The guys from Grogan's Castle Lounge both recommended that I visit Galway, that it was a beautiful place, and specifically that I should visit the nearby natural wonders the Cliffs of Moher and the Burren. For this reason, when I was waiting in the wind outside Newgrange to be led into the rock cavern, I rang to reserve a room at the Barnacles Quay Street Hostel in the heart of Galway (because of the wind, I had to repeat myself many times, including my name and credit card number). Although the journey was estimated at only 2 and a half hours, I knew that with my lucky anything could go wrong, so wanted to leave as early as possible.
I woke up before 9 a.m., said goodbye to the others in my room (received a very groggy response), drank a coffee and attempted to return the remote for the garage where I was parked. "What spot are you in again?" "34..." "You know that car was clamped, right?" "No...and why?" "You didn't have your pass visible." "Pass?" "Yes, we gave you a pass that you needed to place on your car. I think the car has since been unclamped, but you also need to return the pass." I walk to the car, and it is still clamped. I decide to kill some time searching the car and my backpack for the pass. It is nowhere to be found. A guy comes in a few minutes to unclamp the car and also (thank gosh!) to tell me that the ticket need not be paid.
While I was on the road by 10:00 a.m. (not bad!), it took me easily half an hour making circles around central Dublin before I made it to the highway. And as usual, the drivers on the highways in Ireland are very fast. Not necessarily aggressive, no excessive honking like in Israel, but once you move out of the passing lane, they speed past at easily 90 mph. I was steeling myself and focusing just to keep up a approximately 80 mph pace in my little car.
I made it to Galway without stopping and in remarkably good time. Along the way, I saw an amazing rainbow, which at one point was a double rainbow!
My good highway driving was completely undone by the approximate hour I spent trying to find the hostel. Once again, one way streets, virtually zero street signs (so I couldn't use my map), and my google maps on the Blackberry didn't work, presumably because of the clouds. The highlight of the drive around Galway was when it started raining and then started hailing. I don't think I've experienced hail in at least 5 years. The weather in Ireland changes, quickly and dramatically.The first parking structure I found charged 20 euros per day. This seemed unacceptably high, but I so just wanted to get out of the car (I had been driving for well over 3 hours without stopping).
Fortunately I was almost next door to the Barnacles Hostel, where I would be staying, right in the center of town. The receptionist informed me that I was at the more expensive garage and recommended that I move to another, where I would only be paying 8 euro a day. As reluctant as I was to get back in the car, I agreed that this was a good idea. So I moved by car.
I was starving, so followed the Lonely Planet guide for the Da Tang Noodle House, just a 5 minute walk away. Had a noodle soup, tasted good, fried duck in there, just wasn't nearly as spicy as I had hoped it would be. The Chinese girl working there was strangely friendly, I couldn't figure out what was going on.
I strolled around the town of Galway, walked along the river, up and down Quay Street and Shop Street, Eyre Square, an Irish bookstore, crossed the river and checked out Roisin Dubh, a supposedly famous music venue (didn't see anything playing that night that interested me), and then back to the hostel for some quality internet time (which was not cheap).
I liked the Barnacles hostel overall but my feelings were mixed. Pros:
1. Room was super clean.
2. Lots of power plugs near the beds.
3. Had a bottom bunk (I know, just luck).
4. Shower pressure and heat were good.
5. Bed was already made and warm.
6. Location was amazing.
7. Tour booking was efficient and reception was extremely helpful for planning activities.
8. Really cheap (12 euros).
Cons:
1. Breakfast was typically lame, but I'd say worse than average. Just toast and mediocre coffee.
2. Internet was really expensive and kind of slow. Don't like paying to sit and watch the screen freeze.
3. Those horrible push button showers!
4. Nowhere to park (although I have never really even considered this a factor in the past, maybe it isn't fair).
When I got to the room, I took a shower, put on some fresh clothes (for the first time in probably too long). Two girls in my room asked me if I had a power plug for an iPod (I did), which probably made them feel slightly obligated to make chit chat, which successfully engaged for a while (talk about travel, being from Canada, au pairing in Ireland, liking U2, etc.) and then suggested that we go to Sehan Ua Neachtain, the bar two doors down, described in the Lonely Planet as a "dusty old pub [which] has a fabulous atmosphere and attracts an eccentric, mixed crow."
I'd say the pub more than lived up to its reputation. Pretty packed, but we found some stools around a table where this older Irish guy was sitting, who engaged us in conversation for maybe half an hour, before he was replaced by a handful of other Irish people. I must say that what they say about Ireland is true -- peope are very friendly, and are very likely to just go up and talk. There was a live band sitting around a table playing Irish music, I spotted a flute, two fiddles, a guitar, some sort of drum. Here's a picture of them to the right.No dinner had been had and nowhere serving dinner was to be found so we settled for Mcdonalds. I had a Big Mac. It was filling enough.
This was followed by one more drink at a bar across the street from the hostel (don't know the name), where there was live music playing. Night ended relatively early, as we all had earlyish tours planned for the next day.
Steve Earle -- The Galway Girl
No comments:
Post a Comment