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. 

It was actually not cold. I could have left my jacket in the car. It was sufficient with my sleeveless down jacket.

After walking around, we went across the street to Stonewall cafe to drink coffee. Lovely cappucino with chocolate powder sprinkled on top. A real good location for the cafe as there were many tourists who stepped in. 

Then, we continued our drive and headed towards Clonmocnaise. We left the motorway and was in the countryside. Well, it looked like the countryside to me. We were very shocked to see the speed limit at 80km/h here because the roads are not wide and we passed by some houses too! I learnt that passing by houses is a speed limit of 50km/h. Also, there is no middle line! 

The Clonmocnaise is a monastery site founded in 544 by Saint Ciaran. Clonmacnoise's period of greatest growth came between the 8th and 12th centuries. It was attacked frequently during these four centuries, most often by the Irish (at least 27 times), the Vikings (at least 7 times) and the Normans (at least 6 times). The early wooden buildings began to be replaced by more durable stone structures in the 9th century, and the original population of fewer than ten men grew to perhaps 1,500 to 2,000 by the 11th century. Clonmacnoise was largely abandoned by the end of the 13th century. Today the site includes nine ruined churches, a castle, two round towers and a large number of carved stone crosses and cross-slabs. Source from Wikipedia.

I thought I needed to pay for ticket but it is free entry too. I think there are a lot of free entries on Sunday.

Replica of the Cross of the Scriptures: A 4-metre-high sandstone cross is one of the most skilfully executed of the surviving Irish high crosses, of particular interest for its inscription asking for a prayer for Flann Sinna, King of Ireland and Abbot Colmán who commissioned the cross. The cross was carved from Clare sandstone c.900. The surface of the cross is divided into panels, showing scenes including the Crucifixion, the Last Judgement, and Christ in the Tomb. The original was moved into the visitors' centre in 1991 to preserve it from the elements; a replica stands at the original site. Source from Wikipedia.

I liked the door from the door angle. 

We stayed for 1 hour in the monastic site. We continued the drive again at 2.15pm. We drove directly to our accommodation in Galway and we arrived by 3.15pm. We checked into a small room that has its own toilet and kitchen. The owner's house is next door. This was the first time we saw that an accommodation provided umbrella and it made me realise how often it rains here. I like the huge appliance of multiple sockets. 

The refrigerator has margerin, jam and milk. The host provided bread and muesli too. It was not described in the Airbnb website so we were pleasantly surprised to see them.

We took the local bus into town. The bus stop is about 4 minutes walk from our accommodation. Our accommodation is in a housing area. 

Here comes the bus.

Only cash to buy the bus ticket unless one has a bus card. It was complicated to use the app to buy a bus ticket. 

15 minutes later, we have arrived at the town centre.

The first place we went was the pharmacy to buy seasick tablets for me since I have motion sickness. We are taking the boat tomorrow and I forgot to bring my motion sickness pills. We went into a random pharmacy and spoke to the pharmacist. Easy! 

One of the attractions in Galway is the Galway market. Nothing exciting about this place. A bit boring, actually. A market that sells mostly arts and crafts. It is a very small market. 

Our hostess gave us a list of restaurants and pubs with recommended food. This is the first one we went - Tig Neachtains pub. So many people here. We found an empty corner and had a guiness. I realised too that all pubs have their own t-shirt. Boyfriend bought one here for EUR25.

Guiness here is cheaper than Dublin - yesterday's Guiness at Madigan pub costs EUR8.

We had early dinner at The Quay pub. 

Picture of me with the statue of Galway girl. Galway girl is, by the way, a song title by Ed Sheeran. We heard him on an interview in the radio while driving on why he chose Galway girl and not other towns in Ireland. It was a funny interview.

A live music in the pub with the musicians playing musical instruments. No singing.

I had irish ale. I think I had too much alcohol today. Guiness and now an Irish ale.

Fish and chips here too. Might as well have fish since we are near the sea.

Seeing it is still early, we walked around. Went to The Spanish Arch and The Long Walk. It is a walk by the sea. Nothing special here. 

After all the drinks, we needed to use the toilet. So, we went inside Garavan pub to use the toilet and had Irish Coffee. Why not Irish Coffee when we are in Ireland? Warm coffee with whisky.

We decided to walk back home and the walk back took 45 minutes.