Galway, Ireland

We were only in Galway for 20 hours or so - we dropped off our rental car around 1pm on a Sunday and were on a train back to Dublin at 10am the next morning. But we did rather enjoy exploring and running around - even though it rained pretty steadily the whole time!

Galway is a college town. Lots of bars, lots of tourists, lots of kids 18 - 23. It wasn't really the place for us, but I can see it making a great base for checking out the surrounding areas. We checked into our hotel, grabbed lunch, then walked. And walked and walked and walked. We walked along the "Claddagh," and kept mostly to the coastal areas that most tourists were avoiding. It was invigorating and lovely, and we were so thoroughly exhausted when we got back to the hotel that we had some tea and just crashed. Plus, it was Sunday, so a lot of things weren't open. I think we even skipped dinner that night!

Main shopping drag in Galway

Sean Og's pub, Ballyshannon, Ireland

The best find of our trip to Ireland was a pub in the small town of Ballyshannon called Sean Og's. We arrived in Ballyshannon late on a Friday night and checked in to our hotel, then wanted a bit of nightlife. And oh, boy, did we get it! We wandered around Ballyshannon and stopped in at another bar for a drink, but no one was all that friendly, so we kept moving. Then we found Sean Og's.

Sean Og's - Ballyshannon, Co. Donegal

Driving in Northwest Ireland

We spent a good chunk of our trip in Ireland in the Northwest part of the country, and we were SO happy we did. There are far fewer tourists, and it's far less "touristy." I decided to do a photo post of our driving adventure, because it was simply gorgeous.

The first lake we happened upon - it was huge! We drove next to it for about 30 minutes before we got to this point - and we were barely near the middle of the lake!

Ireland: Driving on the left.

Once we got to Galway, we rented a car. The functionality of it was fairly perfect - you get off the train in Galway, leave the train station, turn left, walk half a block to the main square, cross one street, and you're at the Budget Rental Car office. Easy peasy, even in a light rain.

Our little car, on a "two way" road by Lough Eske in Co. Donegal.