December 21, 2016

For Christmas, Grant and I decided to do something special. We’d been wanting to see other parts of Ireland. The difficult part was deciding where to go. Our choices seemed like pretty good options all around. We could visit Cork, and from there see Blarney Castle and the “Ring of Kerry”, which we’ve seen videos of and it’s gorgeous. Or we could go slightly south to Wexford, and see the southeastern coast of Ireland, maybe make our way down to Waterford and tour the Waterford Crystal Factory.

In the end, we decided on Galway and the west coast of Ireland for our holidays.

We woke up early, packed some last minute items, and made our way to the Busaras bus station near our apartment. Because we took the express bus, it took 3 and a half hours in all to get there:

 

The bust ride was pretty smooth. We mostly drove through the flat Irish countryside and passed a handful of cute towns. The cloud cover started out a grayish-white and began pouring rain halfway there. When we got to Galway, it was still overcast with some showers mixed in here and there.

We arrived just in time for lunch at The Skeff restaurant off the main town square. The restaurant had a very Irish Victorian Saloon-style interior to it that made me feel like I had stepped back in time, it was also enormous.

 

 

Galway is small city on the west coast of Ireland in the province of Connact, and is the fourth most populous area in the Republic of Ireland. Its name comes from the river that runs through it, the River Corrib, which flows between Lough Corrib (lake Corrib) and Galway Bay. The River Corrib is called Gaillimh in Gaelic and that’s where Galway originally got its name. A fort was constructed in 1124 at the mouth of Galway Bay by King of Connacht, and a settlement grew up around the fort.

During the Norman invasion of Galway in the 1230’s, the Normans took control of the city. The increasing number of wealthy Norman merchants soon demanded a wall be built, to keep the riff-raff out. This was completed in 1484 and caused trouble with the original Irish inhabitants. According to Wikipedia, a west gate was completed in 1562 by Mayor Thomas Óge Martyn with a notice over it and the words, “From the Ferocious O’Flahertys may God protect us”. The residents of Galway by this time were mostly Norman and a bylaw didn’t allow for the native Irish to have access to Galway without permission, “neither O’ nor Mac shall strutte nor swagger through the streets of Galway”.

Galway soon became known as the “city of foreigners” and started flourishing as a port. It was ruled by the “tribe of 14”, 14 merchant families that pushed for laws and ran things in the city. Of these wealthy merchant families, only two had Irish heritage. The others claimed to be of Norman descent.

One of the house doors of the “tribe of 14” now stands in Eyre Square as a historical monument.

 

 

 

By the mouth of the river, on the west side, there once stood the Claddagh, a village of thatched roof houses where the Irish lived on the outside of the wall. This is the oldest part of Galway, and where the famous Claddagh ring originated. Although there remain no signs that the Claddagh ever existed (the houses were all torn down and newer buildings were built), you can still buy a genuine Claddagh ring from many of the shops that line the main street of Old Town Galway. They smith a lot of the rings in-shop and many goldsmithing jewelry stores are from the times when the Claddagh still existed.

 

 

 

Moving on to the Spanish arch, built 1584. This was one of the arches that was part of the famed city walls. The walls are no longer there, but the Spanish arch remains. The name is a bit misleading as there is no proof that the Spanish built the arch, it’s just a leftover remnant of the walled city.

 

 

 

The city museum is nestled into another piece of the wall and is located near the Spanish arch. We didn’t get to visit the museum as it was closed over the Christmas holiday. I was a little disappointed but there were other things to enjoy, like the main street of the Old Town area (also known as the Latin Quarter). There was some creative busking going on here:

 

 

 

 

If you’re interested in buying a claddagh ring in Ireland, I recommend doing it in Galway. You have many design options to choose from and you can speak to the jewelers directly for customizing. I’m sure many a husband or boyfriend has dreaded going into the claddagh jewelry stores for fear they might come out with a lighter wallet. Thankfully, that didn’t happen to us but it did happen to a few couples we met.

Galway is now a much more inclusive city, and hosts many festivals and cultural events. We caught the tail-end of their annual Christmas market, which ran from November 18th to December 22nd this year.

 

We made our way along the Corrib River to Galway Catherdral (The Cathedral of Our Lady Assumed into Heaven and St. Nicholas). This was impressive on the outside complete with seagull sentries, but the “wow” factor was definitely amplified on the inside. The cathedral was constructed in 1958 at the location of an old prison.

The design of the architecture is a combination of different influences, the domes and pillars being in the Renaissance style.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Galway was a little blustery and cold this time of year, but definitely worth the visit.

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