ireland part two!

pues. may i just say, the blogging world has my respect... havin enough trouble as it is just centering text and things this is crazy! hence, (and this is sylvie here) my posts will be rather to the point. plus, it's close to midnight here and after netting about 50 walked and 30 biked miles in the last 4 days i'm a tad wiped (that's not even an exaggeration folks).

so. DOOLIN!!!!! the town that has my heart. when i read online that this was the "traditional music capital of ireland" and the hostel i wanted to stay in had a host who "will be happy to share his archaeological knowledge of the area with all guests" i was won over, and it FAR exceeded expectations.

we stayed in doolin for 2 wonderful nights. there are only like 50 people in the whole town! it's right on the west coast of ireland and indeed has some lovely music. the first day we went to the Cliffs of Moher, probably the most well known scenic part of Ireland, and for good reason! gah, beauty!! we hiked about a mile around, so i have a bajillion pics, but check em out on Facebook.

after the Cliffs we thought the day couldn't get more lovely but hey it sure did... oh wait forgot to mention we realized there was no bus to take us back from the cliffs so we ended up trekking 6 miles back to Doolin. we met a fellow US traveler Kyrie and ended up hanging out with her for the rest of the week! so back at the hostel, our wonderful landlord Mattie took us on a "walking tour" of the wilds of Doolin, aka most wonderful, historical and gorgeous tour of my LIFE! he named every flower, pointed out every burial and cave, gave us eras worth of history and took us around a plethora of archaeological sites that he discovered himself. we ended with half an hour of watching the sunset over the atlantic. it was glorious.

oh, mattie also drove us into these wilds at breakneck speeds in an old cart! the roller coaster of doolin!! it sealed the experience. unforgettable :)

day 2: we attempted, and succeeded, at something i may or may not do again in my future. we biked over the entire mountainous peninsula (i had ridden a bike about once in the last 7 years). that is, we walked up some of the steeper hills, and coasted down the 8 mile downhill stretch :) haha. it was an 8 hr excursion, stopping in 3 or 4 towns and one castle! yes, castle! of course it said no tourists but, banking confidently in our American suavity we walked on through the gate, aaaand got invited in for tea. ah yes, those Americans. ;) this castle was inhabited by cromwell's premier general during his semi-takeover/destruction of scotland.

the views on this bike trip were truly breathtaking--the green pastoral landscapes of Ireland you hear about are spot on--fold after fold of mossy terrain with sheep, cattle, and castles nestled between. after makin it back from this epic journey, we decided to go on a short "2 km" walk to see another castle, ha that ended up being probably 6 miles of good hard walking but SO WORTH IT! we found a way around the gate (again haha) and climbed to the top of beautiful, nearly-intact Ballinalacken Castle in the setting sun.

let's just say we slept quite soundly that night after all these adventures. aah! this post is so long! whoops. i guess our final stop, Dingle, will have to wait. stay tuned--very cool things to come.