Day 34: ♪ I took stroll on the old long walk ♪

- Monday, July 6, 2009

July 3, 2009

We left in the morning for Galway and everyone was excited because we had a four-day work week instead of five. We took a coach bus, so an entire drive across Ireland, from west to east, would take about 3 hours, non-stop.

However, we did stop on the way for a late breakfast at Athlone (Baile Átha Luain), a city that is said to be in the exact middle of Ireland, and to visit Locke's Whiskey Distillery in Kilbeggan (Cill Bheagáin).

The distillery is no longer in use but the warehouses are still being used to store whiskey prodcued by other companies. I would have been more interested in the tour of the distillery, but I don't know much about how alcohol is made. Much of what the tour guide said flew straight over my head. I also don't really like the smell of alcohol in general and the smell of the Kilbeggan whiskey was quite strong.

I did pay attention though. These are the cogs and wheels that powered the machinery inside the distillery.


Perhaps the highlight of the tour was to see this. The day of the inauguration of Barack Obama, the distillery set aside a barrel of whiskey specifically for him. The whiskey would be allowed to age as long as he remains in office. If he only serves one term, the whiskey will be bottled and delivered to him at the end of this term. If he is elected again, the whiskey will be allowed to age for another four years and will be delivered to him when he leaves office.

The distillery also allowed the students to sample some of the Killbeggan whiskey. Many of my friends didn't like it since they only drink it when it is mixed with something else. The tour guide also set up a whiskey challenge for two volunteers. She poured three different brands of whiskey into glasses and briefly described the taste of the three whiskeys. She mixed up the glasses and the volunteers had to identify them based on her description. One of the volunteers did manage to guess all of them correctly and both received a tiny bottle of whiskey for their effort.

We reached the city mid-afternoon, so after a late lunch, a few of us headed out for a walk. The day was nice and since the city is on the coast, we decided to wander around and look for a good beach.

One of my housemates, Jess, and Galway Bay in the background. There is a nice pedestrian/bicycle path along the coastline and we wandered down that for quite some time.

We eventually came to a bridge that spanned across the water to a small island with a lighthouse. We decided to walk down the bridge and about 3/4 of the way, we saw a sign that said "No Public Access". We saw two ladies coming from the island and we asked them if we could walk towards it. They said that it was possible to walk a bit further, but after looking politely confused at our inquiry, informed us that the island contained a sewage treatment plant. Of course, we felt a bit stupid, but it was nice to walk out across the bridge. This picture is taken from the bridge, looking back at Galway City.

The River Corrib (Abhainn na Gaillimhe, meaning stony river) that cuts through Galway city. The city takes its name from the river.

The outside of Galway Cathedral. The are three beautiful rose shaped glass windows, like this one, in the cathedral. I wasn't able to make it inside because the evening services had already ended and the cathedral was closed.

0 comments:



Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)