Today we drove from Dublin to Galway, and it was quite an adventure. At first, things were going smoothly. Paul was getting used to driving on the left and having the steering wheel on the right side of the car (weird) and we were on a 4 lane main road that didn’t have too many cars on it. But then we were diverted to a 2 lane road and soon it became completely backed up. Most likely because this weekend is a “bank holiday” weekend (like a government holiday, so it’s a 3 day weekend), so a lot of people were on the road. We sat in it for 45 minutes and finally I couldn’t stand it anymore, so we took a side road and decided to go around all the major towns on back roads.
That’s when the interesting part started. Let me tell you how freaking narrow their roads are. I swear, some parts of the roads can’t even fit 2 cars, let alone buses and other large vehicles! I don’t know if these pictures convey the narrowness of these roads, but I had to take pictures anyway.
It was somewhat scary, especially when we were going by parked cars on the left side (where I was sitting) and high trees/bushes that were right next to the road (no shoulder). I kept lifting my leg and moving it to the right and yipping whenever Paul got close. Apparently, this was so entertaining and amusing for him that he started doing it on purpose sometimes. How nice of him :) but it was kind of funny.
But besides the scariness of the roads, it was a great drive. The Irish landscape is as beautiful as we had imagined. It is the land of sheep and cattle. In fact, we heard on the news that Irish agriculture actually emits like 10% of Ireland ozone gas emissions. They emit methane, which is far more harmful than carbon dioxide, so the more we eat meat and raise cattle for us to eat, the more emissions are put into the atmosphere. Pretty crazy. Most of the emissions come from live cattle too, not as much from the manure, and it’s mostly from the cows burping! Too funny.
Also, the grass is so bright green here, like the pretty green you see on high def tv commercials. We do not have this green of grass in the states. And all the stone walls are so cool too. I just love looking at this land. It’s more beautiful than any other land we’ve seen.
Cute houses:
Also, the weather changes so quickly here. It was rainy and cloudy when we started driving and by the time we got near Galway, it was sunny and beautiful:
On the way, we went through a couple of small towns, one of which was Ferbane. We were hungry and needed a beer (from the stress of driving those small roads). Apparently, Guiness is good for you. Good to know!
Since we got stuck in traffic for so long and had to take back roads, which made our journey even longer, we decided that we couldn’t drive to the Cliffs of Moher and other places on the coast. Instead, we are going to take a bus so that we don’t have to worry about driving the narrow coastline roads.
Once we got into Galway, we didn’t have a detailed map, so we just kind of made our way to the water, since we knew our hotel was on the water. This is Galway Bay, which is fed from the Atlantic Ocean. The Atlantic is much more beautiful and green over here than on the east coast of the U.S. Shocker.
Our hotel is great. It’s quiet and very nice, and we actually have American shows on the tv! Finally! Really, that’s a savior for us. And here’s the view from our room.
Our hotel is at the end of Quay (pronounced Key) Street, which is the main pedestrian street where a lot of restaurants and shops are, so we are right near everything. Tonight we didn’t do much, but each at our hotel bar and chill in our room.
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