Exploring Ancestry in Spiddal

We arrived in Dublin around 4:10 this morning, rented a car, and headed west to Galway. Driving on the left side of the road and on narrow single-track roads required a lot of focus, but by the afternoon TJ was zipping down narrow country lanes and deftly making right-hand turns from the left side of the road. 

 

The scones at Bridie Murphie's Home Bakery in Galway's City Centre are delectable - TJ savored a cranberry scone and Suz enjoyed the breakfast flavors and heartiness of a raspberry porridge scone. As the morning neared 9:00, the city really came to life, with many people walking to their destinations and shops and pubs opening for the day.

 

We spent part of the day in the towns around Spiddal, a little west of Galway. We found the old homestead of TJ's nan (grandmother) - now two dilapidated stone outbuildings overgrown with comfrey, ivy, and wildflowers, abutting the properties of two recent builds. Fatigue really caught up to us, so Suz napped by Spiddal Beach (not surprisingly ending up with a sunburn on this hot, sunny day) before we located the cemetery in Inverin to try to find the burial place of TJ's relatives who had remained in Ireland. 

 

We had no success today, but TJ spoke with several locals, who directed him to another cemetery that we plan to explore. We also went on a bit of a goose chase tracking down a place to exchange currency. By late afternoon, we headed back to Galway to exchange USD for Euros at the main An Post (post office), then finally settled in for refreshing showers and a lovely dinner of turnip, rich green savoy cabbage, and pork and apple sausages, which we cooked on the two-burner hob in the one-bedroom guest home where we are staying.

 

Now it's 9:30pm and it's still full daylight on the summer solstice, but bed is calling. It has been a full day!