Day 1- Dublin to Galway

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Day 1 had me landing in Dublin around 0830. Because I don't like wasting any time, I immediately got my rental car, threw my stuff in it, and started driving. I started out slow, giving myself some time to get used to driving stick with my left hand. Getting out of Dublin was pretty easy, but getting across the middle of the country had me on a toll road. They did have open road tolling, but it was like 1 line a the toll plaza. The rest of the spots had the baskets to toss coins in, or a teller to take money. I hadn't seen toll station like this since the 90's, most everything now open road, and you just go to a website to pay it.



After a slight detour because my GPS had issues with all the cloud cover and because I hate round abouts, I made it all the way to coral beach, about a half hour from Galway. This beach is particular because there is no sand on the beach, it's instead coral. It was pretty cloudy the day I went so I couldn't get could pictures of the blue water, but the coral did feel weird on my feet. It's pretty, serene, and pretty much devoid of people. Although be aware, country roads are needed to get this beach, and while they are paved, they are very very narrow.

Afterwords, I made my way back to Galway. Galway was the most 'Irish' city I went to Ireland. This had your typical streets lined with flags, pubs, live music, and cobblestone everywhere. It was the typical scene that one describes when they say 'Irish'. It was straight party scene, even on a Sunday night, and clearly a city aimed at tourists. I didn't have time to visit the Aran islands (a one day boat trip from Galway) which if I had more time, would have done.

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