Last Tuesday, I took an impromptu day trip to Clifden with my boyfriend, Dan. After an hour and a half bumping over small country roads in a big bus, trying to look at the amazing landscape without getting too motion sick, we pulled into the main square of the town. In about ten minutes, we had walked around the whole town center and picked a pub, Griffin’s, to get lunch at. My love for soup increased with each spoonful of my tomato & pepper soup and the spoonful of Dan’s mushroom soup. Delicious!

So with warm food in our stomach, we headed up to Sky Road. The road went up and passed by houses, farms, the D’Arcy Monument (for the founder of the town, which we could never actually find), Clifden Castle, and eventually the Atlantic Ocean.

On our way out, we were initially fooled into thinking this arch was all that was left of the castle, and continued on our way after taking a few pictures. We made some horse and donkey friends along the way, though I should really start carrying some horse treats for trips like this.  Eventually we made it to the inlet of sorts, which we think was about four miles down Sky Road.

On our way back, we happened to glimpse Clifden Castle! So when we got back to the deceptive arch, we continued down its side road. Here’s another difference between the USA and Ireland: Ireland has lots of castles, and only a some (for example the Blarney Stone castle, Kilkenny Castle, Birr Castle) are maintained and marketed. This one and many others are not.  Pros: No admission price, no over-done touristy business. Cons: Hard to get to, not marked with historical information or any sort of information for that matter. 

We shimmied along a fence, trying not to get our jeans wet in the muddy puddle that covered a good portion of the path leading up to the castle. Our efforts were rewarded though! The castle was cool–the floors and ceilings had crumbled and plants were overtaking it. It was a bit spooky and I was thankful the sun hadn’t gone down yet.

When we made it back to town, we had a little bit of time before our return bus, so we visited a bakery where I enjoyed a delicious �clair. Ah, then another bumpy bus ride back to Galway. But, overall it was great to be able to just jump on a bus and visit a new town and see new sites on a weekday I don’t have any classes!

Location: Clifden, Ireland