An honorary addition to my 2023 Christmas trip is my few days in Ireland. It took place in early 2024, but was, in my mind, still a part of the same vacation and still involved the same Eurail train pass from the rest of my travels.

The Adventure

I arrived in Ireland on January 4th, 2024, and basically just chilled for the whole day, getting settled in with the family who so kindly hosted me. It was the next day, January 5th, that the adventure really begun. Leaving from my stay in Dublin, I took the train west to Galway, on the far coast of Ireland. I heard that it’s a bit of a student city, with a few landmarks and of course lovely beaches. I arrived shortly after noon, and started to walk around. My first stop was the Galway Cathedral, which appears a lot older than it actually is. It was cool to see the architectural style that I love, even though the church only opened in 1965. After this, I followed a trail by the railroad that took me by some sort of lake, which I then looped around on the way back. There were swans in the water, and a few old landmarks nearby, such as a military church and a cross. Then, I spent some time by the beach, and took this walkway to Mutton Island, though I couldn’t actually get onto the island, so I just turned around and walked back.

Some other noteworthy things I came across were a memorial stone for the Great Famine, and the Spanish Arch. The Spanish Arch, which is actually not Spanish, was one of the landmarks I had heard of before coming. Unfortunately, there was some scaffolding around it when I visited, but what I did see, I was a fan of. Back in the centre of the city, there was still a lot going on, likely remnants of Christmas celebrations. There was a fair with rides set up by the train station, and street performers. One of these guys on a street corner had a dog that climbed on top of a pony, which was sort of funny to see. Besides that, the city centre had more old buildings and fun shops to visit. I also saw the famous Galway Girl statue. At the end of the day, I took the train back past the very green landscape of Ireland, got lost in Dublin several times, then eventually made it back to my host family an hour or two later than expected.

Highlight

Though I spent my time in the city, the highlight of Galway was being able to sit by the water and see Ireland’s nature. The country has such beautiful nature, with long beaches, very green grass, and small hills or mountains in the distance. I took so many pictures over the water. It’s also wild to me just how green the grass was and how blue the sky was in the middle of winter. I would definitely do another trip to Ireland at some point to explore its nature more, rather than its cities (though I still enjoyed those).

Cost

The extra trip to Ireland required a flight from Copenhagen. This was 648.03 DKK, or around $130 CAD for a round-trip flight. I love how cheap it is to travel within Europe, and especially if you’re willing to travel light and use a discount airline (I used Ryanair), travel is really cheap. That being said, my landing in Dublin was really rough, and my hearing was shot for much of the first day. The return trip was better, though. In addition to flights, I bought my usual souvenir flag from a shop in Galway, costing €4.99 or $7.57.

Concluding Thoughts

Galway was definitely a fun city to visit. Any city that is on the water will likely be a favourite of mine. It’s always a bonus when not only is the nature beautiful, but the city too. Galway is one of those cities. Though the beach was my highlight, I really enjoyed the small-town vibes of central Galway, how walkable the city was, and how historical the city felt, even though some buildings were a lot more recent than they appeared. I absolutely recommend a trip to Galway.