This morning I woke up, packed my things and headed out of my hostel to catch an early bus to Sligo so I could spend part of the day exploring there. I took the same route back into town that I took last night, the path along the water, rather then walking along side the road. At 730 am, Im sure the few cars that passed me thought I was a bit mad.
I popped into a convenience store and bought a muffin and a coffee to eat while I waited for my bus in the square by the Obelisk in the center of town. Officially, the worst muffin I’ve eaten to date.
After a bit of a wait, the bus arrived. The driver let me on and had me “watch the bus” while he ran inside a sore and grabbed a coffee for himself. I was the only person on the entire bus. On the ride we chatted a bit about the country and his family. He told me about his trip to the states last year and pointed out different things as we drive. The ride was quite enjoyable and it was a lot of fun talking with the driver on the ride.
When I arrived in Sligo I headed for the tourist office to make sure that Carrowmore Megalithic Cemetery was open because I didn't want to pay to take a taxi out only to find it closed on Sunday, plus it wasn't quite ten yet, so I wanted to kill some time.
When I arrived at the tourist office, I had a few minutes before they were open, but I unfortunately was kept waiting a bit longer because the worker with the keys to the shop didn't arrive until quarter after. After I got inside, I took a look at a few things, grabbed a brochure for a self guided tour of the city and inquired about Carrowmore. Because there is no bus that runs on Sunday, I had the girl at the counter call a taxi for me because I wanted to save time and spare myself the hike out. Mind you, it cost me quite a bit to take the taxi round trip, but Carrowmore was something I wanted to see. (Im making up for it by forgoing all the nights out at the pub)
At Carrowmore, I paid the euro student entrance fee and left my bag at the desk. I took a look around at the information in the small center and then began wandering the field. Yes, I spent over an hour, wandering around a field, taking pictures of rocks. One portion is used for “agricultural purposes” so I had to mind the cow pies as I made my way around.
The rocks around Carrowmore are actually ancient burial sites that date back 6000 years. Its pretty interesting. I suggest googling it. (because Im too lazy to give ya the run down)
While at Carrowmore a couple noticed my WSU t-shirt and asked if I was from the states. We stopped and chatted for a bit. They are from Arizona and have a son who is a lawyer in Phoenix. I told them that I was in Ireland studying for the summer and just traveling for the weekend.
When I finished at Carromore, I collected my bag and rang a taxi to take me back to town. Apparently the service I was using is super small because it took over half an hour for my car to arrive. (She said all the cars had been out on runs) I had the taxi drop my at the Franciscan Friary. Being Sunday, there was a service going, so I couldn't actually go inside. I then walked to the Court house (which actually is pretty cool looking) and then to the ruins of the Abbey. I didn't pay to go inside because I could see the Abbey through the fence and I really couldn't justify spending two euro on what I’ve done for free at various other ruins.
I then continued to wander around a bit. I saw a few buildings that were detailed in the self guided tour that I grabbed a booklet for. I also saw the W.B. Yeats statute. It was actually a kind of cool statute. It had words all around it from Im assuming one of his pieces of work. (He’s actually buried about a 10 minute ride outside the city according to some info I picked up at the tourist center in Donegal yesterday, but I didn't have the time nor was there a bus running for me to go today)
I then decided to start making my way to the bus station. I was a bit tired of carrying around my bag and there wasn't much left of the city to see, Id pretty much covered everything that I was going to cover today. As I made my way back, I looked for an open take away restaurant. For blocks I couldn't find anything that was open on a subway. At one point I had passed a subway, but I didn't go in on the principle that Id rather eat something local. However, to no avail, I couldn't find anything, so I gave up and grabbed a sandwich and a coffee from a local convenience store. It would suffice until I could get back to Galway for dinner.
I then headed to the bus station to wait for the number 64 to bring me back to Galway. The bus was late. Then we waited in the rain for it to switch drivers. I was a bit perturbed, but whatever. Once on the bus, I turned on my Ipod and attempted to nap. This really didn't work well. After an hour I decided to start writing my blog post, but then I started to feel a little sick, so I put my computer away. I really began to regret that convenience store sandwich. Ick. I turned on the air conditioning and just hoped Id make it home.
When the bus finally arrived in Galway I did some quick grocery shopping and then grabbed the shuttle back to Corrib Village. I felt a lot better after I made myself some dinner and got settled. It was a very tiring weekend.
I plan to spend the rest of the evening working on my presentation for class tomorrow and time permitting, make a dent in my paper for Tuesday.
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