Day 24: Athenry, Roscahill, and Galway, Ireland

I was so tired when I woke up. We all needed a slowish morning. We packed up food and amended our plans to cut out some driving. We had wanted to see Cong and the abbey there (apparently one of the best in Ireland), but decided to go to the Athenry Castle instead because it was more on the way to our other destinations. 
It is amazing how different the landscape of County Galway and County Clare are considering they are next to each other.
Also, the small roads and lack of road signs make driving crazy here. I cannot imagine trying to navigate without a GPS. 
We arrived at Athenry Castle just in time to join a tour. It was very well done and we learned about the castle (really more of a tower) and some great Irish history. Plus, there was a really neat abbey across the street.
Next, we headed to Brigit’s Garden outside of Galway. My stepson visited there a few years ago and brought me back the brochure. He thought I would really enjoy it. It was cute and small, but really pretty. Plus, it was the first gardens I have ever seen designed around the Celtic/pagan calendar of the year. It was lovely. 
We headed to Aughnanure Castle after the Garden. It was fun to visit because it had yew trees and a river around its base, kind of like a moat. It was well preserved and had a cool murder hole. 
Finally, we went to Galway. It was our goal to find some Irish music in a pub. Parking was crazy, but we found a place eventually. We wandered  around downtown Galway with the hordes of tourists before we found a pub with musicians playing. The musicians were playing traditional music, but the pub was so crowded with drunk and loud Americans we left. We popped back into a place a little bit away from the main crowds that we had seen advertising traditional music at 6pm. A husband and wife were already playing when we arrived. They did well-known Irish songs, but also random and sometimes hilarious popular songs. They played for over two hours and we caught about 1 hr 45 minutes of it. We all had a super fun time.
We got home and were happy to not be completely worn out. We made a hot dinner and relaxed. Although it is after 11pm and Edon is just washing dishes... Heading to bed soon hopefully.