As you can tell from this post's title-we had one very busy weekend! On Saturday morning we left for our first overnight weekend excursion to Limerick. Brother Colman,our theology professor and Benedictine monk, was our guide for the weekend. We headed south around Galway bay to many medieval monastic ruins. The area around Limerick county is filled with monastic ruins aging to the 7th and 8th century. It was very cool to be able to explore old churches, tombs and even see some human remains... Our adventures then brought us to The Burren which in Irish can be translated to "rocky place." Now a National Park, the Burren is made of karst limestone which was once the ocean's floor. We were able to hike back to a small oratory and cave that was the site of St. Colman Mac Daugh's hermitage. The site is a famous Irish pilgrimage site and there is a running well that we all drank from.
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| 7th Century Monastic Ruins |
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| The Burren |
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| Inside the hermitage cave |
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| Holy well |
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| Karst Limestone |
After exploring monastic ruins we wound our way through the country side to a small town called Sixmilebridge. The gravel roads were so narrow that the bus driver had to stop multiple times to fix the mirrors that were folded inward because of the hedges and trees brushing up against the sides of the coach. After wandering around Sixmilebridge,most of our group found our way into Gilly's Bar. To our surprise, they were hosting a surprise 40th birthday party! They invited us all to stay and we spent the entire night dancing with the locals-none were under the age of 35. We all agree that it was the best night in Ireland yet!
Sunday morning we drove to
Glenstal Abbey , a Benedictine Monastery. The Monastery is home to 50 monks and 207 prep school boys. The boys board there for the school year-most are from prominent Irish families. Yet, there are many international students as well. Brother Colman was reluctant to humbly share that the prep school is ranked as the top secondary school in all of Ireland. We toured around the grounds and a small underground chapel that holds many religious icons from the early Eastern Orthodox Church. The Benedictine monks lived up to their name and provided us with wonderful hospitality and a delicious grilled salmon lunch!
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| Glenstal Abbey |
On our way back to Galway, we stopped in a small town outside the monastery to watch the Championship Hurling Match on TV. Assuming most of you do not know what hurling it is, imagine this: rugby players running around throwing a baseball by passing it to each other on a hockey-like stick. Or as Brother Colman says, "It's like hockey-but requires skill!" The players try to score be either hurling the ball into a soccer goal for 3 points or over the football upright for 1 point. And for all not well versed in Irish sports-this game was like the Superbowl and our hometown, Galway was playing! We were all extremely shocked at how physical and quick the match was. Ironically,
Galway and Kilkenny tied! And while it was the championship game, there is no overtime and they play again on September 30th for a rematch. Hopefully, we will be able to go! Below is a link to the entire hurling match...I would suggest you take a peak! Galway vs. Kilkenny Hurling Match
This week promises to be a busy week with classes and reading assignments, but we head to Kerry next Thursday-Sunday for another excursion. Check back for pictures of the Cliffs of Moher, Ring of Kerry and more!
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