The first and last day in Galway (we were there only 3 days) were very light, so I'm grouping them together. I don't think it changes the narrative too much.
=====
Friday: Dublin to Galway, walking around Galway.
We were up early enough to catch the 09:15 AM GoBus to Galway. There's at least one more bus that runs only between Galway and Dublin (citylink, I think), in addition to the (slower and more expensive Bus Eirann). Got in around noon, dropped our stuff at the B-n-B and headed back in to walk around.
=====
Friday: Dublin to Galway, walking around Galway.
We were up early enough to catch the 09:15 AM GoBus to Galway. There's at least one more bus that runs only between Galway and Dublin (citylink, I think), in addition to the (slower and more expensive Bus Eirann). Got in around noon, dropped our stuff at the B-n-B and headed back in to walk around.
 |
| The Lighthouse B-n-B, Galway, Lough Atalia Road |
[Edit from Andrew: "The city has a population of about 70,000 and is either the third or fourth largest city in Ireland, depending on who's counting: Cork is about 2.5 times as big, and Limerick used to be bigger, but has fallen back in relative terms. "]
It's much more cozy, has a feel somewhere between preserved-and-quaint and college-town-ish. They have around 70 pubs, many quite interesting and with live music daily.
It's kind of hard to show with a picture, but the combination of lots-of-rain (causing floods in a good chunk of the country) and that this is (supposedly) the fastest flowing river in Europe made for some epic noise and roiling water:
 |
| behold, the river Corrib! |
What looks to be a crossing bridge thing, completely under water:
[Edit, from Andrew: ``[R]elated to the fisheries service offices nearby. Possibly eel fishing facilities, or something to do with salmon - I'm afraid I don't know the details. It's not always submerged, but while there's a walkway part way, it's not a bridge.'']
Here's someone else's recent video of said river. Kind of "meh" quality, but it conveys the point.
There's also a body of water running parallel to it that seems like a kind of lock or runoff. Much calmer:
A nice house along this side-stream:
[Edit, from Andrew: ``[R]elated to the fisheries service offices nearby. Possibly eel fishing facilities, or something to do with salmon - I'm afraid I don't know the details. It's not always submerged, but while there's a walkway part way, it's not a bridge.'']
 |
| flooded thing in the Corrib |
Here's someone else's recent video of said river. Kind of "meh" quality, but it conveys the point.
There's also a body of water running parallel to it that seems like a kind of lock or runoff. Much calmer:
 |
A nice house along this side-stream:
Random pictures of the town:
 |
| random blue building |
 |
| Clippy thinks you need -- a coffee, lunch, or cake. |
 |
| turquoise door frames |
We stopped for some snacks at a small store. Outside, I was excited to see peat for sale:
 |
PEAT! |
During the walk around town, we also went by the Galway Cathedral. Formerly a jail (Gaol), it supposedly still has the underground part of the cells (which is kind of creepy) and the rest was rebuilt into the church as it stands:
 |
| Galway Cathedral |
 |
| bloody stained glass window |
 |
| turns out, it's hard to take pictures of stained glass |
I am reasonably certain that most/all of the red in this second one is supposed to be blood.
JFK visited while it was under construction. Apparently he was pretty well loved in Ireland, and people felt like he did a lot to improve the reputation of Irish people worldwide. So, here's a mosaic of him in a side chapel of the cathedral:
We also walked through a mall which was built around a re-built old tower from, I think, the city's defenses. Kind of odd, tower completely enclosed in a mall. Here's the plaque:
Here's a bit on the history of the wall, from the mall website:
And here is someone else's attempt to take a picture of the thing.
===================
[Interlude: Day 2 (Saturday) we went on a tour of Connemara and Cong. See next post.]
===================
Day 3 in Galway: we walked to the Salthill Promenade.
[Edit from Andrew (thanks for providing the background): ``The wall near the Spanish Arch is one of the few remnants of the city walls still out in the open and visible in a public space - the city museum beside where you were is quite new (under a decade) and the house attached to the wall is where it used to be housed. ...If you follow a straight line, jogging a little, you will reach that section inside the Eyre Square centre [the mall]....Spanish Arch and Spanish Parade are named after the fact that this was the main port area in town in the 1400s-1600s, when a lot of Spanish merchant vessels would stop in (including, it is said, one with Christopher Columbus, back when he was a mere sailor - you may have seen the memorial to him on the Spanish parade, donated by Genoa to mark the 500th anniversary of his transatlantic trip - though it's been moved from it's original location, so the arrows and directions are off)."]
I really liked the clouds and ocean in the next pic. It belied the smell--- the causeway on the left leads out to an island (well, I suppose, pseudo-island) on which is a sewage processing plant.
The following is one of the famine memorials in the park:
 |
| JFK picture |
We also walked through a mall which was built around a re-built old tower from, I think, the city's defenses. Kind of odd, tower completely enclosed in a mall. Here's the plaque:
 |
| part of the tower can be seen behind the plaque |
The walls built by the de Burgos in the 13th century to secure the town and its trade dominated the story of Galway for the next 500 years...The story of Galway city begins when Turlough O’Conor, king of Connacht, built a fort overlooking the ford at the mouth of the river Corrib at the beginning of the twelfth century. This fort was probably a timber structure, as there are repeated reports of it burning down. The O’Hallorans and O’Flahertys were allied to the O’Conor king and together they fought off Richard de Burgo and his army when the Norman knight first came to claim his grant of the lands of Connacht in 1230. De Burgo was back a few years later with a larger army and took control of the river crossing, building a castle to protect it. A town grew up around the castle and, despite continued aggression from the native Irish families and periodic burnings, the de Burgos continued to control the castle and the burgeoning town. A plaque supposedly erected over the west gate into the town bore the inscription ‘From the Ferocious O Flahertys O Lord deliver us’.
And here is someone else's attempt to take a picture of the thing.
We had dinner at the Quay ("key") Street kitchen. We walked through Tigh Neachtains, a pub that still has the traditional "snugs" -- little niches where women sat when they came to drink, with doors hiding them from the men in the pub. Here's someone's review of the place. It was super duper packed, so we kept walking, and ducked into the Quays bar.
Our B-n-B hostess had described it like a church (crammed inside a bar), with people playing live music at the altar-area. I'd actually describe the location of the stage as being really more choir-loft (as you can see in this picture (due to someone else)). The altar-esque-area would be the location of one of the bar counters. Here's another good picture, which shows where that main bar is.
As we walked in, it smelled heavenly, like someone had spilled a bottle of Scotch. It took me a minute to realize that this smell was coming from the cheery peat fire to the left of the entrance, in a cozy little fireplace. We walked down the stairs, by carved wooden arches and stained glass, then back up more stairs and behind the stage-area, into a sort of nook. We sat down and had some cider (Bulmers). Eventually, they started playing a Rugby game on the screen nearby, part of the 6 Nations games, Wales vs. France. I'd never seen Rugby before, so it was interesting and also kind of hilarious. I enjoyed the move where everyone rushes to grab one teammate by their legs and through him up in the air to catch the ball. The scrum is weird. I expect fewer injuries than American Football, as people have to be trained how to tackle "properly" for rugby, and there's also some sort of protective things people do once someone's down to guard them, forming kind of a human bridge or something around them.
Live music was the "Converse All Stars" after the Wales-France (Wales won) game. The sound system was awful, so we left early (it's not the kind of space where you need an amp, so it was terribly loud and distorted).
===================
[Interlude: Day 2 (Saturday) we went on a tour of Connemara and Cong. See next post.]
===================
Day 3 in Galway: we walked to the Salthill Promenade.
I'd been motion sick during the tour on Saturday and wasn't really ready to sign up for another tour, especially in combination with general "meh" weather. So we opted to not do a tour Sunday and instead slept half the day. When we got up, we walked over to Salthill, along the ocean, touching on Claddagh and a park (Celia Griffin park) made in memory of the children who died of starvation during the famine.
 |
| Spanish Arch, in Galway (I am unsure of the story here) |
[Edit from Andrew (thanks for providing the background): ``The wall near the Spanish Arch is one of the few remnants of the city walls still out in the open and visible in a public space - the city museum beside where you were is quite new (under a decade) and the house attached to the wall is where it used to be housed. ...If you follow a straight line, jogging a little, you will reach that section inside the Eyre Square centre [the mall]....Spanish Arch and Spanish Parade are named after the fact that this was the main port area in town in the 1400s-1600s, when a lot of Spanish merchant vessels would stop in (including, it is said, one with Christopher Columbus, back when he was a mere sailor - you may have seen the memorial to him on the Spanish parade, donated by Genoa to mark the 500th anniversary of his transatlantic trip - though it's been moved from it's original location, so the arrows and directions are off)."]
 |
| view of Galway, by Claddagh |
I really liked the clouds and ocean in the next pic. It belied the smell--- the causeway on the left leads out to an island (well, I suppose, pseudo-island) on which is a sewage processing plant.
 |
| view of ocean and clouds and causeway. |
The following is one of the famine memorials in the park:
 |
| memorial |
The following is also in the park. It's titled "starvation inquest"
 |
The text of most of it is as follows (from the wikipedia page on Celia Griffin):
" An inquest was held on Thursday last, before Michael Perrin, Esq., D.C., at the Presentation Convent, on view of the body of Celia Griffin, a girl about six years of age, from the village of Corindulla, near Ross, in this county. It appeared in evidence that the poor creature had been reduced to extreme poverty and that the family to whom she belonged, eight in number, were in the same pitiful condition. She had been recommended to the Ladies of the Presentation, by Rev. George Usher, as a fit object for relief, and accordingly she and her two sisters received a daily breakfast at that excellent Institute. They met Mr Usher on the Rahoon road about a fortnight ago, but famine had so preyed upon her feeble constitution, that, on the morning of Wednesday, she was unable to taste food of any description – so that on the post mortem examination made by Doctor Staunton, there was not a particle found in her stomach."
"She with her father, mother, brothers, and sisters, came to Galway about six weeks ago, in the hope of obtaining some charitable relief, and during that period have been begging in the streets, and about the country. The parents of the deceased formerly resided on the estate ofThomas Martin, Esq, MP. When Doctor Staunton was called on he found deceased is a state of inanition, except an occasional convulsive action of the muscles, and her body might be said to be literally skin and bone – with all the appearance of starvation. She was so exhausted, as not to be able to use the food supplied to her. The Jury found that her death was caused for want of the common necessaries of life, before she received relief at the Presentation Convent."
 |
| view of Salthill, past the shore |
Upper Salthill Street was a mixture of empty buildings and bustling businesses, although clustered -- successful places closer to the water. I'd read this, which made me want to go to O'Connor's famous pub. It had a sign saying it wasn't open again until 19:30, so we went looking for food.
We settled on the Galleon. They claimed to be "family-style", but the food was absolutely delicious, so that does not mean what it means in the States. It was 16.50 for a starter/dessert and main. Ended up with duck spring rolls, stuffed chicken breast (still on the bone), mashed potatoes, mashed carrots, some broccoli, and banoffee pie. Yum.
We settled on the Galleon. They claimed to be "family-style", but the food was absolutely delicious, so that does not mean what it means in the States. It was 16.50 for a starter/dessert and main. Ended up with duck spring rolls, stuffed chicken breast (still on the bone), mashed potatoes, mashed carrots, some broccoli, and banoffee pie. Yum.
 |
| fuck yeah, Banoffee pie. |
With time afterwards to kill, went to "Oslo", home of Galway Bay Brewery. Had a half-pint of their chocolate milk stout, which was delicious. Was also pleased with their general vast selection. I was pretty tempted to try their alcoholic ginger beer. Negatives -- The interior lacks character, is very open. It probably gets quite loud.
Having killed enough time, we wandered over to "O'Connor's famous pub", which was quirky, as described, and sat right next to the (wood) fire and split a cider. Eventually headed back, looking for music. Decided the Quays were too loud. Ended up at Taafe's, also next to a fireplace, listening to a live band. The bouncer could totally have been a former Rugby player. I was of the opinion that most of the bouncers were former Rugby players. :)
=========================
Next post -- tour of Connemara and Cong! (beautiful scenery, and a castle-turned-abbey).
=========================
Next post -- tour of Connemara and Cong! (beautiful scenery, and a castle-turned-abbey).
No comments:
Post a Comment