Galway is a town on the the Galway Bay off the Atlantic Coast that is due west from Dublin. We are now half way around the country and thus half way done with our trip :-(. Does anyone else start to get a bit sad as the reach the halfway point of their vacation? Anyway, we still have a lot of fun sites to see.
Morning in Galway
The hotel has a gym! So I woke up early and headed to the gym. Not that I haven’t been getting enough cardio during this trip, with all the climbing and walking my fit bit indicates I am burning over 2,000 calories a day. I decided to do the elliptical and then lift some weights for my upper body and arms. I was scared to try and do a heavy leg day as we have a lot of walking today.
We ate breakfast at the hotel restaurant’s buffet. We had paid a discounted price of 26 Euro for the family at check in to enjoy the breakfast. Buffets always scare me a bit, as I feel like I need to get my money’s worth and end up eating too much and then feeling ill for a bit. I chose some ham, sausage, eggs, and mini chocolate croissants. The kids enjoyed pancakes and some peaches.
My selection of goodies from the Connacht hotel breakfast
Wow! That’s a bowl of peaches!
Walking Tour Through Galway
We chose another Pinterest find for the “perfrect Galway stroll.” We started at the Train station and walked through Eyre Square. There is a bust of JFK in the middle and the kids enjoyed playing in the Kennedy park.
The kids found another park, this one named after an American president: JFK.
A pretty water feature in the middle of Kennedy Park in Galway.
Look what we found Grandma and Grandad! Maybe we are Irish?!
We walked down Shop Street and did some shopping enjoying the street musicians. The street was lively with the entertainment. We saw some singing, a group of young boys playing Irish music, a juggling/trick performer, a man playing the spoons, and a lot more.
Enjoying the street performers along Shop Street in Galway
The kid group we saw, they don’t look very happy? Hope they are just nervous and not child laborers.
The kids’ favorite street performer, he was juggling 5 torches of fire and a sword while on a unicycle.
Don’t you think he looks so cute in this hat? I keep trying to convince him to get one for his souvenir.
We had planned on eating lunch at a restaurant called Pura Vida, so I could finally get some Irish stew. But we could ‘t find it! So we continued walking along the River Corrib and under the Spanish arches.
The Spanish arches in the street of Galway, these use to be an extension of the city wall until partially destroyed by a tsunami.
I took a wrong turn, since I was still looking for this elusive restaurant, and we ended up a bit West of our planned route. We waled along a bit and found a large church and thought it was the Galway Cathedral. But it wasn’t, we’re not really sure what church it was but it was pretty.
The Corrib river through Galway, and the kids getting along long enough for a picture.
The church we thought was the Galway Cathedral…still impressive though
We walked around some more and found the Galway Cathedral and then the National University of Ireland.
Okay, so the real Galway Cathedral is much more impressive!
Outside the main entrance of the National University of Ireland
Something Nice to Eat in Galway
By this time we were pretty hungry, despite my large breakfast, and the kids were getting tired. We found a restaurant in the town called Finnegans, which was built inside the oldest Medival building in Galway, and I finally had Irish lamb stew. It was delicious! And look at all those ways to serve potatoes on one plate. I love the Irish! A great lunch only cost us 20.45 Euro.
Finnegans in Galway
Yay! Finally had some Irish stew with lamb. It was delicious!
Irish Dancing Show – Trod on the Pram
We headed back to the hotel and the kids swam in the pool for a bit before we needed to get ready for our Irish dancing show – Trad on the Prom. We had pre-booked the show costing us 75 Euro. We were nervous about getting dinner at a traditional restaurant and making the show on time. Luckily there was a little cafe in the building where the show was being held. We had a pannini, sausage roll (more like croissant), a bag of popcorn (my poor daughter and her picky palate), and a scone with a cafe mocha. All of this cost us 11.50 Euro.
Now we were ready 1 hour before the doors opened, so the kids played some in a little area in the cafe. The seating at the show is first come first serve, so we got in line and waited to enter at 7:50pm. We had great seats and the show was absolutely marvelous! The musicians are so talented playing so many different instruments. The violinist used to play in Riverdance. The Irish dancers were all “World Champions” from 3-10 times. Wow! This has been the best part of our trip thus far, and now my daughter has Irish fever and is dancing everywhere.
Trad on the Prom musicians in Galway, they were simply amazing!
The female Irish dancers at Trad on the Prom, they can move their feet so fast and jump so high.
The show was late so we didn’t get back to the hotel until around 11pm… so we headed to bed. We are heading to the Cliffs of Moher tomorrow.
