but ended up buying clothes for myself too…and Ann and I now have identical tops weee…we haven’t had any for ages) and then went for the Easter Sunday service at St. Mary’s Priory. This time it was much more to my liking, as the service was short but to the point.

At this point we again walked to the city centre for some food/pints before going back to the B&B. We planned to hear some Irish music, but most venues were too full and were playing more ‘commercial Irish music’ with a guitar.