Italics are tour company description
September 12 2015
GALWAY: After breakfast today we include a direct transfer to Galway, meet with your driver at 11am for the transfer. (We can adjust this if you prefer earlier).
Actually we still have Mick as our driver and we agree to start at 10AM. We have another wonderful breakfast at Dromoland. Mick messages that he is stuck in traffic so we amuse ourselves with some photos of the grounds.
The hotel offers a unique insight into the noble and ancient art of Falconry.
Once Mick arrives we make a quick stop for the guys at the golf shop and they both pick up golf shirts.
The drive to Galway is quiet. When we reach the town, Mick's home town, we are given a great overview. Once again Mick goes beyond.
After a coffee we check out this.
It's a tradition in Galway that when a person walks the promenade that they kick the wall at the end before turning to walk back. It doesn't matter if you walk all or part of the prom, if you kick the wall you've "walked the prom" and if you don't kick the wall, you haven't. It's a Galway thing!
There is a donation box.
Mick takes us by the Claddagh church. More on that on inSPIREd Sunday!
Sally Long's pub, Mick's local, with its amazing mural. You'll have to check back on a Monday Mural post.
The Galway Cathedral, more on inSPIREd Sunday!
A stop at the University of Galway quadrant.
Galway, with a population of 65,000 is the ideal European university town. A significant number of Galway’s population is current or former college students; the resulting interdependence of town and college has helped to build a vibrant cosmopolitan city that caters for young people.
On arrival in Galway you will be dropped off at the centrally located Park House Hotel where we include one night in 2 deluxe double rooms.
Mick gets us to our hotel and we have the rest of the day to ourselves.
We get checked in to the Park House Hotel.
This upscale hotel in a grand Victorian-style stone building with a columned entrance way is a 2-minute walk from Eyre Square and a 10-minute walk from a riverfront pub.
The afternoon is free for you to explore this great city. Arty, bohemian Galway (Gaillimh) is renowned for its pleasures. Brightly painted pubs heave with live music, while cafes offer front-row seats for observing street performers, weekend parties run amuck, lovers entwined and more. Steeped in history, the city nonetheless has a contemporary vibe. Students make up a quarter of its population, and remnants of the medieval town walls lie between shops selling Aran sweaters, handcrafted Claddagh rings and stacks of second-hand and new books. Bridges arch over the
salmon-filled River Corrib, and a long promenade leads to the seaside suburb of Salthill, on Galway
Bay, the source of the area's famous oysters.
It is a bright sunny day and we head out for lunch across the street. Sandwiches and Guinness/tea.
Then we split up to do shopping and sightseeing.
Galway
Eyre Square is the centre piece to Galway City and was officially presented to the city in 1710 by Mayor Edward Eyre, from whom it took its name. Originally surrounded with a wooden fence, it was enclosed with iron railings in the late 1700s. These were removed in the 1960s, and subsequently re-erected around St Nicholas' Collegiate Church.
Strolling down the pedestrian mall on a Saturday it is a busy place.
The name of the Claddagh area is based on the Irish word "cladach", meaning a stony beach. People have been gathering seafood and fishing from here for millennia. Historically, its existence has been recorded since the arrival of Christianity in the 5th century.
Another church but this time it is from medieval times 1320! You have to wait for more pictures. We spend a long time studying the various displays.
Galway's famous Spanish Arch is located on the left bank of the Corrib, where Galway's river meets the sea. The Spanish Arch was originally a 16th century bastion, which was added to Galway's town walls to protect merchant ships from looting. At this time, it was known as Ceann an Bhalla (Head of the Wall). Its current name "Spanish Arch" refers to former merchant trade with Spain, whose galleons often docked here. In 1755, the arches were partially destroyed by the tidal wave generated by the 1755 Lisbon earthquake. In recent times part of the Arch has been converted into the Galway City Museum.
The Salmon Weir Bridge crosses the Corrib from the Cathedral on one side to the courthouse on the other. Many people gather on this bridge in summer to see the shoals of salmon make their way up the Corrib river to spawn.
One the finest medieval laneways in Galway, Kirwan's Lane, located in what is now referred to as the Latin Quarter of Galway contains many relics of 16th and 17th century architecture. It is at the centre of the area that was originally within the city walls, and is named after one of Galway's fourteen "tribes" - the families who ruled the town for several centuries. The area has been significantly restored over the years and has rejuvenated the heart of Galway’s historical town centre. It is now home to many bohemian styles cafes, restaurants, bars and craft-shops.
We head back to the hotel and stop for a drink in the hotel bar before relaxing before dinner.
Dinner is in the Latin Quarter at a quaint little place Finnigan's. Took this photo earlier in the day.
Blair, on the outside, looking in.
