The events in this post happened on July 25th.

After the U2 concert, we hopped into a rental car for the three hour drive from Dublin to Galway. Whereas Dublin is on the eastern side of Ireland, Galway is located on the western side. (see the Aran Islands directly to the west of Galway? we were going there the next day)

Map of Ireland

Along the way, we stopped in what we thought was a “small town” called Athlone. It wasn’t until we got there that we realized it, while not a large city, was a lot larger than a small town (it had a pretty sizable shopping mall that we parked in)

We stopped because it was a good halfway point to stop for lunch (Wikipedia says its the geographic center of Ireland) and because of it’s beautiful lake, Lough Ree. We wantered around town and eventually stopped at The Olive Grove for lunch.

Again, the food here was great. Martha had a fresh seabass with cream and leek sauce over potatoes while I enjoyed Mediterannean grilled chicken with string beans. There was live music and the food was both delicious and well priced. We didn’t spend much time there but we did park at the huge mall and, in walking through it, felt like we were in the US.

Onto Galway!

1. Lunch at the Brazen Head Inn
2. First Day in Dublin, Ireland
3. Guinness Storehouse Tour in Dublin
4. U2 Concert in Dublin
5. Europe Adventure 2009