I woke to a great surprise, the sun was shining brightly and there was only one thing left to do before leaving for Dublin, laundry. Laundry is the hidden obstacle course of traveling. Fortunately, there was a Laundrette a short walk from the hostel.
The laundry process is seemingly different in every country. In this particular case, roughly ten USD will provide you with a washing machine that you are free to load, then the laundry manager puts the powder and a token in the machine. This then frees you to do as you wish for a half-hour. My choice was one final walk around town.
Eyre Square looked crisp in the bright sunshine. There is a blend of contemporary design and traditional architecture. This may be epitomized by the jagged edged fountain, in front of row houses.
The row of traditional Irish clan names and their crest flags was a great recent addition to the north side of the square.
The city street plan for the old town of Galway is typical, without a straight street in sight, which makes for really interesting and carefully directed walks.
Looking down at the coble stones I noticed that even the utility street covers are a forged piece of work.
After an hour of lukewarm clothes drying, they were near enough to dry to fold and start the drive to Dublin. When the locals learned of my drive plans there was a consistent gutteral sigh of pity. On a good day the drive can be accomplished in around four hours. But, with construction at full tilt the roads were sure to be clogged with traffic, resulting in an afternoon filled with five and a half hours of clutch work.
Five thirty brought the city limits and a debate, “Can I find the hotel, drop my bags, and return the car before 7:00pm?” What the heck… go for it! The trick of Dublin is that you can simply forget about major roads entering the city loop and absolutely none of them are straight. My rental car map, that conveniently omitted many of the streets, was exceptionally impotent as well. Then to make things a little more interesting, the street names change by block in many occasions. So, if you have the address, life is not as simple as finding the street name and then following the numbers through the blocks until eventually meeting your destination.
In this case I knew the hotel was near St. Stephens Green, a one square block city park that has no less than nine street entry points. The plan was to find the Liffey River, then follow along the banks on Wolfe Tome Quay, Ellis Quay, Arran Quay, Inns Quay, Ormond Quay, Bachelors Walk, Eden Quay, etc., until finding the port and turning right. At this point I had no clue about the constant street name changes and the labrinth of one-way streets.
After fumbling around town and after the charm of exploration had worn off I pulled along side a motorcycle police officer and asked directions. The good news was we were positioned less than 400 meters from the hotel’s front door. The challenge was that there were no less than four turns to be executed and two one-way streets to successfully cross navigate before turning. Success.
Armed with the Door Man’s advice and a detailed city map, the fun of exploring the city returned. In spite of rush hour traffic the airport rental lot was only forty-five minutes away. The return was even easier. One Euro and ninety cents and the A16 bus swung through downtown, dropping me off at Cuffe Street with only a two-block walk remaining.
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