Ireland: Day 4 - Cliffs of Moher, drive from Galway to Portmagee

Here is a summary of what is spent on Day 4.

22/9 Day 4: Drive from Galway to Portmagee. Stop at Cliffs of Moher and Limericks. Arrived Portmagee at 5.30pm.

Costs
(1) Petrol 16,32liter, EUR1,998 per liter - EUR32,61

(2) Ticket to Cliffs of Moher - EUR8 per person

(3) Parking ticket at Harveys Quay, Limericks - EUR6,60 (EUR3,30 per hour)

(4) Cerave sunscreen 177ml from D Sullivan pharmacy, Limericks - EUR15

(5) A packet of Butter cookie with chocolate biscuits from Dunnes Store - EUR1,49

Accommodation
(1) Room at Skellig Port Accomodation, Portmagee, 2 nights (from Booking.com) - A room with own toilet EUR134,14 for 2 persons, EUR67,07 per person

Food
(1) Lunch at Flannery Bar, Limericks - Fish and chips EUR16,95

(2) Dinner at The Moorings, Portmagee - Seafood chowder with 2 slices of brown bread and butter EUR19, alcohol-free cider EUR5,60

The Story

22092026: Today, we continue our drive to Portmagee. I planned this stop as we will take the boat to Skellig Michael island tomorrow and Portmagee is the closest village to the harbour. We could have taken accommodation in towns a bit further but I did not want to worry ourselves about the time to drive in the morning. Well, this was 4 months ago when I booked the hotel in Portmagee. This evening, when we arrived at Portmagee, we were informed by our hostess that all boats to land at Skellig Michael were cancelled by the port authorities due to the high waves. So, we could have stayed a bit further because we chose another activity to go around the Skelligs instead which started a bit later. Anyway, today's activity is the drive and on the way, we will stop at Cliffs of Moher, one of the recommended places of visit in the west coast. 

Breakfast at our Airbnb, just like yesterday. Checked out and pumped the car. Petrol is quite expensive in Ireland - almost EUR2 per liter. Started the drive towards Cliffs of Moher. This attraction is about 1,5 hours drive from Galway. There are many travel agencies in Galway that provide tours to Cliffs of Moher. One can buy the tickets online for Cliffs of Moher but I did not do that as I was unsure what time we will arrive. Also, there are different prices for different times. From 8am-10.59am, the ticket is EUR8, then 11am-3.59pm is EUR12, and it drops back to EUR8 from 4pm-7pm. I did not want to hurry our drive just in case there are nice stops along the way or if anything were to happen so I will buy the tickets when I get there.

Along the way, we stopped by at a random scenic stop. We were, after all, on the Wild Atlantic Way. Many vehicles just continued the drive. 

About 30 minutes before arriving at Cliffs of Moher, I told my boyfriend to purchase the tickets online. I can't do it as I was driving. It was about 9am and we could still get the EUR8 tickets. He succeeded and we got the EUR8 ticket per person compared to EUR15 per person to purchase the ticket at the counter.  Plus, we were so lucky with the weather. So sunny! And there were not many tourists yet. It is a large parking lot and there are ample of spaces. 

Some tourist buses were here already. It was 9.50am.

The souvenir shops are purposely designed and built under the hills to not ruin the greenery and scenery.

Ireland: Day 3 - Inis Mor island

Here is a summary of what is spent on Day 3.

21/9 Day 3: Took the 9.30am bus from Victoria Place bus stop in Galway town to Rossaveel harbour (arrived at 10.30am). Took the boat with Aran Island Ferries to Inis Mor island (arrived 11.10am). Rented a bicycle on the island. Cycled to Dun Aonghasa and Black Fort. Took a dip in the North Atlantic Ocean. Took the return boat 5pm and return bus 5.45pm. Aran Island Ferries operates both bus and boat.   

Costs
(1) Bus and boat return ticket with Aran Island Ferries - EUR44

(2) Rented bicycle with Aran Bike Hire on Inis Mor - EUR20

(3) Ticket to enter Dún Aonghasa on Inis Mor - EUR5

(4) Bus ticket from Galway center to the stop near our accommodation - EUR1,90

Food
(1) Lunch from Spar supermarket, Inis Mor - Panini gourmet wrap (tomato and cheese) EUR5,95

(2) Dinner at Murty Rabbitt's - Traditional lamb Irish stew EUR18,50, alcohol-free cider EUR6

The Story

21092026: Today, we will take the bus to a harbour and from there, a ferry to explore Inis Mor island. There are 3 islands (Inis Mor, Inis Meáin and Inis Oírr) that one can choose from. I chose the biggest island, Inis Mor, as there are recommended places to visit and one can rent a bicycle to explore the island. On the ferry, we saw some tourists who brought luggages to stay on the island. There are accommodations on the island. But I think a day is sufficient for me although I can consider to stay here if it was summer. One can choose to drive to the harbour too but we did not since it might be difficult to find parking (which was not, there is a huge parking space) or difficult to navigate the roads and tiring for us after the ferry trip. The second reasoning is more valid. I am glad we took the bus. Also, since it is the same operator for bus and ferry, the ferry waited for us when the bus was slightly delayed.

The day begun with breakfast at the accommodation. We had toasted bread, muesli with milk and instant coffee. Very convenient for us as our accommodation is located in a housing area and about 45 minutes walk from town. Also, I had my motion sickness pill after breakfast. 

We walked into town. It is about 35 minutes walk to Victoria Place bus stop where a bus will pick us up and bring us to Rossaveel harbour. Nice to see how the houses are here. No elevated wooden deck like in Sweden. Houses are similar to the ones in Malaysia. Lots of weeds in some gardens and some gardens are very nicely trimmed and pruned. Thanks to the rain, the greenery here is soothing to the eyes. 

I don't know if the boat is abandoned. Very low tide now.

We were early. Reached Eyre Square at 8.45am. The bus is scheduled for departure at 9.30am. Saw some sculptures and got me interested to take pictures next to them. This is the statue of Pádraic Ó Conaire, pioneer of modern Irish literature.

The Wanderer. No special meaning to the sculpture. The artist is famous for hyperrealistic sculptures of anonymous people in normal size or bigger than usual size. 

Ireland: Day 2 - Drive from Dublin to Galway

Here is a summary of what is spent on Day 2.

20/9 Day 2: Collect rental car. Left Dublin 9.45am. Arrived in Galway 3.15pm. Stopped at Trim Castle and Clonmocnaise for breaks. At Galway, took the local bus to town center. 

Costs
(1) Rented car, 6 days (20 - 25 Sept) - EUR191,41. 

Paid to DiscoverCars (third operator that we rented the car from): Full coverage insurance EUR78,50, Prepayment EUR12,62; 

Paid to Sixt (car rental company): Additional driver EUR68,99, cost of rental EUR151,66, prepaid fuel EUR71,04  

(2) Toll from Dublin to Galway - Dublin Port Tunnel EUR3,50; Eurolina Motorway EUR1,80

(3) 1 local bus ticket from accommodation (Parkmore stop) to Eyre Square, Galway - EUR1,90

(4) Seasick pills from pharmacy in Galway - EUR7,95

Accommodation
(1) Airbnb at Galway, 2 nights - Small accommodation - a room with own toilet and kitchen EUR168,24 for 2 persons, EUR84,12 per person

Food
(1) Coffee at Stonewall cafe (opposite Trim Castle) - Cappucino EUR4,10

(2) Guiness at Tig Neachtains pub - EUR6,40 (cheaper than the one we had in Madigans O'Connell Street pub in Dublin yesterday)

(3) Dinner at The Quay - Fish and chips EUR20,90, red ale beer EUR7,20

(4) Irish coffee at Garavan pub - EUR8,90

The Story

20092026: Today, we leave Dublin and will drive to Galway. First, we have breakfast provided by the hotel. One of the benefits of staying in a hotel is that breakfast is provided. Well, most hotels anyway. We had Irish breakfast which is sort of a Western breakfast - sausage, egg, bacon, yoghurt with muesli, bread, cheese, and coffee. Something unique is black pudding which we had in Scotland too.

After breakfast, we took a walk around the area as it was still early to collect the car. I selected 9.30am. We went to Lidl to buy water, nuts, sweets and bananas for the road trip. This is the hotel from the exterior.

The Dublin sign lights up at night.

No shops are opened yet. I was surprised to see a very long pole in town. I just researched and this is the Spire of Dublin build to replace Nelson's Pillar that was bombed down in 1966.

Postboxes in Ireland are green in colour!

Finally, time to collect our car. One of the reasons we chose the hotel is because it is less than 5 minutes walk to Sixt car rental located in The Spire Car Park. 

The office is inside the carpark and the rented cars are on the 5th floor, the rooftop floor. The staff offered insurance from Sixt but we declined it as we had already purchased a full coverage insurance from DiscoverCars, the operator that we liaised with for the car rental. It was cheaper to go with a third party rather than directly with the rental operator. I wrote a wall of text in my first post on the car rental. As a result of declining Sixt insurance, we had to leave a deposit of EUR2000 so that Sixt can deduct the cost for any damages to the car. If we took Sixt insurance, we did not need to leave the deposit. I was very surprised by this large amount of deposit when I booked the car. 

Our hybrid car!

I drove out the car as I am familiar on driving on the left side. My boyfriend took over after our first stop as he has gotten used to the left side. He is generally an excellent driver, so driving on either sides is not a problem for him. The drive from Dublin to Galway without any break takes 2.5 hours but we are definitely stopping along the way to see other attractions. Plus, it is boring to just be on the motorway. 

We drove out on the motorway and our first stop is Trim Castle. That took us 1 hour 10 minutes.

Trim Castle - the largest Anglo-Norman castle in Ireland. Of course, I had to google what Anglo-Norman is. This castle is the symbol of Norman power in Ireland and de Lacy (the person who built it) status. The castle is designed to command River Boyne and the surrounding countryside.

The Anglo-Normans were the medieval ruling class in the Kingdom of England following the Norman Conquest. They were primarily a multiethnic combination of Normans, Bretons, Frenchmen, Flemings, Anglo-Saxons and Celtic Britons. Source from Wikipedia.

Since it was a Sunday, we did not need to purchase any parking ticket. The parking spaces were limited but we were lucky to get a spot. We walked on the castle grounds and did not go inside the castle. So lucky to have a sunny weather.