Tag: Travel

Zooks Welcomes Herself Back to Dublin, Ireland!

ZooksLeave a comment

Tere!

After enjoying Galway and Mayo in Ireland, my boyfriend and I came back to Dublin. We randomly or accidentally set the date and time of the 27th of June, 2022 to return the rented car in Dublin, hence we had this kind of schedule, but honestly I agreed with him and actually wanted to stay in those counties more…

However, I was still personally satisfied in Dublin because I could see my friends as well as sightseeing. By the way, in addition, it seemed to be noisier in Dublin than before. In this article I summarised what we did in Dublin.

Table of Contents

     1. Harry Styles’s Love on Tour 2022 at Aviva Stadium
     2. If you drive a car in Dublin…
     3. Exhaustion and irritability
     4. Dunnes Store
     5. First-time meet up in six years
     6. Churches in Dublin
          a. St. George’s Church
          b. St. Michan’s Church
          c. Christ Church Cathedral
     7. Need to print out something?
     8. Hello again in a more proper way
     9. Metal bar in Dublin recommended by a local
     ★Summary

1. Harry Styles’s Love on Tour 2022 at Aviva Stadium

The original reason why I decided to go to Ireland was because of Harry Styles’s concert.

Further originally, Harry Styles’s concert that I was supposed to go to was planned to be held in 2020, and it was 2019 when I bought a ticket. It was planned in Oslo, Norway in May, 2020. However, owing to COVID, his tour in Europe had been postponed without any new dates determined, and eventually everything was cancelled. Instead, they expanded the tour itself, and made a new list of the tour dates.

Then I found one in Dublin.

“If I go to Harry’s concert, Dublin is the only option!” I thought. In addition, I wanted to go to Northern Ireland, and I invited my boyfriend as I thought it would be more fun if there was any travel companion. Since in Ireland the traffic side is opposite (to Estonia or the US), he wanted to try (to drive there) and agreed to my suggestion. (Of course, I told him “There will be a moment that we will need to do something separately as I will go to the concert” at that time!)

The concert was held on our first day on our trip in Ireland.

When I was an exchange student in Dublin, I went to lots of concerts and gigs in Dublin, and I have watched Gaelic sports live, so including that, I know Croke Park, 3 Arena, The Academy as well as The Olympia Theatre.

This time I went to Aviva Stadium. Aviva Stadium is located a bit far from the centre, and it’s not too simple to access there. Aviva Stadium is gigantic. As a Japanese person, I can tell you Aviva Stadium is as huge as Kyocera Dome.

Unlike Japanese artists’ concerts, non-Japanese artists’ concerts always have opening acts, so if you are not interested in them, (and if you have a selected seat not General Admission) then you can go there later, which shouldn’t be a problem. (The merchandising might be sold out though.)

Until the time I should be at Aviva Stadium, I spent time with my boyfriend, and eventually I didn’t stay at the concert til the end. We were going to sleep at my Japanese friend who I met in Dublin in 2016 (called friend A)’s place, and I felt bad, leaving him alone in an unfamiliar city, so I left Aviva Stadium earlier, but I perfectly enjoyed Harry’s music even at the DART (train) station while waiting for it.

By the way, as for the transport to and from Aviva Stadium, I used Luas (tram) and DART (train). I knew how often I would need to use transport in Dublin before hand, I bought a 24-hour Leap (8 EUR) at Dublin airport beforehand.

While it seems Aviva Stadium is one of the top 10 sightseeing places in Dublin, personally I wouldn’t go there unless there is a concert again. If interested, then maybe you should go there.

2. If you drive a car in Dublin…

On the trip to Ireland in June 2022, we used a car as a main transport, and yet since the flights were to and from Dublin, the beginning and the ending of the trip was in Dublin.

Therefore, the origin of the main trip was Dublin. Dublin is a capital city in Ireland, and though it is not as congested as London, it’s still crowded enough and noisy, and there are lots of cars and buses. Bedies, there is Luas the Dublin tram which is an unfamiliar transport for the Japanese when it comes to driving.

Furthermore, there are a number of traffic lights, and for drivers for sure it’s time-taking.

What is worse, if you encounter drivers who don’t really follow the traffic rules or who are not really good at driving, it’s irritating.

In Dublin the driving progress wasn’t smooth so my boyfriend seemed to have a tendency to get stressed out.

3. Exhaustion and irritability

When we went to Galway from Dublin, the final destination was Barna which was located beside the country roads along the sea, so there was not so much traffic, and it was comfortable, and even if we got tired, we still had some more mental capacity.

However, when we went back to Dublin from Mayo, the situation was the opposite. It takes around three hours on one way both between Dublin – Galway and Mayo – Dublin.

We left our accommodation in Mayo in the morning, heading to Dublin, and we were all good until we entered County Dublin. After driving for a couple of hours, my boyfriend exploded.

What was worse, we wanted to change the route in Waze, but since he was driving, his Waze accepted only voice. However since my English isn’t American English, Waze didn’t recognise my English. Then I was guiding him based on Google maps on my phone, but perhaps because he was not able to check the map with his eyes, he got much more stressed out.

When arriving in Dublin, we still had some more time to check in the accommodation, so we returned the car, and I took him to a cafe, and I told him:

Can you please stop using swear words to me. I don’t care when you use to others, but not to me.

😅

After this, we checked in the accommodation, and I had him take a nap. I knew if he took a nap, he was able to recharge himself physically so he gets better mentally.

However, in general, you should be careful with going to Dublin from somewhere in Ireland. It was daytime during a weekday, and yet there was a lot of traffic, and I repeatedly wished I had been able to take a turn with him if I had been able to drive…

4. Dunnes Store

Dunes Store is a retail chain in Ireland, and you can buy fashion goods, groceries, houseware, and so on. I bought a green turtle neck sweater in 2016 when I lived in Dublin, and it lasted for 4 or 5 years. If it’s a capital town in a county even like Castlebar in Mayo, there appeared to be Dunnes Store even in the countryside. (Not very sure, but there was, in Castlebar.)

I knew there was Tesco (British supermarket chain) in Jervis shopping centre in Dublin, but it was a bit far for us at that time to walk there, so we grabbed something to eat in Dunnes Store. So the purpose of the use of Dunnes Store for us was just to get food. 😂

On the contrary, I personally think Dunnes Store isn’t satisfactory as a supermarket.

If I needed to use a supermarket in Dublin, I would go to Tesco, Lidl, or Aldi. (And when I lived in Dublin, I literally always went to those supermarkets.)

5. First-time meet up in six years

In Dublin, I met my Dublin friend for the first time in six years. I pinged him before travelling but there was no reply, and no answer when I called him on the first day. It seemed he was sick, and after his recovery, he met us.

We talked a lot. In Europe, even if you don’t really have degrees, you can still get some proper jobs, but Ireland seems quite similar to the UK, so he said it was difficult to get a job in a company if a person does not graduate from a university. Also in his case, there was a company which responded to him after he had been waiting for six months. Overall even for the Irish, it’s very difficult to get a job in Ireland (or maybe in Dublin).

In my personal experience, I have had a first interview with a HR person from a company in Manchester, and she indeed asked me what I had done and what I learnt in the university. This is real.

Besides, Ireland is getting more and more expensive. Of course the rent has been increased, and if you live in a shared flat near the centre of Dublin, around 1000 EUR would be gone every month. (I searched.) In addition there are utilities. Even if the salary looks good, depending on an occupation and a company, the whole salary can be gone for only the cost of living.

Since salaries in general don’t give us an opportunity to save money, I thought Dublin might no longer be a place to live in my life. (But maybe it’s okay to live in the suburbs. As repeatedly said, if I have a car.)

It was great to see my friend again. We also asked him one question as my boyfriend was spoken to by homeless people who thought he was Irish multiple times while he was wandering around Dublin on his own. Though I didn’t agree, my friend said

“You don’t look from Dublin but Galway.”

😂

He appeared to be Galwayan.

😂

We were talking in one cafe in Dublin, and yet as for the cafe, there will be a separate article.

6. Churches in Dublin

I’m more like a castle lover than churches whilst there are multiple churches in Dublin. (Based on my bias, Irish castles seem to be located in the middle or the west in Ireland like Glaweay.) We visited three churches, so here is a list of those churches that we attempted to visit.

a. St. George’s Church

St. George’s Church is a church that we coincidentally found while we were looking for a cafe for breakfast in Dublin. My boyfriend constantly said “This is not a church”, and indeed it didn’t look like a church. However, when we looked at the map, it was marked as a “church”, and he said “This is pagan. (Because there are something like Greek letters) this is not Catholic.”

As I googled, St. George’s Church appeared to be a hybrid of Gothic and Greek Revive.

His mum is Cathoilc, but he himself doesn’t like Catholicism as it’s mentally not good (according to him). Also he has rich knowledge about religions. That’s why he was commenting like that.

You can visit St. George’s Church by walking if you stay in the centre of Dublin as this church is located in the Northern part of the city centre.

b. St. Michan’s Church

St. Michan’s Church was a church that I wanted to go to if we had time. There are mummies, and I wanted to see them.

However, when we visited St. Michan’s Church, it was too late to see mummies. We were 30 minutes late. So given that you wish to see mummies at St. Michan’s Church, you should go there earlier maybe.

You can go there by walk in Abbey street to Smithfield (to the west side of Dublin).

c. Christ Church Cathedral

Friend F recommended us to go to Christ Church Cathedral. I’m not sure if I’m just not interested in remembering names or not good at remembering names, but I was like “where the heck is that”, and yet when we arrived at Christ Church Cathedral, I thought

I have come here before.

😂

However, we couldn’t enter again and only the choir members were allowed.

Christ Church Cathedral is located in the south of the city centre of Dublin after crossing the River Liffey, and just beside the main road.

7. Need to print out something?

I wondered if I needed a printed visa check paper for Ryanair’s visa check, so we went to a stationery shop (Kings Stationery) just in case. This shop is also located in the city centre. You can walk there.

However, in order to print a stuff out, I needed to use an incredibly super old computer (with Windows 7) in the shop, and it cost 1 EUR for 10 minutes. We both didn’t have a 1 EUR coin, and the machine didn’t accept smaller coins, so my boyfriend asked the shop owner to exchange, and she did. (We exchange a 2 EUR coin or two 0.50 EUR coins, but if you have only 5 EUR note, then it might be difficult.)

In addition to the old computer, the mouse didn’t work properly either. (It froze frequently.)

Since there was a 10 minute time limit, I rushed myself, and mistakenly printed out an unnecessary part too. However, it cost only 0.10 EUR for two one-side papers in black and white. 😂

I tend to get stressed out when a machine is super slow, so I peson;ally don’t recommend this shop. (Besides, you probably don’t need to have paper stuff for Ryanair’s visa check.)

In this shop, they accepted a card payment only when the total sum is over 5 EUR. This is a different point than Estonia. In Estonia, even if you print something out in a small stationery shop, and the payment is only 0.10 EUR, you can use a card. I was lucky that I had coins (as I knew I would need for Dublin buses).

I googled several places in Dublin, where I might have been able to print out beforehand, and coincidentally King Stationery was located in a walkable distance, so I chose there, but there are more options if you need to print out.

However, there are still lots of machines that accept only coins, hence I would recommend bringing coins anyway.

8. Hello again in a more proper way

We also met friend A and her husband who helped us on the first day again.

My boyfriend said he wanted to have Korean or Vietnamese cuisine, so we went to a Korean restaurant for lunch, and a Vietnamese restaurant when we met them again. (There’ll be a different article about this too.)

Friend A is around five years older than me, and my boyfriend asked me “Isn’t she your ‘Senpai’?”

“Senpai” means students or colleagues usually who are older than you. Sometimes they can be “senpai” even if they are younger than you but if they join your company or enrol in a university earlier, or if you failed yearly admission exams, decided to study more for your ideal school and enrol in in one year or more. Or if you study further like for a master’s degree, and then join a company.

Friend A is none of them, so she’s not “senpai”.

When I was an exchange student in Ireland in 2016, I joined an independent film shooting team as a crew, and we met there. When I visited Dublin in 2019, we went to a cafe with another post crew who is friend K and lives in Dublin now with her husband and son. However, she got COVID after her business trip, so we couldn’t meet. She’s as old as friend A. Since they are not my “senpai” in a company or school, I use the word “friend”. (And I don’t think it’s wrong.)

My boyfriend was always withdrawn in Tallinn, but perhaps because it was a different place, he met my friends without any disgust. (I often want to meet people who I hung out with a lot in the past when I travel to a place where they live now.) I’ve never been a person who wants to meet new people a lot, and yet I rather want to avoid such occasions, so I understood him, but I’m a person who wants to meet old friends a lot.)

9. Metal bar in Dublin recommended by a local

I was wondering if I should have written about this place in an article where I talked about restaurants and cafes in Ireland, but since this place was the only place for both of us just to have pints, I decided to list it here. I included this place in the other article.

As we met my Irish friend F, due to the fact that my boyfriend likes metal, he was asking the demand of metal in Ireland to friend F. Then friend F recommended us Fibber Magees. It was located just across the Vietnamese restaurant that we and friend A and her husband went to.

The prices of alcohol were normal I guess. They had Asahi beer (Japanese beer). We had Guinness, Asashi, Smithwick’s and Bulmer’s (Irish apple cider).

I asked my boyfriend if he liked Fibber Magees, and he said “Normal”, but his face looked happy. 😂

It seems they had many songs that he knew too. (I don’t really know metal. If we talk about music genres, then I prefer (Japanese) rock.) Therefore, if you are a metal fan, maybe you should go there.

★Summary

In this article at some points the stories weren’t really about sightseeing, but I included them as this article’s topic was most suitable for those stories.

Maybe because I lived in Dublin before, I feel Dublin is no longer a bucket list country to travel to, and on the other hand, I still want to visit Dublin because I want to see my friends. I thought maybe it’s a good idea to go to Ireland for a year when I don’t go to Japan (as both countries are pricey).

Although the duration of staying in Estonia is much longer than in Ireland, Irealnd is still my second hometown. Estonia can never be.

😂

Aitäh! 🙂

Do You Know County Mayo in Ireland?

ZooksLeave a comment

Tere!

On the trip to Ireland in June, 2022, our next destination after Galway was County Mayo.

It’s a where-the-heck-is-that place, but presumably the trip in terms of the contents is better than Galway? More enjoyable maybe in my opinion? Here I also include some tips on how to drive in the countryside in Ireland.

Table of Contents

     1. Where the heck is Mayo
     2. Zooks wanted to visit a castle
     3. Small but cute town: Westport
     4. Mayo’s county town: Castlebar
     5. Do you know Achill island?
          a. Never use Waze
          b. White Cliffs of Ashleam
          c. Keem beach
          d. Appendix
     ★Summary

1. Where the heck is Mayo

When it comes to towns and cities in Ireland, you may think of Dublin, Galway, and Cork, and if you have a bit more knowledge, then you may think about Limerick, Donegal, Sligo, and Wicklow.

However, do you know a county called Mayo? I knew only the name but didn’t exactly know where geographically it was.

County Mayo is a countryside county more northern than County Galway. There are train tracks, and yet as repeated mention in this Ireland trip series,

it’s more convenient to have a car.

You may think “There seems to be nothing”, and yet it was a surprisingly fun place to go, hence maybe Mayo is better than Galway in terms of sightseeing, actually.

2. Zooks wanted to visit a castle

Between Ballinrobe where our accommodation was and Westport which I will talk about in the following chapter, there is a castle. I am personally fond of this kind of abandoned castle. In fact when I travelled to Scotland or Siegen in Germany, I dropped by such abandoned castles whenever I found them.

Nonetheless this time I also wanted to get close and see it, I found out that that castle seemed to be a private property while we were looking for a car park, so I gave it up.

It sounded like we could have gotten closer if we had asked the owner, but we didn’t have time to check who the owner was, so we just passed by.

In Galway there are lots of castles too, and yet it was rainy when we stayed in and we couldn’t go, so I think castle fans can enjoy Galway and Mayo when it’s sunny. For this reason, I want to revisit Galway.

3. Small but cute town: Westport

We went to Westport due to my boyfriend’s request.

At that time he wore a pair of three-year-old shoes, and those got flooded inside owing to the rainy days in Galway, hence we were looking for shops where we could buy some trainers.

While wandering around Westport, we were simultaneously looking for shoe shops, but since it was Sunday, almost all of the shops were closed, and the only shop which seemed to sell trainers was also closed. Therefore we couldn’t buy any in Westport.

However, in Westport there are a number of cafes, and it might be a good idea to drop by there for a break on a long trip. It was a small but cute town.

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The trademark is a clocktower. When we went to Westport, it sometimes rained but sometimes stopped raining, which is typical Irish weather. This is why my photo doesn’t look marvellous, but the town was really pretty, so I was glad to go there.

My Japanese friend A’s husband also later said “Westport is good.”

4. Mayo’s county town: Castlebar

Before going to Westport, we were searching the destinations, and I told him “There is Sports Direct in Castlebar!”. However, later I realised that perhaps he thought I was talking about some kind of bar. He looked “???” when we were about to leave Westport. I told him “It’s 30 minutes away from here (Westport)”, and he finally understood.

Castlebar is said to be a county town in Mayo, and it was bigger than Westport indeed.

Castlebar has a big parking area in the centre of the town, and it’s shown on the map too. When we went to Castlebar, since it was Sunday, it cost nothing. (Probably this is because of the countryside. I’m sure as I’m from the countryside inJapan.)

We of course went to Sports Direct.

He bought a pair of trainers, and it costs less than 60 EUR.

If you have lived in Estonia, you would feel “That’s so cheap!”. Fashion stuff (particularly shoes) in Estonia should be estimated to cost 100 EUR when buying. He also estimated that price. As he was wondering if he should buy shoes, he said “I would spend too much money if I bought shoes here…” (On the other hand I said “wherever you buy, it’s still an expense.” 😂

Due to the price range in Estonia, he was happy about the inexpensiveness in Ireland. 😂

I’m happy that he found good trainers too.

After that we were just walking around in Castlebar.

Although it is called a country town, as Castlebar is surely much smaller than Dublin, it doesn’t take time to see around. (I felt my hometown might be more satisfactory. 😅)

5. Do you know Achill island?

We went to Achill island via Newport from Castlebar.

Again, it’s a where-the-heck-is that island, and yet the Irish seemed to know there.

I personally like the idea of going to an island by car, so I agreed to it. Achill island is more countryside than Ballinrobe where we stayed in Mayo.

a. Never use Waze

I will write in more detail, but we were heading to White Cliffs of Ashleam by car at that time. We were using Waze which is an app with a map and traffic information, and yet it led us to a weird countryside road. What was worse, there was no way in real life unlike what Waze showed us.

Me: we got to go back. We can’t go forward.

My boyfriend: But where are we going.

Me: If we don’t go back, we can’t do anything.

Therefore, once we went back, and landed on a properly paved road, we were able to go to White Cliffs of Ashleam by using Google maps.

This time we were able to travel on the proper roads indeed!!

I guess Waze works well only in cities.

b. White Cliffs of Ashleam

White Cliffs of Ashleam is not just a cliff. You need to go up the mountain quite a lot. Besides, the roads are pretty winding, and the height is great. At that time it was very windy, and we didn’t have any idea when the sheep would pop in front of us, and the inline was steep too. Hence I was a bit scared.

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However, the view from the top was beautiful. It was my first time to see the Atlantic Ocean. “It would be greater if it was sunny”, I wished again… 😅

c. Keem beach

After enjoying the view in White Cliffs of Ashleam, we went to Keem beach weather my boyfriend wanted to go. Achill island is located in the westest part in Connaught. (I get fascinated with something like the most XX.)

The way to Keem beach was safer than going to White Cliffs of Ashleam. The view from the car was also beautiful, so we stopped somewhere, and took some pictures. (On this website or on social media channels related to this website there’s a new profile photo that was taken on the way to Keem beach by my boyfriend without telling me beforehand.)

From some points on the way to Keem beach, there are signboards like “Attention! Sheep crosses the road”. (It wasn’t like “Attention, There are wild animals”, but really like “Sheep may cross the road”.)

The road was for both ways, and because the traffic was nearly silent, we were able to avoid sheep, and yet they didn’t care about us at all. 😂

Keem beach was quite beautiful too. Perhaps the water is clean. It looked a bit greeny, which is my favourite colour of the sea. Since it was a bit rainy and cold, and additionally we didn’t bring our swimwear in the first place, I do not know how deep Keem beach is unless we swim, but it is definitely worth going.

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On Google maps Keem beach is marked as a sightseeing place, but even in June when generally there are lots of tourists in Ireland, the tourists in Keem beach seemed more or less locals, so a hidden sightseeing place, I guess. It didn’t seem to be buses from and to Keem beach, so having a car… (again)

d. Appendix

When we were going back to the mainland from Keem beach, on the other side of the road near Keem beach, one sheep was very chilled.

Not even about to escape from or avoid us. Very majestic. 😂

★Summary

You may have a tendency to think that there is nothing in the countryside but in famous counties and cities in Ireland whilst now you know how unexpectedly enjoyable County Mayo is.

In order to live, it is probably hard without a car in my opinion, and yet since you can take a distance from noisiness in Dublin, you might be able to live a relaxing life in Mayo. However, if you spend every weekend, you might get fed up.

Perhaps it was a trip, and therefore I thought it was good. I might also want to swim in Keem beach next time… Not sure it’s grand 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! 🙂

Let’s Rent a Car in Ireland.

ZooksLeave a comment

Tere!

In 2021, I planned to go to Northern Ireland and Sweden in March, 2022. Although I have been to Northern Ireland before, I spent only a short time in Enniskillen that is just beyond the border of the Republic. Therefore, I wanted to go to the eastern coastal area, Giants Causeway, etc on the trip in 2022. (The purpose of going to Sweden was to go to a gig by Louis Tomlison from One Direction, by the way.)

At that time (in 2021), I also planned to go to a concert in Oslo, Norway by Harry Styles from One Direction too. However, the tour in Europe had been postponed without any certainty due to COVID. Thereinto, he cancelled all the concerts in the tour in the end, and yet extended the tour itself, so I had to buy a new ticket for a new date. Then, I found one day in Dublin in June! In addition to it, I wanted to visit Northern Ireland, see my friends in Dublin, and to try to travel with my boyfriend, so that was a great timing, and I decided to go there. I suggested to him to travel together with my solo plan to go to the concert, and he agreed “I want to drive a car in Ireland (because in Ireland it’s left-hand traffic opposed to the right-hand traffic in Estonia)”.

Well, eventually we didn’t go north but went west, but as planned we rented a car anyway, so here I’m going to talk about a car rental in Ireland.

Table of Contents

1. In Ireland: manual transmission vs. automatic transmission?
2. Car rental vs. car sharing
3. How many days and where to rent a car?
4. What is “Pay and Display” in Ireland?
5. Petrol price display in Ireland
★Summary

1. In Ireland: manual transmission vs. automatic transmission?

First of all, you may be curious which transmission type is more common in Ireland: manual or automatic. In Ireland, the manual transmission is more common. It seems few people use cars with the automatic transmission.

On the other hand, according to a staff member in one driving school in Estonia, it’s fifty-fifty. There are of course the manual transmission-cars, but personally it seems more cars with automatic transmission are sold in Estonia. Unlike Japan, in Estonia it costs the same in a driving school for both driving licence for the automatic transmission and the manual transmission. In regards to the hand traffic, similarly to other Continental countries, it’s the right-hand traffic (the American way) in Estonia.

Therefore, my boyfriend constantly said “I need a car with automatic transmission if I drive in Ireland” (because he had to change the speed with the opposite hand). So we were looking for a car with the automatic transmission when I suggested to him to book a car, but in April 2022, the prices for cars with the automatic transmission got twice as expensive as before. (It seemed to cost around 500 EUR at the end of March given that we rented a car with the automatic transmission for one week, but after that the price increased to 1000 EUR with the same conditions and period.)

We both were just saying “this is too expensive”.

2. Car rental vs. car sharing

Later on, one Estonian that I knew suggested to me “Perhaps it’s cheaper if you choose something like Bolt Drive or Citybee (car sharing)”, hence I googled, and found a car sharing service in Ireland called GoCar. I shared this information with him.

A few days after that, I happened to check GoCar’s FAQ, and found a sentence like “We are trying to verify you within 48 hours”, so I shared this information with my boyfriend one week before leaving for ireland. However, he really didn’t like planning (and was not very good at planning either), so it seemed he didn’t do anything… (Also, his mental condition wasn’t great at that time.)

Eventually we decided to rent a car, and didn’t choose car sharing, but at the end of this trip we concluded that renting a car was actually cheaper, maybe if the travelling type was like ours. If you have a specific destination, and no plan to drop by anywhere, I guess you may choose car sharing.

3. How many days and where to rent a car?

I have also heard that if you rent a car on site, it could be cheaper than booking one beforehand, but from the perspective as a Japanese person, you can never do this, especially in Japan…. Basically you need to book everything in Japan, and otherwise you will be necessity-less…

The following morning after arriving in Ireland, I searched for a car on a comparison website like Skyscanner or Google flights as a car rental version called Carhire.ie. (In other words, on Skyscanner, you can see flight schedules and airlines or travel agencies that offer, but on Carhire.ie you can see some car options and which car rental company offers those options.)

I have a Japanese driving license, and it does allow me to drive a car with the manual transmission, but I had never driven a car since I got the license, and moreover, due to the Geneva convention, I was not able to apply for an international driving license as I lived in Estonia more than one year, for whom it required to get a driving license in Estonia by going to the driving school and taking exams like a local person. Plus, I had no idea or knowledge about cars, so I completely asked him to select a car. (He loves cars and driving, and he does watch some YouTube channels about cars, so he has a lot of knowledge.)

Then, we decided to rent a car from the 23rd of June until the 27th of June, 2022.

Why did we select this time period? I was searching on Carhire.ie, looking at his searching filters, so I just put the same period as he did, and it seemed he just kept that filtering, and booked a car.

Well, please check the filtering before deciding.

😂

On Carhire.ie we chose a car rental company called Europcar, and rented at the office in Spencer Dock in Dublin. (The place to return the car for us was the same as well.)

When going to Northern Ireland (since it is the UK), probably the rules are different, and in such a case you need to check further.

When booking a car, it cost around 500 EUR, but at the Europcar office in Spencer Dock, he customised a lot (a car with diesel, a screen that shows the back side of the car, Bluetooth connection, etc), so around 400 EUR was added, and the total sum was approximately 900 EUR.

Also, he eventually decided to drive a car with the manual transmission. (Well it made sense as cars with the automatic transmission were too expensive.)This is why the initial payment was around 500 EUR.

By the way, according to my Japanese friend’s husband in Dublin, the reason why the cars with the automatic transmission were so expensive was probably because they reduced the number of cars with the automatic transmission due to less demand affected by COVID, so at that time, there were fewer cars with automatic transmission available in Ireland.

4. What is “Pay and Display” in Ireland?

Our flights for this trip were to and from Dublin, so our car rental started from Dublin too, but it seemed very difficult and stressful to drive a car in Dublin. I was just sitting next to my boyfriend, but I felt it.

Driving in Dublin.

When we rented a card, we did in the morning so we hadn’t eaten anything yet. Hence we agreed to have something somewhere a bit outside of the city centre, and we were looking for a car park, but

no car park was shown in Google maps!

We randomly went to some street, and temporarily stopped a car there as we could see “P”, and noticed there was a description “Pay and display”. When I searched, it seemed to be a system with which you can pay for parking via its app, by call, or at the ticket machine in that parking area. In our case, the app was not downloadable (in Estonian app stores on both Google Play and iOS), and calling didn’t work, so I had to look for an actual ticket machine. Then I found one.

There the ticket machine accepted the exact amount of coins. In Dublin, unless you have a Leap card, you need to pay in cash when getting on a Dublin bus, and since I knew they didn’t give any change, I had and bought a bunch of coins separately. Therefore, we were able to pay the exact amount of the ticket.

In this system, you need to pay for parking first, and you need to put the ticket in the front glass until you get back there. (The detailed explanation can be found at the ticket machine.)

In Ireland many places had this system, so I got used to it while travelling. In the countryside, some were free on Sundays.

However, the problem is that it is not shown in the map, so it’s hard to find one.

5. Petrol price display in Ireland

My boyfriend drives a diesel car in daily life in Estonia, so I often checked the price for diesel from the Tallinn bus in the days when the petrol prices were rising. In Estonia, the price is shown like “1.99” per litre. This means one litre of petrol costs “1 euro, 99 cents”.

On the other hand, in Ireland for some reason the price was shown in cents, the display was like “219” per litre.

This one shows “216” cents per litre.

In my opinion, if we want to calculate on our own, the Estonian way of display is better.

This section is just for your information. It does not mean “219 EUR” per litre.

★Summary

I really appreciate my boyfriend who drove a car for such a long long time in Ireland, and yet while travelling by car I wished I would have been able to drive a car, many times. Because if I had been able to, I would have been able to take turns with thim. (After that I seriously planned to go to a driving school in Estonia.)

One way took three hours at maximum, so even though he loved driving, it was physically exhausting to drive in a different land and in a different system, I believe.

Also, what I can say for sure is that a car is convenient. (I know it’s taken for granted.) You know we often want to go to places we want to go to while travelling. I reckoned that with a car I could use my time more freely, and visit any paces I wanted to almost without any compromise. However, next time when travelling by car, I definitely want to book one in advance. Even if it would be a solo trip.

Aitäh! 🙂

SL App – Stockholm’s Public Transport App

ZooksLeave a comment

Tere!

While travelling, I usually walk a lot (to save money and to prevent myself from lack of exercise), but it does not mean that I don’t use public transports at all. Especially in Stockholm, three out of four times of the visits were for the purpose of concerts, I always used the public transports after the concerts.

In addition, this time I took a ferry just because I was interested in it.

The story here is nothing special, but maybe for some people the information is useful.

Table of Contents

1. App on public transports in Stockholm
     a. Check routes in the SL app
     b. Buy tickets in the SL app

2. How to take a ferry within Stockholm

★Summary

1. App on public transports in Stockholm

a. Check routes in the SL app

First of all, I’m gonna introduce a transport app called “SL” that you can use in Stockholm. It is just like the Västtrafik app in Gothenburg.

Here is how to use the SL app. Once you download the SL app, open “Travel”. Then you will see your current location in the SL app. (I had turned on the location access on the phone, so the map in the SL shows even Estonia.) From that page, you can check any routes.

Here I set the gig venue as a destination and the hostel’s address as an origin.

Then the SL app shows the route.

On the top right corner, there is “Journey settings’” from which you can set which transport type you wish to use. In default, I think everything is turned on. Also, when you go back to the previous page, you can set the date and time.

Once you select the route, the SL app shows the route in detail. In this case, from the hostel to the gig venue I just needed to take only one underground.

b. Buy tickets in the SL app

In order to purchase tickets in the SL app, open the SL app, and tap “Tickets” in the middle at the button. Then a blue bottom is shown, so tap that button.

Then you can see the page where the ticket types are shown.

If you tap “Other app tickets”, you will see some other tickets like the ticket valid for 24 hours, so select one that suits your trip. There is also a transport card called SLcard in Stockholm, but I never needed it, hence I just purchased a single travel ticket every time I needed.

Once you select the ticket, the SL app shows the price in the blue button again, so tap it and go to the payment page.

There are two payment options: Swish or card payment. I reckon almost all of the non-Swedish residents/travellers would have no choice but the card payment. This is because Swish seems to require you to connect your Swish account with your bank account.

Here the SL app shows my card as I have purchased tickets before, but for new users, or those who wish to use another card, you can simply add a new card from “Add card”. Enter the necessary information, and Confirm it. Then the payment is done.

Once you purchase a ticket, the SL app shows it to you. Before taking a transport, you need to scan the ticket at the machine, but unlike Västtrafik in Gothenburg, the ticket won’t be activated on purchasing it. I personally prefer the system in the SL app so that I don’t have to pay attention to the time, and can purchase tickets at any time beforehand.

2. How to take a ferry within Stockholm

While travelling in Stockholm, I suddenly wondered:

“Stockholm basically consists of several islands, so maybe there are ferries as a regular public transport option?”

So I searched, and I found there are!

If you look at one of the screenshots above, you may notice, and yet the SL app includes ferries as a transport option.

However, in reality, it was a bit cumbersome when travelling from Djurgården by ferry.

The ticket counters were closed, and there was some information about ferries, but it wasn’t well-explained… (It didn’t mention the ticket price for a ferry either.)

So I decided to ask a staff member when a ferry comes, and asked her, and she said

“You have a card!!??”

Um, yes…?

“Here!!!”

??????

“Here!!!!”

I realised she was not able to speak English that well… Anyway I just followed what she said, and scanned my debit card at the machine, and then immediately the payment was executed. I looked at the price shown in the machine and it cost only 1 SEK. It’s like 10 cents in EUR.

I’m not sure if this is because the distance is pretty short, or whatever, but still it was cheap even if it were not Stockholm. I would recommend using a ferry in Stockholm just as an activity there. To me a ferry as a regular public transport option in a city is extraordinary.

View from the ferry

The travelling time in the ferry was short as described, but I enjoyed myself from the perspective of a different type of public transports within a single city.

★Summary

In my opinion, Stockholm has many activities and museums in the main areas, so maybe you don’t need to take public transports that often, but it can be too far to walk depending on the destinations and where you are. Hence probably it’s good just to know they have the SL app for that in Stockholm

Also, as repeatedly mentioned, I really recommend the ferry travelling within Stockholm. If you love seas and ships, or have kids, you can probably enjoy it too.

Aitäh! 🙂

9 Places Where You Should Go in Gothenburg

ZooksLeave a comment

Last modified: 17 June 2023

Tere!

Gothenburg is called the second biggest city in Sweden. It is quite far from Stockholm and more like close to Denmark. Although it is called the second biggest city, if you compare like Tokyo vs. Osaka, or New York vs. Los Angeles, etc, you might get disappointed. However, there are still several places to visit for tourists. Here I introduce 7 places in Gothenburg that you might enjoy, where I went in March, 2022.

Table of Contents

     1. Botanical garden
     2. Skottsskogen
     3. Gothenburg Museum of Natural History
     4. Oskar Fredrik Church
     5. Skansen Kronan
     6. Haga district
     7. Inom Vallgraven
     8. Amusement park: Liseberg
     9. Bohus Fortress
     10. My personal opinions (as of 2022)
     ★Summary

1. Botanical garden

This botanical garden has been established based on donation. I went there at the end of March, and considering the month with the climate (in Japan), people might imagine there are lots of colourful flowers, but you know, here is a Scandinavian country, of course there was nothing.

However, the area is pretty vast. Some parts were under construction, but it seemed there was a Japanese garden if possible to access.

I reckon that I could enjoy various plants and flowers in summer, staying there for a longer time. By the way, I am writing this article in May, 2022, and I have been in Tallinn since 2017, but I have still not been to the botanic garden in Tallinn yet.

However, in May 2023, I could finally visited the Gothenburg Botanical Garden in a lively atmosphere!

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It was brilliant as every flower bloomed so beautifully! There is also a cafe in the Gothenburg Botanical Garden, which I mention in this article.

I wanted to donate this time, but I couldn’t find a donation box or anything. It appeared that I had to ask a store clerk near the botanical garden’s entrance, but it was impossible for me to do so as I have a communication disorder…

The Gothenburg Botanical Garden leads to the woods, where is very few people if you go there. If it’s dark, it’s scary. Since there are lots of trees, as a traveller I felt insecure though it was still bright during the day time. I didn’t see any big animals like bears though. I only saw little birds. As there were some feeding boxes for birds, people go and walk there, it seemed.

2. Skottsskogen

Skottsskogen is located in the opposite of the botanical garden. It’s a super vast park.

There was a small bush maze too. (I enjoyed it, but I’m pretty sure, it was for kids.)

I saw something like a small waterfall in the map of Skottsskogen, and wanted to see it, but it appeared to be there only in summer as there was no green, no water.

I think it would be fun to have a picnic there since Skottsskogen is very large. Also you may get satisfied just by walking around there.

3. Gothenburg Museum of Natural History

Gothenburg Museum of Natural History is located in the area of Skottsskogen. No admission fee is required. The displays were too real and creepy at some point (because of my imaginativeness). There are a number of displays of animals in real sizes, and I thought “they seem to be about to move”’.

By the way, I like a series of movies called “Night at the Museum”.

Reference

4. Oskar Fredrik Church

I was walking around the hostel, and accidentally found some nice church, which is Oscar Fredrik Church. It looked great so I took a picture.

I realised, however, I prefer castles to churches.

5. Skansen Kronan

Skansen Kronan means “Crown Sconce” in English, and appears to have been built in the 17th century.

Skansen Kronan is located on the top of the hill next to Haga district. (It felt like a mountain since I have lived in Estonia for a while, where there is basically no mountain.) The incline was pretty steep, and since I have got used to the topography of Estonia, it was hard to reach there.

Some cannons are outside, and when Skansen Kronan was built, it is said that there were 23 cannons (according to Wikipedia).

The door of Skansen Kronan was open, so I wanted to sneak in, but I thought: if I got shut from the outside, I couldn’t go outside. Therefore, I didn’t go and see the inside. (How imaginative…)

There was a group of primary school kids with a couple of teachers for a fieldwork of a history class or something. Also the local people seemed to use that area for walking with their dogs.

Since Skansen Kronan is on the top of the hill, I was able to look out over the whole town. There are also bushes and trees around Skansen Kronan, so maybe in summer the view is covered, but I was happy to go there and see the view.

6. Haga district

I also went to Haga district. It was still 10 am when I went there, so there were lots of stores and shops which were not open yet. Stereotypical souvenir shops are in Haga district, where you could buy postcards and magnets with the designs of Gothenburg or Sweden.

I used to buy postcards (for myself) and magnets (for my family) wherever I travelled, but I thought perhaps I should stop this collecting habit, so I didn’t buy any this time. I would consider this decision as a new chapter of my travel history from 2020’s (although 2 years have already passed).

By the way, I always and also collected stamps of the places that I went to in the last pages of my passport which I could never reach even by spending 10 years. However, I stopped this as well. Within the Schengen area, you cannot get entry stamps, so I often get stamps at information centres, but I gave up looking for an information centre in Malmö, and I realised I couldn’t do it completely, so I stopped. On the other hand, I also think I could continue this tradition.

7. Inom Vallgraven

Inom Vallgraven area is located in the north of Haga district. Inom Vallgraven looked more modern, and seemed like a shopping area. There was a market though it wasn’t so large, but there were restaurants, cheese shops and butchers. In the tea shop there, I found lingonberry-flavoured chocolate of Malmö’s brand, which did not seem to be sold in Estonia. I think it cost 30 SEK per 100g. (Before this travel, I asked my boyfriend whether he had something he wanted from Sweden, and he was like “What are Swedish things that we can’t get in Estonia lol”, so I told myself “Alright, then I’m gonna find something Swedish that we can’t get in Estonia lol”. That is why I was looking for something Swedish while travelling.

In Inom Vallgraven, there were fashion brands that you don’t see in Estonia, or shops that sell only products with liquorice. (Once you enter this shop, you smell only liquorice. I found one branch (?) shop in Haga district too. I’m not a fan so I didn’t buy any, but I do believe my Dutch friends would love them.)

8. Amusement park: Liseberg

In order to learn Swedish, I had used an app called HelloTalk, where I met a Swedish-Syrian girl. We went to an amusemen park called Liseberg (/liseberi/)! Liseberg is not open every day, so if you want to go there, check their opening days beforehand.

She bought two tickets: for me an for her. It cost 395 SEK (around 34 EUR at that time). The price also varies, depending on the date and season.

Liseberg has lots of attractions from roller coasters to spinning attractions! However, half of the attractions in Liseberg are for kids, so there were both many adults and kids in Liseberg. There were some shooting games as well.

Plus, I had been used to queueing in Universal Studios Japan and Disney Resort Tokyo, so I felt very comfortable to wait in Liseberg as the waiting times were so short! On average I think it was 30 minutes. Though it was a Sunday and public holiday, and I thought there were a number of people in Liseberg when seeing the queues in front of the gates, perhaps because of many attractions, we didn’t spend a lot of time for queueing, and rode various attractions.

I recommend a ferris wheel in Liseberg as you can see the town of Gothenburg and take a break.

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Also we went three round there for some reason. 😂

I was a bit surprised how teh Swedes “queue”. Some Japanese people would feel a culture shock there, I guess because we queue more properly, not randomly.

Lastly, keep in mind that spinning attractions might affect your semicircular canals. (Although I din’t vomite, I needed a break time once in a while 😂)

9. Bohus Fortress

The Bohus Fortress is located a bit far from the centre of Gothenburg, and yet you can go there easily by taking Gothenburg buses.

I had not known about the Bohus Fortress before. When I asked chatGPT where to go in Gothenburg, and it suggeseted me the Bohus Fortress. 😂

A ticket for an adult cost 120 SEK (around 10 EUR at that time). It was a reasonable price, and it was worth it as the Bohus Fortress was quite big.

The opening hours vary depending on the season, so check their website in advance. You might also need a translation machine because the website is partially not translated to English.

If you have noticed my interest when travelling, you might guess something. Certainly the Bohus Fortress also had a chamber of torture or something. However, it was so dark though I went there at 11 am, and I was too chicken to go in the chamber, and there was no one around me, so I gave it up… I wanted to see the inside tho!!

The Bohus Fortress has some small attractions for kids, too.

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Whilst I was not able to complete the entire mission, I was satisfied enough with going there.

10. Personal opinions

This is an extra story, but while I am travelling by myself, I usually listen to music with my earphones. In both Gothenburg and Malmö, I had a pair of earphones while wandering around in towns, but I didn’t use them at all.

I listen to music for fun or preparation for a convert while travelling/being outside, but the biggest purpose/reason is to shut out the sounds from outside.

I have ASD, and I am hypersensitive to sounds and voices with difficulties in handling some types of sounds.

I get overwhelmed with the sounds of a hoover, traffic (especially on a rainy day), a coffee machine and so on.Therefore, when going outside, to “get rid of” the sounds of outsides I listen to music, and yet in Gothenburg and Malmö I didn’t need to do.

In the case of a hoover and a coffee machine (for example, in the office), sounds are inevitable, so I just bear with it. Besides, in such a situation, I cannot have a proper conversation because I cannot distinguish the sounds and people’s voices. (This means that I hear all the types of voices and sounds at the same level. For instance the sound level of a hoover is 5 out of 10 in a room, the voice of a person who is in the same room is 5 out of 10 as well.)

In Gothenburg, when walking along the tram lines, and it was running beside me, I felt uncomfortable with the sounds, particularly from the old model of a tram. However, as I didn’t walk on such streets that often, I was alright.

Of course there were cars on the roads, but I felt there were less cars than in Tallinn, and I felt fine in a huge street.

Even in Tallinn the earphones are a must-have item for me, so I got the impression that I could live more comfortably in Gothenburg than in Tallinn.

★Summary

In conclusion, those 7 places are where you could go in Gothenburg!

However, I believe I went to only the centre of Gothenburg, and I wished I could have been to the northern part beyond the river, or an amusement park called Liseberg with friends. In addition, I believe these 7 places can be recommended to especially those who have a budget-trip plan (although it doesn’t mean that those who have more budgets shouldn’t go.)

Aitäh! 🙂

From Gothenburg to Malmö (How to Book Tickets in Omio)

ZooksLeave a comment

Tere!

When visiting Malmö, I took a train, and since I booked tickets by using a platform called Omio, I will explain how to book tickets there. Omio is a transport booking platform where you can book tickets for coaches, trains as well as flights available in Europe, Canada, and the U.S. You may use either the web app or the mobile app. (I always have the iOS app on my phone.)

Table of Contents
1. Search
 2. Select a type of transport
 3. Choose time
 4. Select another time for the return ticket when needing round tickets
 5. Review the ticket/s
 6. Select a class and/or additional fare
 7. Enter passenger details
 8. Choose a payment method
 9. Confirm the ticket/s

1. Search

This is the first step. Search tickets by selecting a start, a destination, and date/s. By default it should show only one-way, so if you need a return ticket, you should set “Round-trip”/

2. Select a type of transport

You can see a list of available tickets. From Gothenburg to Malmö, only (?) trains and buses are available. I chose trains in fact as it was cheaper.

3. Choose time

After selecting the type of transport, you need to choose time (and a kind of train if you want). I chose SJ, so I show the similar one in the screenshot as well.

4. Select another time for the return ticket when needing round tickets

When it comes to a round-trip, you can choose the return ticket after selecting the start ticket. Some additionally cost, others don’t. Since I (still) have a habit of behaving as if I were a very poor student, I chose the one that did not cost. (Besides, even in terms of time, it was the best choice.)

5. Review the ticket/s

After selecting time, you can go next, and review your ticket/s.

6. Select a class and/or additional fare

You may change information about a class of the train or fare by tapping “Edit ticket”. (I obviously didn’t do it.)

7. Enter passenger details

Enter the passenger details, making sure the travel time.

8. Choose a payment method

Finally the payment. If everything is alright, tap “Pay”.

9. Confirm the ticket/s

Ticket/s will be sent to your email address shortly, but also you can check from the app. (I prefer this way as you don’t need to print out so it is ecological and you will have less stuff when travelling.)

The screenshot has tickets in the different tab (“Archived”) because those were used, but unused tickets are shown in “Upcoming”.

If you tap the travel plan, you can see the details, and check out the train number and so on.

You can also open a ticket in a PDF file by tapping “Download Ticket PDF” (which button may be called differently in the mobile app). (Be careful, two tickets are in one PDF file if you have tickets for a round trip.)

I guess such information can be easily found in Omio’s website, but I summarised anyway. I believe there is nothing difficult.

Aitäh! 🙂

8 Places You Should (Probably) Visit in Malmö

ZooksLeave a comment

Tere!

Since I went to Malmö while I was in Sweden, I will introduce some places that you should/may go to when visiting Malmö! (NB: Only the places I went to.)

Table of Contents
1. St. Peter’s Church
2. Apoteket Lejonet
3. Form/Design Centre
4. Malmö City Library
5. Slottsparken
6. Castle Mill
7. Malmö Castle
8. Turning Torso
★Summary

1. St. Peter’s Church

This is the first place that I went to when visiting Malmö! There was no specific reason to go there though. I just took a photo of the outside of the church, and didn’t look inside as I feel I’m not allowed to enter a church…

2. Apoteket Lejonet

This pharmacy is said to have been built in 1896, but it functions as a pharmacy even now. I felt shy about looking inside as I didn’t need anything from there as a pharmacy, but I entered because I wanted to see. Then I saw many jars that looked old (ancient). It seemed there were lots of tourists who would drop by and only see inside, so the clerk didn’t seem to care that I just entered, took a few photos, and just left.

3. Form/Design Centre

Form/Design Centre Entrace

I got quite interested in this place before going to Malmö. It might be hard to find, but the entrance is in the inner court. There is no admission fee.

On entering the building, I checked the bathroom. I wanted to go because I spent 2.5 hours on the train, but it cost if I used the bathroom in the Malmö station (around 10 SEK), so I gave the idea up.

Here you can use the bathroom for free!

But each single toilet room was pretty small.

The centre itself was like an art museum, and it appeared that there were workshops some time.

4. Malmö City Library

When I found this building online, the review seemed fine, and that is why I went there, but personally it was merely a regular modern library. I don’t see the inside though.

5. Slottsparken

This is, in fact, a huge park where a windmill and Malmö castle are located, but I found something interesting.

In the park, on the way to the windmill, there were several small houses (?). I reckon that those would be prettier if there was no scribbling.

6. Castle Mill

This is a windmill in Slottsparken. On the way there, there was something like a pretty vast inner court that would look like a scene from a fairy tale in summer. It was fun to walk there.

The windmill was not working, but looked nice.

7. Malmö Castle

You can go to the castle from the place of the windmill. A museum was built inside of the castle, but I didn’t go as it wasn’t free. I just looked at the “inside” of the castle, and headed to another destination. The Malmö castle is built as if it had protected something in the site. (Also the reason why I didn’t visit the museum is because I still have a habit of behaving like a super poor person since I travelled a lot when I was a student who did not have much money…)

8. Turning Torso

Turning Torso is located a bit far from the centre of Malmö. Like its name, the building looks turning.

Since it’s quite a tall building, I could see from a distance, so I didn’t go in front of the building.

Besides, as I didn’t do any massage on my feet in the previous day, those were hurt, and physically it was very hard for me to keep walking. In other words, I just gave up going there. However, I’m satisfied as I could see anyways. I think I couldn’t take a picture if I had gotten too close.

★Summary

That’s all about the places in Malmö. I felt Malmö was a pretty small city although it’s said to be the third biggest city in Sweden. Therefore, if you travel alone, you probably need only half a day or one day. If you travel with someone else, then you might need more than one day as you might spend more time.

Aitäh! 🙂

Zooks Goes to Viljandi.

ZooksLeave a comment

Tere!

On 22 of July 2021, I visited a small town in the south of Estonia called Viljandi!

From Tallinn you can go there by train. (Maybe there are busses, but I didn’t consider it at all this time.)

Recently I got a card called Work Ability Card issued. I will write the details about it in the future though. (I didn’t spontaneously issue one, and I didn’t know that such a card existed until I got one.) The card indicates my work ability; either I can work partially or not at all.

Then I found that I can use that card when buying a train ticket on Elron which is an Estonian railroad. I usually bought regular tickets on Elron so far, but this time I bought discounted tickets.

This discount is applied to pensioners, those who are disabled, and someone who can work partially or not at all. If you buy such a ticket, you need to show the certificate on the train. In my case I would need to show my Work Ability Card. (You can read more about it here.)

It takes a couple of hours from Tallinn to Viljandi. However, Viljandi doesn’t have many sightseeing places, due to which I bought round tickets, selecting the time when I could arrive in Tallinn in the pre-evening. A regular one-way ticket costs 7 euro, and yet my discount ticket cost about 5 euro, so 10 euro in total.

Table of Contents
Arrival in Viljandi
To the Main Destinations
Cafe Viljandi
Legend
Others

★Arrival in Viljandi

I planned to go to some sightseeing places, have lunch, take some break, and go home after spending approximately two hours on the train.

One of the surprising facts about Viljandi is that there are (relatively) more slopes. Compared to my hometown, those were just hills, but in contrast to Tallinn there were a few more steep slopes in Viljandi.

The first destination was Kondase Keskus. This is an art museum, but this time I wasn’t that interested in it, so I took a photo of the statue of the strawberry in front of the entrance.

To be honest, I went there just because I wanted to see this strawberry. In fact, such strawberries are here and there in Viljandi, and as far as I know, there was one in the station and near a hotel.

I don’t know what its concept is.

★To the Main Destinations

In Viljandi, there is an abandoned castle as well as a bridge on a hill. I wanted to go there, but I couldn’t because there was a festival on the hill.

Just in case, I asked a festival staff at one of the entrances whether the castle and the bridge are in the festival area. She said yes, and I thought:






Why did I freaking come to Viljandi…?




I was so shocked.

This is because those were my main purposes, I like castles, and the bridge seemed beautiful.

It was still 10.30ish, so many cafes and restaurants around the hill were still closed. Thus it wasn’t straightforward to find an open cafe.

★Cafe Viljandi

Then I managed to find one called Cafe Viljandi. That day I had freelance work, which had to be done on the train, so I had my laptop.

I changed my plan; I would drink something and do some work on my computer.

The inside was so empty (of course), so I got a huge table just for me. I looked up the menu and found “Viljandi Beer”.

I want to try it!

Then I ordered.





Sorry no.




I think she meant that they couldn’t serve alcohol owing to the time.

That day I woke up at 6.00 for the first time in a while, and I was already hungry, so I forgot but it wasn’t even 11 am at that time.

I couldn’t go to the hill, and couldn’t order a beer…

I was shocked and even more shocked. 

Anyway I needed to order something, wondering about what to get, and I found Irish coffee for only 4 euro!

This is really cheap. Even in Tallinn Irish coffee costs at least 6 euro. What is more, in Ireland it should cost at least 6-7 euro.

So Irish coffee in Viljandi is really cheap!

It was a great opportunity though other types of coffee were cheaper, I ordered Irish coffee.

My review is:






There was little whiskey in it.




I think it was cheap as they didn’t use much whiskey.

Then I was about to work on my laptop, asking a staff about WiFi, and she said:






We don’t have WiFi.




No way!

For the first time ever, I heard there was no WiFi in a cafe in Estonia…

I think this is not good as a town in Estonia…

They should have WiFi in a cafe if they have WiFi in the woods.

My review on Viljandi was getting so low.

I gave up working online, so I wrote a draft of this article on Word.

Then in my mind I thought:






I would never come to Vlijandi again.

This is because this trip was the worst ever. (Poland is also a travel destination that I would never go again except for the purpose of necessity or Auschwitz.)

By the way, I have been to Tartu, Pärnu. Rakvere, and Narva in terms of destinations in Estonia. Rakvere and Tartu were the best ones.

Of course Viljandi is the worst one.

★Legend

After spending some time in the cafe, I went to a restaurant called Legend as I was hungry.

They have terrace seats, but it seemed those were somewhere slightly far from the restaurant, and I wasn’t aware of it, getting a seat inside.

I wanted WiFi anyway.

I went to the counter and checked the menu, but it seemed available only in Estonian. However, I could understand at least the menu, so it wasn’t problematic for me.

I chose a burger that shouldn’t be untasty. Here’s some fact; in Estonia there are so many burger shops. If you want to eat out, burgers are available pretty anywhere.

Considering that, I thought I was lucky to be Japanese because there are a lot of types of dishes, with which we can enjoy different cultures. We can do this only in Japan. (But perhaps so is China.)

Then the burger was served; it had an ordinary look.

The taste was ordinary too. No good, but no bad. The ingredients were ordinary as well.

I can’t make any more comments about it.

There were chips aside, and a cup of mayonnaise for them.

I know the Estonians love mayonnaise.

It’s not rare to have mayonnaise as a default sauce for appetizers everywhere.






However I don’t like mayonnaise.




It’s said that the Western people like Japanese mayonnaise, but personally the Japanese mayonnaise is the worst. For me European mayonnaise is better. But still I can’t take it unless it’s used for egg salad sandwiches, tuna sandwiches or sauce for a burger.

Anyway, I dipped a few chips with mayonnaise, but not more than that. The chips were salty enough.

★Others

After spending one hour at the restaurant, I went to Coop which is a supermarket usually in relatively rural areas. I looked for Viljandi beer but there was nothing.

I didn’t have anything to do, so I headed to the station.

I was walking, thinking:






I don’t want to live in such a countryside.

Though I’m from the countryside.

Maybe this is because I don’t have local friends there, and just didn’t know about fun places.

Besides, when I was walking, following the Google map, I found the main road was under construction, and got a cloud of dust. What a bad day.

I stayed in Viljandi for about five hours, which was long enough.

If you are interested in Viljandi, just try. For me a day trip was satisfactory enough.

I rather want to go abroad.

あー外国へ行きたい。

Aitäh! 😊