Galway, Hurling Champions of 2017

This is the main room of our cottage. Mark and I had the room upstairs. It was lovely and cozy with the bed under a window. We woke to rain.

When the tide is in there is a lovely little bay in front of the cottages

My Sam's Club raincoat worked beautifully. It was not too heavy and kept me dry, 

probably because I waterproofed it well with Scotchgard before I left Arizona. 

I mostly quit carrying an umbrella and used my hood when it rained

We drove north towards Galway, stopping in a couple small towns to walk the streets and shop.

Galway has bragging rights this year as they won the Liam Cup which is the trophy given when you win the National Hurling Championship. (FYI: Hurling has everything to do with fine amateur sport and nothing to do with barfing)

We parked the car in a parking garage close to Eyre Square and searched for a pub to eat lunch in. Our first try was suspiciously empty and smelled like "wee". We all scurried out, leaving Keith behind in the loo to wonder where we'd all got to.

The next pub we tried was much livelier and had delicious food. The only problem was that we were seated by a backdoor onto a patio and every time someone went outside, they door stayed open and froze me. It was worth it for the good food and a pub that didn't smell like wee.

The streets of Galway are lovely and lively. There is a busy shop district where no cars are allowed

This statue is of Oscar Wilde (on the left), one of Ireland's most famous and loved writers, and 

Eduard Wilde, an Estonian writer. They were of the same generation, but the sculptor just imagined them meeting on a bench.

I loved the street performers and wish we'd had time to listen to them longer. There is such a lively vibe in Galway. I loved it.

There was a tiny museum (one small room) dedicated to the Claddagh ring. Apparently, the man who designed the ring was kidnapped and lived in captivity in Algeria for years, but learned goldsmithing while there. When he was finally able to return to his sweetheart in Galway, who had waited for him. He gave her this ring. It symbolizes love, friendship and loyalty and is named for the Claddagh region in Galway. 

The River Corrib is the shortest river in Ireland. It was running high and wild because of the high tide while we were there. I watched a kayaker navigate under the bridge and then get out at the Spanish Arch, which is a landmark.

We spent a fast hour in this museum. My favorite thing was looking out the third story window at the river below and the birds swooping and diving. 

We bought tickets for a performance of Eir Inish, which was the last night of a 4 month run. We got to the Black Box Theater early and so took a walk to the river. The sunset was so beautiful.

Carol was so focused on her shot she didn't notice me stalking her.

The performance of Eir Inish was a great highlight of our trip. There were four very talented musicians playing the flute, drums, guitar, harp and violin. There were two excellent singers, one male and one female. There were two great male dancers and four female, one of whom danced both ballet and Irish step. They sang mostly traditional songs, but also an Ed Sheeran tune and one by U2. It was such a good night.