Tag: Galway

Restraurants and Cafes in Ireland (Version 2022)

ZooksLeave a comment

Tere!

Even when you have been on a diet, on a trip you want to eat something you want to try, don’t you. Of course we were not able to afford eating at restaurants and cafes for every meal, but still we enjoyed many restaurants and cafes in Ireland. In this article I include some restaurants where you can eat something Irish!

Table of Contents

     1. Dublin
          a. Boojum
          b. Wall & Keogh Superior Teas
          c. La Pausa Caffe
          d. Vice Coffee Inc
          e. White Rabbit
          f. Pho Kim
          g. Fibber Magees
     2. Galway
          a. Donnelly’s of Barna Restaurant & Bar
          b. Galway Cakery Café
     3. Mayo
          a. Maple Chinese Restaurant (Take away)
          b. Supermacs
     ★Summary

1. Dublin

First of all, let’s talk about Dublin! Dublin is a capital city in Ireland like Tallinn in Estonia, but Dublin is much more urban and you can have a lot of international cuisines.

When I travel from Estonia, I want to eat something not only local but also international which is scarcely available in Estonia and with better quality (because it is not tasty and/or it does not exist in Estonia)…

a. Boojum

Boojum is an Irish burrito chain restaurant. My first burrito in my life was Boojum in Dublin. I still don’t know what super authentic burrito is, and it seems real Mexican burrito seems to be different, but still I like Boojum’s burrito as it tastes good. In Estonia, it’s not easy to get a burrito. (The portion isn’t enough, or personally I’m not satisfied with the contents of a burrito in Estonia.)

We happened to find a Boojum restaurant in Smithfield where we were supposed to stay, so we went there. In Boojum, you can customise your burrito. However, it might be difficult if you don’t know how to do it. (My boyfriend seemed to be struggling a bit, and when I ordered a burrito at Boojum for the first time, I struggled too.) Since it is a chain restaurant, they handle orders really fast.

He had never eaten burrito before, and wanted to compare it with kebab. 😂

The result: kebab is better. 😂

I like both.

They also have a menu called burrito bowl, and yet be careful as the portion is bigger than burritos. (In Estonia the portion of a burrito bowl was better than a burrito at a Mexican restaurant…)

b. Wall & Keogh Superior Teas

Wall & Keogh Superior Teas is a cafe that we dropped by for breakfast when we headed west from Dublin.

They had light breakfast as well as sandwiches. The sandwiches were hot. The portion was big enough. It was tasty though.

They have teas and coffees but it seemed they didn’t have many kinds of juice. I don’t basically drink juice, but he drinks. It appeared to be only juice with some kinds of vitamins.

As for teas, they have both English and Irish breakfast teas! Of course I chose the Irish one. You don’t need to tell them to give you a jar (?) of milk as they for sure give you with tea. By the way, they serve you tea in a pot, so maybe you can ask for two cups to share? Although It is normal to get served in a pot even for one person in Ireland and Scotland…

c. La Pausa Caffe

La Pausa Caffe is also a cafe we used for breakfast.

I searched some cafes in advance, and on Tuesday morning in Dublin, we went to a nice-looking one (as he didn’t care, I chose there), it was full. The cafe seemed to be small and popular, so we took plan B.

But, it was full too?

What on earth are they doing on Tuesday morning?

I had only 2 plans for breakfast, so I was a bit disappointed, but I immediately searched again on site, and we went to La Pausa Caffe.

Four days in a row, we had Irish breakfast at B&Bs, and he liked it, so he was about to order one again there. However, eventually he chose sandwiches, saying

“I don’t think they have a home-made one.”

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I understand that feeling. When it comes to something local, I want to eat the authentic one too.

By the way, later he asked my friend A’s husband and friend F if they have Irish breakfast every day. I felt like he had been asking Japanese people if we eat sushi every day, so I enjoyed that moment. (This is because he barely knew Ireland at that time.)

Unfortunately they have Irish breakfast only a few times a year.

I get it, we can’t eat that heavy stuff as a breakfast for 365 days. 😂

The breakfast at La Pausa Caffe was good, but since I have temporomandibular joint dysfunction, I had to close my mouth manually once. It happens regularly, so I know how to fix it and wasn’t surprised, but it bothered me, yes. My boyfriend was surprised. 😂

At La Pausa Caffe you can have bagels too. I chose a bagel. I didn’t have any energy to customise it, hence I selected simply the one with salmon, cream cheese and vegetables. When I came to Dublin in 2019, although it was a different place I had a bagel too.

This is because in Estonia bagels are not sold one by one, and it is not popular at all. LaterI found you can eat bagel sandwiches at a cafe called Ruby in Tallinn. However, I would say that is the only place you can get a bagel not in a dozen or anything. On the other hand Estonia’s neighbour – in Latvia bagels appear to be more frequently eaten. Perhaps due to such cultural differences (More Jewish are in Latvia), he had no idea what bagels were. That actually surprised me as Latvia is just over there for us.

The con in my opinion is that they served me a cup of coffee even before the meal. I wanted it after the meal. However, the overall was good.

d. Vice Coffee Inc

Vice Coffee Inc is a cafe where we met my friend F.

In 2016 when I lived in Dublin, I came here some times with my friends. Before going there, suddenly I asked my boyfriend “Do you know Irish coffee!?” and he was like what-the-heck-is-that.

For those who have no idea what Irish coffee is, it is

coffee with Irish whiskey.

It’s alcohol.

Therefore, at Vice Coffee Inc when we were about to order something, I asked him “Do you want to try Irish coffee?”, and he immediately said yes.

Irish coffee

I don’t know the price of Irish coffee at Vice Coffeeto Inc as it was on my friend F, but in general Irish coffee is often a bit less than twice as expensive as normal coffee.

Spiked hot chocolate

That day I tried an unfamiliar drink too: spiked hot chocolate. It’s not just hot chocolate but with Bailey’s (cream liquor)!

Both Irish coffee and spiked hot chocolate tasted good.

If you are not tolerant to strong alcohol or not a fan of coffee, the latter one might be better. Both are eventually alcohol though.

e. White Rabbit

A Korean restaurant that my friend F recommended to my boyfriend who wanted to eat something Korean is White Rabbit. It was also because White Rabbit is close to Vice Coffee Inc.

It was more like a canteen rather than a fancy restaurant, and it seemed partially the menu was a Japanese fusion.

We chose a bowl with sweet and spicy pork, vegetables, and egg, which were on rice. At White Rabbit you can choose a sauce, and we both chose gochujang.

We liked it!

It cost around 20 EUR for two.

f. Pho Kim

We went to Pho Kim with my friend A and her husband.

As per his request to have some Vietnamese cuisine, they selected a Vietnamese restaurant which was their favourite too. The only tasty Vietnamese restaurant that I know in Tallinn is Pho bar. I like pho, and Pho Bar’s pho is good, but they don’t have many varieties.

Since we had a late lunch, we ordered Vietnamese spring rolls and something like an omelette.

Summer rolls

We (friend A, her husband and I) thought it’s called spring rolls nevertheless it is deeply friend or raw, but technically speaking it’s officially called summer roll or Vietnamese spring roll. (This is said to be because the fried one is Chinese.)

In Germany where my boyfriend once lived they call it summer roll.

We found this fact because he said “Is this spring roll summer roll? In Germany they called it summer rolls.”

I personally want to go to Pho Kim again, and want to try other dishes. They have lots of menus, and the restaurant appeared to be run by a Vietnamese person.

g. Fibber Magees

The place we spent the last night on this trip was a bar called Fibber Magees. My friend told my boyfriend who loves metal, and since we promised to go for pints a the last night, we went there.

He ordered Guinness twice. He said he loved it.

I had long-hoped Swmithwick’s! It’s red ale. While travelling in west Ireland, I couldn’t buy it as one can… On the final night, I finally could enjoy it! I chose cider for the second pint, but I thought I should have chosen Smithwich’s again or Guinness.

Fibber Magees also had Asahi beer (Japanese beer)!!

If you love metal, you should probably try this bar.

2. Galway

In Galway we went to only two restaurant and cafe! Our accommodation served as breakfast, and I bought microwave meals for one of the two nights.

a. Donnelly’s of Barna Restaurant & Bar

Donnelly’s of Barna Restaurant & Bar is a gastro pub 2 minutes by car from our accommodation in Barna in Galway. (A gastro pub is like a restaurant and bar.)

Perhaps since Barna is a countryside town, there were lots of old people, but they were having fun.

Looking at the menu, we said

“This is expensive…”

However, I thought that in the first place the price range was normal for me, and wanted to pay for his meal as he drove a car a lot, so we stayed there.

I ordered fish and chips, and he ordered a burger with Irish beef. His burger was slightly more inexpensive. The price to dine out in Ireland was as expensive as to do in Sweden. (That is, it costs 1.5 times more expensive than Estonia.)

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I like both fish and chips, but I’m not a fan of fish in fish and chips. I ordered it to enjoy malt vinegar. It’s very tasty to add malt vinegar on chips with salt.

In Estonia you can also get fish and chips, and bars have them as part of their menus, but they never have malt vinegar. That’s why I want to have it, and therefore I was satisfied.

b. Galway Cakery Café

Galway Cakery Café is a cafe when we were about to leave Moycullen.

I planned somewhere else, but since it seemed they offeufrred only takeaways, we went to Galway Cakery Café in the shopping centre.

At Galway Cakery Café we had an Italian menu. My boyfriend chose calzone, and I ordered panini with goat cheese and vegetables. It didn’t taste like goat cheese… It was good enough though.

In my case I had possibilities to choose cheese. The other option was perhaps feta cheese. (I don’t remember that much…)

3. Mayo

In Mayo we went to only two restaurant and cafe too. This is because on the first day we had sandwiches that the owner of the accommodation in Barna, Galway, for lunch, our B&B in Mayo served us breakfast, and we got food at a supermarket in Castlebar (Mayo’s county town) for one of the two evenings.

a. Maple Chinese Restaurant (Take away)

In Ballinrobe where we stayed in Mayo, there was nothing. We planned to get food at a supermarket, but the kitchen in our accommodation was not for guests, so we were not allowed to use it. In the dining room, there was no microwave either, so I chose Maple Chinese Restaurant where we still didn’t have to pay a lot.

I still don’t know why he selected Chinese, and he found one, but it offered only takeaway. Later we found another Chinese restaurant which was Maple Chinese Restaurant, and we went to the town of Ballinrobe.

However, they closed the restaurant, and they accepted only takeaway orders, so we eventually brought food to the accommodation.

They had lots of dishes though. He chose Chow Mein. I chose the one which I could select the main and the side for, hence I chose the stir fried beef and vegetables in a spicy way, and rice as a side dish. (Of course they offered chips as a side dish! It didn’t cost extra if the order was rice or chips, but it seemed to cost extra if you choose friend rice, etc.)

The price was the same as what he chose, but

“Yours looks tastier than mine…”

😂

The portion was quite big. I was satisfied with two thirds. He ate the rest. I’m glad he enjoyed it.

Personally it was okay, but since we didn’t have many options to get food itself, I don’t make any complaints. 😂

b. Supermacs

Supermacs is Irish McDonald’s. (Of course there are original McDonald’s in Ireland.) This is not in the west or County Mayo but on O’Connell street in Dublin, too.

I have known Supermacs since I lived in Dublin, but I’m not a huge fan of burgers or fast foods in the first place, so I had never been there, whilst my boyfriend loves burgers and sometimes goes to Estonian (or Blatic) McDonald’s – Hesburger. (However he’s not fat at all. How envious it is that he doesn’t have to care about it.) Therefore, as he had wanted to go to Supermac since I talked about Supermacs, we went to Supermacs in Castlebar for lunch.

Beides, he loves bacon. As I expected, he chose a burger with bacon. (Once he was told that the cholesterol level was high, and since then he less frequently had bacon.) I didn’t have anything specifically I wanted to try, so I ordered the cheese burger meal.

If it’s McDonald’s in Japan, we can choose vegetable-fruit mix juice, 100% fruit juice, coffee or tea, and yet in Supermacs they offer only sparkling soft drinks and water.

Me? I chose a bottle of water.

Although you may think “You should have chosen something else cos water costs nothing!”, I don’t like the afterwards of fullness in my stomach with fizzy drinks, so water was fine for me. (Plus, it was helpful for us to hydrate ourselves with that water. Everything was alright.)

The burgers were, even though he chose a big one, small unlike the images, so you don’t need to worry about the size and portions. Therefore, the cheese burger that looked normal size in the image was smaller than I thought so I wasn’t full at all.

In terms of chips, I do prefer McDonald’s. especially the saltiness. For some reason, Supermacs served a tiny bag of salt for chips separately. (They will give you even if you don’t ask.)

Overall I like McDonald’s better in my opinion.

★Summary

When I lived in my hometown, as a family trip, I went to Cairns in Australia and Guam in the US. Although we stayed in the hotels, we always had bread, cheese and fruits that we bought for breakfast beforehand at a local supermarket to enjoy local foods and get them like a local, instead of hotel meals, which was my mum’s idea. I was a teenager at that time, and I was interested in different cultures and felt different and special when it comes to non-Japanese foods which are different from Japanese products even though they were normal in local and normally available in local supermarkets. Therefore I liked this style of travelling.

Because of this, on this trip to Ireland, though I wondered if we would keep going to cafes and restaurants all the time or if we could get food in supermarkets as this was the first time to travel abroad with him, it was something middle of those styles, so I was comfortable. (I was like “Oh you are also okay with supermarkets’ ham and cheese only.”) Since I felt comfortable, I was rather glad that there was no impression that the “Random foods from a supermarket are fine” mentality was not frugal. (My main reason is surely financial. It’s too much in everything if I eat out every meal.)

Even on a trip with friends, the way of thinking about how to spend money is important, so it was good that ours are similar. I thought my solo trip was too frugal though.

In this article Included Irish foods and drinks, and yet those are just part of Irish culinary culture. There are more Irish dishes. Since I love Ireland too much, I want to cook Irish (or Guiness) stew or coddle now. 😂😂 It’s such a pity that I can’t get Irish sausages in Estonia though…

Aitäh! 🙂

Let’s go to Galway in Ireland!

ZooksLeave a comment

Tere!

Sightseeing is a must-do on a trip! On the trip to Ireland in June, 2022, since my boyfriend and I stayed in a few different towns, I decided to write articles about sightseeing depending on the county where we went.

In this article, I focus on County Galway. This is about Galway as a county, so it’s not just about the city centre of Galway.

(By the way, because it was Galway, I played Ed Sheeran’s “Galway Girl” on YouTube for my boyfriend who didn’t know this song at the accommodation. He immediately disliked it, but enjoyed Galway itself. 😂)

Table of Contents

1. Around Barna where we stayed
2. Village called Tawnamachugh which I chose just because of the name
3. Long-cherished dream: going to Gaeltacht
4. City Centre of Galway
     a. Galway Cathedral
     b. Galway Atlantaquaria, National Aquarium of Ireland
5. Moycullen
6. Connemara National Park recommended by an Irish man born and raised in Galway
★Summary

1. Around Barna where we stayed

First of all, let’s talk about Barna. Barna itself has nothing. There are only a few supermarkets, pubs and restaurants. However, there is a wharf called “Barna Pier”, and you can take a walk near the bay. The wharf faces Galway bay, and if you can see some land in the opposite of Barna, that’s the mainland of Irelnad. It belongs to County Clare. Unfortunately, it’s not Aran Islands…

2. Village called Tawnamachugh which I chose just because of the name

Since my boyfriend said he wanted to drive somewhere not around Barna but a bit far from Barna, I randomly looked for a place on the map, and selected a town called Tawnamachugh.

The reason why I chose this area is because

Its name didn’t sound English.

It took us 20 minutes by car from the accommodation in Barna.

You will suddenly see more countryside, so if you feel you don’t have enough fuel in your car, I would recommend you fill the tank before going there. Hydration for your body as well. When you look at Tawnamachugh on the map, you can guess there is nothing from some point, so be careful.

Also, something very inconvenient in Tawnamachugh was that we could not connect to the internet!!!

Often in this area, either of our devices was connected with the internet, but because of this, even though I wanted to help him while he was driving, I was not able to do that.

The seaside in Tawnamachugh was like a combination of the grass field and beach with rocks. There were few people, and if you see someone, they are probably locals, not tourists.

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After a while, one idea crossed my mind….

3. Long-cherished dream: going to Gaeltacht

I had this idea on the way to the accommodation from Tawnamachugh;

we were in Gaeltacht.

Gaeltacht is an Irish-language area, where signboards and so on are written in Irish. Hence surely the mainly spoken language there is Irish.

If you look at the map below (marked in green), you see some parts of Galway and county Mayo are Gaeltacht.

Reference

I noticed that signboards are written in Irish only in Tawnamachugh, and since I had some knowledge about Ireland, I wondered “we were in Gaeltacht weren’t we?”.

In fact, I wanted to visit Gaeltacht once in my life, so it was pleasant to go there though it was so sudden.

I wished I could have tried my Irish. (I remember only “How are you?” and “I’m good” in Irish though. 😂)

4. City Centre of Galway

When you go to Galway, most likely you will go to the centre of Galway won’t you. In our case, we went to only two places in the centre of Galway.

a. Galway Cathedral

I found the Galway Cathedral on the map, so we decided to visit there.

The Galway Cathedral was quite big, had beautiful stained glasses, and was more gorgeous than I thought. There is a car park in the Galway Catherdral’s area, and it didn’t cost us at all as we didn’t stay there so long.

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Next to the Galway Cathedral there is another car park, but it seemed to be for those who stay there for a long time like a few days, so we didn’t use it.

b. Galway Atlantaquaria, National Aquarium of Ireland

Galway Atlantaquaria, National Aquarium of Ireland is technically located not in the centre of Galway but in Salthill which is around the centre of Galway.

Galway Atlantaquaria, National Aquarium of Ireland has a free car park, but the vehicle height is limited.

A ticket for one adult at Galway Atlantaquaria, National Aquarium of Ireland was 16 EUR.

If you imagine splendid aquariums like what we have in Japan, you will be shocked. 😂

This is because this aquarium just looks like a collection of fish in a bunch of water tanks. Only the jellyfish section had similar stuff to what I imagined.

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I enjoyed Galway Atlantaquaria, National Aquarium of Ireland though. ✌️

5. Moycullen

We were discussing where to go after Galway Atlantaquaria, National Aquarium of Ireland, and we decided to go to Moycullen. I reckon it took us 10 to 15 minutes by car from the centre of Galway.

My boyfriend decided to go to Moycullen, and this is a very small countryside town. There seemed to be some small museums, but he was not interested in such things in general. Instead, he likes taking a walk in the woods, etc. However, at that time it was showering unfortunately.

I found a place called Fairy Trail, but we had no idea where it was. He was just randomly driving, getting tired, so he stopped a car in a pub’s car park.

Then I took him for a short walk as his tiredness provoked his irritability. 😅😅

However, we eventually realised that the area seemed to be private, so we went back to the centre of Moycullen, and took some break in a cafe there. I think there is nothing to do if it’s raining and you don’t want to spend more than 15 EUR or something for activities in Moycullen.

There are outdoor activities and something fun, but it quite costs.

6. Connemara National Park recommended by an Irish man born and raised in Galway

Connemara National Park was our first destination on the way to the accommodation in Mayo from Galway. My Japanese friend A’s husband is from Galway, and he told us about Connemara National Park.

There is no admission fee, and the area is impressively vast. I think it will take a few days for hiking there. It was not very easy to find the entrance for parking, but not too difficult either.

It was raining, and chilly, so we didn’t stay there long, but we took a short walk. The we found:

Goat!? 🐐

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We stepped forward, and found another one.

Later googling, the animals appeared to be Irish goats. I’m not 100% sure though. I’m not sure if they belong to some farmers or they are wild either.

Perhaps given that you go more forward, you might encounter more animals. (It seems there are livestocks in Connemara National Park too.)

Personally I want to go there again.

★Summary

In conclusion, these are places in Galway that we went to on the trip to Ireland in June, 2022.

Again, personally I enjoyed Connemara National Park best. It’s a national park located in an area without anything, but I believe it would be more fun when it’s sunny. I don’t like camping, but I realised I pretty much like hiking. Of course it depends on who I go with though.

There might be some buses to and from Connemara National Park as it is a national park, but it’s good to drive a car…

Aitäh! 🙂

3 Accommodations for 1 Week Stay in Ireland.

ZooksLeave a comment

Tere!

When it comes to travelling, accommodations are important of course. Otherwise you will be a homeless traveller. As some of you might already know, I usually use a hostel on my solo trip. This is just because it’s cheap. Sometimes I’m very sensitive to sounds that roomates make, voices and foot sounds by other stayers who come back from clubs and bars in the middle of night when I sleep near the room door, and bathrooms with way less cleanness, but since I want to spend more money on other activities as well as foods, I tend to choose inexpensive accommodations.

On the other hand, my boyfriend needs privacy a lot, and cannot definitely share a bedroom with strangers or other people. For this reason, he didn’t go to his company’s event either.

I have had rough sleep multiple times at airports, and used a shower in Sheremetyevo international airport in Moscow, so I’m not very very serious about this point, or you can say I’m a type of a person who is satisfied with minimum things I can do in a daily life during a trip. Therefore, I was adjustable. (Yes, I adjusted to him, but it wasn’t hard for me at all, and yet rather I felt good because it was more luxurious than usual. I actually thought maybe I should do the same even on my solo trip.)

Table of Contents

1. Day 1 (Dublin)

2. Day 2 and 3 (Barna, Galway)
     a. Where is Barna?
     b. What is “eircode”?
     c. Seaclusion B&B

3. Day 4 and 5 (Balinrobe, Mayo)
     a. Small mistake in terms of the accommodation location
     b. “Journey”
     c. Devenish Lodge B&B

4. Day 6 and 7 (City Centre, Dublin)
     a. ”Student accommodation” for the first time in a while in Ireland
     b. Kavanagh Court – Student Accommodation

★Summary

1. Day 1 (Dublin)

As written “I adjusted to him” above, when we were talking about accommodations before going to Ireland, he said “a hostel would be good, and it’s cheap”. At that time I thought “?? He can’t share a room with multiple unknown people, but a hostel in a travel destination is fine?”

Then I searched some accommodations in Hostelworld and Booking.com three weeks before the trip, made a list, and asked him to choose one and decide. (This is because I had no idea what was necessary and what was important for him at that time.)

The list included one cheap hotel room, but he chose a hostel called Generator Hostel, where we were required to stay at least two nights.

As we arrived in Dublin, we checked in, entered our room, and saw five beds. Although I booked two beds for the two of us together, it was not like bunk beds were for us but just vacant beds were for us. (I have travelled with a friend from Japan a few times, and we always had one set of bunk beds or our beds were next to one another. Hence it was abnormal for me.)

Then he saw those multiple beds and asked me “This room is only for us, right?”, so I said “It’s a hostel, there are other people.” Then he panicked saying “I can’t sleep here!”

I told him “You mentioned a hostel was fine”, and he said “In the US (where he travelled in the past) a hostel wasn’t like this…!”

I thought:

I bet that was a motel.

After a while he said “I guess what I meant was a motel…”

I thought:

I knew it. 😅

If he was not able to sleep, we could not stay there, so I searched for a temporary accommodation with privacy in Booking.com, but everywhere cost over 300 EUR for one night in Dublin. That was way too expensive just for one night.

However, where we were was Dublin. I gave it a try; I called three friends in Dublin… but no one answered right then. The first one was a friend who said something like his family member or someone had an accommodation in Airbnb a long time ago, so I recalled it. I also messaged him, so I called him again when he replied to me, but nothing was available. The second friend had no responses. (Later he told me he had been sick.) The third one is Japanese, whom I saw again when I travelled to Ireland in 2019. She called me back, and I explained the situation. It was so kind of them – she told me that she can let us stay at their place as her husband’s friends stayed there once too. But only one night. (This was because it was so sudden and happened in the middle of the week. We so appreciated their kindness.)

I asked her to explain to my boyfriend directly on the phone, and she gave us some time to consider. Later I told her that we would like to have stayed at their place.

That day, since I went to a concert, my boyfriend and I had separate activities, and at the end of the day when we met again in the hostel he started saying “I’m too tired… I’m okay with the hostel…”, and yet my friend already prepared a bed for us, so we took a taxi, and headed there.

To be honest, in the plane from Tallinn, I felt “This too smoothly going… there will definitely be something…!”, and indeed it happened. 😅 (I feel something happens whenever I travel.)

On the next day of the stay, both my friend and her husband had to work from home at 9, we promised to leave there by 9.

Whilst I feel we were lucky because we were in Dublin, I reckon “Well I’m blessed with people in the end.” 😂

I’m not sure if we will travel together again, but I will definitely avoid any hostels. 😂

2. Day 2 and 3 (Barna, Galway)

After leaving my friend’s place, we rented a car, and decided on the next destinations and an accommodation in the next destination at a cafe in Dublin. The very first destination was Wicklow, but we just dropped by there, and the final destination of the day was Galway.

We decided to stay at a B&B at the coastal areas in a town in Galway called Barna.

a. Where is Barna?

Barna is located in Galway 15 to 20 minutes by car from the city centre of Galway. It was a B&B, so we stayed in one room in a house for two nights.

From the B&B accommodation we could see the Galway bay, and also the mainland in the opposite direction due to the geography.

It was challenging to find an actual accommodation in Barna, but when we called the owner, she came to the nearest supermarket, and guided us to the accommodation by car.

b. What is “eircode”?

The reason why it was challenging for us to find the house is because we were unable to find the exact place even in a map searching by the address, and we arrived somewhere as a destination which was on the opposite of the road, and the road ended.

When ringing her, she told us “The eircode is in the confirmation email!, but I had no idea what it was even though I have lived in Dublin because it was possible to find places by their addresses like in a regular way. (When we went to my friend’s house, we used the actual address in teh amp.)

Googling what the eircode was, it seemed to be an Ireland-specific thing, and if we enter it in the map, the exact location was shown.

You may wonder “Why didn’t you check the confirmation email”. Although it was me who paid, the email address used was my boyfriend’s, so I had no idea.

c. Seaclusion B&B

The accommodation we stayed in Barna, Galway is called “Seaclusion B&B” which also has a room with a private bathroom. In our room, there was only a double bed and some furniture, and we needed to use a shared bathroom.

In Booking.com the score of the accommodation is pretty high marking 8.7 out of 10. Without a car it would be hard to go and stay there, so I wouldn’t choose it on my usual solo trip in terms of its location, we (both) didn’t care that much how far it was as we rented a car.

This accommodation is a B&B, so you can have a buffet and Irish breakfast in the morning. It was good as the menu slightly changed daily.

In the morning when checking out, the owner asked us where we were going next, and she gave us lunch (sandwiches, jelly and cupcakes). It was really appreciative.

3. Day 4 and 5 (Balinrobe, Mayo)

The next destination after Galway was Westport. It’s a small town in county Mayo. Therefore, I booked one accommodation somewhere around there while staying in Barna.

a. Small mistake in terms of the accommodation location

Westport in county Mayo faces Galway bay, and the B&B we booked was also close to the water area, so we both thought the B&B was in Westport, and yet searching the actual location in the map, we realised the accommodation was near a lake in county Mayo. 😅

We kind of made a mistake, but as we rented a car, it wasn’t a big deal. (However, he as a driver was really tired, of course.)

b.“Journey”

He always uses an app called Waze that shows the traffic information as well even when driving in Estonia, but it seemed that it didn’t work properly in the countryside in Ireland.

On the way to the accommodation, Waze told us to go straight to the one way road which width was for just one car, so went and kept going forward as we were not able to go back, and we encountered

sheep!!!

Besides there were two sheep!!!!

We laughed a lot together. 😂

I knew that it was normal to see sheeps in the west in Ireland, but all the sheep I saw from a car were inside of the fences, so it was so beyond expectation.

Really, I wondered where they came out of. 😂

What was worse, even if our car went forward a bit very slowly, the sheep didn’t care at all. 😂

Perhaps they thought our car was some kind of a huge animal. 😂

My boyfriend was like “Oh my god 😅, what should we do”, but as I can think relatively fast, I said to him “Just a sec,”

“Uwaaaaaaaaa—–!!!”

I screamed and simultaneously was running toward the sheep, and they ran away too.

I dashed so it didn’t last long, and I went back to the car, but then the sheep stopped in front of us again as well. 😅

I opened the car’s window and screamed “waaaa”, but they didn’t seem to be afraid of the voice.

So, I got out of the car, and chased the sheep. 😂

I was unable to keep dashing, so from time to time I was walking, but when I showed myself as if I would start running and chasing them again (I just made foot noises), they escaped. So I repeated this a few times, and finally the road was separated into three directions, and fortunately the sheep went to one of them which we didn’t go to.

Zooks the shephers dog.

In addition, it was showering at that time, so of course I got a bit wet. But it was one of the fun and good memories. 😂

Also I realised again that I don’t have any femininity. 😂

c. Devenish Lodge B&B

After going through the countryside road, we arrived at an accommodation called Devenish Lodge B&B.

There was a gate, and we were wondering about how to enter, so I sank or swam, pushed the gatebell, the gate was just open without any voice.

Then we saw

sheep!!!

The sheep were staring at us (and our car).

That was a funny scene in a way though. 😂

Those sheep seemed to be moved to another field from time to time, and on the second day at Devenish Lodge, the sheep were in the field which we were able to look down from our room windows. (Also their voice was my morning alarm. 😂)

Devenish Lodge was also a B&B, so we could have some breakfast. In this accommodation there were two choices of Irish breakfast: full Irish breakfast or vegetarian breakfast, and during our stays, we both had full Irish breakfast.

As a buffet, there were also some cut fruits and muesli.

Our room was for three people at maximum with a private bathroom. (This was just a coincidence that such a room was available and cheaper than other rooms.) It was spacious, but the TV in our room didn’t work properly at all. In Devenish Lodge, the kitchen was not for guests, so in the room there was an electric kettle, instant coffee, some team bags, and biscuits.

As we were not allowed to use the kitchen, we could not buy microwave meals at a supermarket either. Therefore, we took away some Chinese dishes, and dined with dinnerware in the dining room for breakfast the next morning.

Moreover, there were bottled water which number was the same as the number of people who could stay in a room, and yet when I asked the owner if we could drink water from the bathroom, she said no. However, she had got a good head on her shoulders, and gave us a pitcher of tap water separately. (It was really great as then we didn’t have to buy extra bottled water.)

Devenish Lodge scores 9.2 out of 10 in Booking.com. (Something like a certificate was decorated in the dining room as well.)

However, the location could be problematic, so without a car it would be very hard to go there and stay.

I really felt that a car was so convenient…

4. Day 6 and 7 (City Centre, Dublin)

By 3 pm, on the 27th of June, 2022, we had to return the car in Dublin. After checking out, we immediately headed to Dublin from Devenish Lodge.

The accommodation in Dublin was of course more expensive than Devenish Lodge. (In addition, it was because the accommodation was in the centre of Dublin.) Anyway, it was a private room, he agreed, and I booked it, but later I found that that accommodation was used as student accommodation on regular days.

a.”Student accommodation” for the first time in a while in Ireland

In Ireland you can start living in student accommodation in September, and stay there until the entire academic year ends, but right after that you will be kicked out. It might also depend on accommodations, but during the summer accommodations not in a campus are offered to travellers for temporary stays. (Literally travellers use, and in 2016 when I used Shanowen Square, I needed a place to live as I extended my study-abroad period.)

The best point in the student accommodations in Ireland is that you can have your own bathroom in your room!

Personally this is the biggest pro. In Estonia there is no such a thing.

b. Yugo Kavanagh Court – Student Accommodation

We stayed in a “double room”, but the bed was too small for two people. (I felt it was like a bit wider single bed. My own semi double bed in my flat might have been bigger.) Besides, I always wonder why the beds are so small in Ireland although the Irish (guys) are quite tall. I’m 162 cm, and my boyfriend is much taller than me, so I thought he might not be able to rest enough in a bed that is supposed to be used for resting as the bed’s length was a bit shorter than him.

Yugo Kavanagh Court seemed to be relatively a new building, but as a travel accommodation, it was not satisfactory.

First of all, there was nothing in the kitchen! I saw a few plates and one pan in the dishwasher, but there was no cutlery. Since there were no mags and glasses, we were not able to make tea even though there was a kettle. In Shanowen Square where I stayed in 2016, there were mags.

Furthermore, although the outside temperature was around 20 degrees, astonishingly the heater was turned on, so I went to the reception to complain. There was some kind of switch that looked like it was for the AC or something, and I reckoned maybe that one was a switch for the heater, but I wasn’t 100% sure. When I told this at the reception, one of the staff members kept saying “There is no AC” for a while. So I said:

Whatever it is, the heater is turned on!

Then a female staff member called technicians for repair.

I didn’t care whether the switch was for the AC or the heater, or whatever. That was not my point.

After that, we also realised there were no linens for the duvet. I went to the reception again, got one, and was putting it on the duvet before going to bed. Then we found some kind of dirt-looking dirt whilst the linen seemed to have been washed. What was worse, that dirt was on the head (upper) side, so I asked my boyfriend to go to the reception this time. Then when he came back to the room, he said

“They said there was no linen, so they gave me a bunch of linens for the mattress. 😅”

😂

Again, I thought “Shanowen Square was better in terms of this point as well…” 😅

Eventually we just slept with two linens as it was hot although I liked that heavy duvet.

Yugo Kavanagh Court scorers 6.2 out of 10 in Booking.com. I doubted personally if it was worth 6.2.

Besiddes, you cannot check in Yugo Kavanagh Court before 3 pm. If you need to come earlier, they take care of your luggages though.

If I looked for an accommodation in Dublin, I would choose a better place. (If you plan to book way beforehand, then definitely there are more options.)

★Summary

To sum up, here were the accommodations that we used on our trip in Ireland in June, 2022! I personally praise myself a lot due to my actions that I took on the first day when we encountered the sheep. Also, really what you should have is friends! Since my friend and her husband helped us, I told her that I would thank her later, though it might be quite late.

Also, so far whenever I travelled by myself, I used hostels, but now I reckon that it doesn’t have to be expensive, but accommodations with a private space like hotels called business hotels in Japan could be my options. Honestly, I felt more relaxed in such an accommodation. A good sleep is important on a trip. While I believe I would still use hostels on my solo trips in the future as it’s cheaper, it’s physically hard to plan what to do and research something in a narrow space in bunk or triple bunk beds.

Due to the low JPY value, I was planning to visit Japan being a bit wealthy, if it’s affordable, I thought I wanted to stay in a hotel too.

Aitäh! 🙂