As I mentioned in my last post, I arrived very late Sunday night for my (Republic of) Ireland coach tour, having missed the 'let's all meet each other, and get our stuff' get-together as well as the tour group dinner.
That's one reason for the title of this post. The second is more important. In all of the times I have been in the UK over the years, I have never made it to Ireland (or Northern Ireland, part of the UK). I'm not sure why, but I'm here now and so looking forward to it!
[And let me say this as well. As I have in the past sometimes, I have fallen behind on my blog posts. The problem with being with a tour group is that you are with a tour group. When I am on my own, I have the time to stop and load pictures and natter on about my travels. Our schedule with this Irish coach tour is leisurely but also very full. So by the time I get back to my hotel room, there have been multiple nights where it was all I could do to copy my photos over to the laptop and then give up for the day. As a result, I will be writing as if each post is just barely in the past ... please forgive me!]
We left Dublin this morning at 9:00am in our coach, with John (our driver) and Meagan (our Tour Director). Our destination for today was Galway, with an optional walking tour with a local guide scheduled for about 12:30. Our first stop, though, was in a little town along the way for the treat of morning coffee/tea and a (traditional) scone with jam and cream. Lovely!
Then west to Galway. We arrived before check-in, so left our bags and non-essential carry-ons at reception and headed out on the walking tour. Galway is on the River Corrib between Lough (Lake) Corrib and Galway Bay. Today it is a relatively large town of about 85,000-ish people, and like many places in Europe it grew from people who settled around a fortification built by a king in the early part of the 12th century. It became, again like in many areas, a walled city.
The entrance into the area to see some of what's left of the walls starts, amazingly, inside a mall. Not generally what I expect to see. Here are a few pictures though.
The famous Irish family names (and our local tour guide):
St. Nicholas' Collegiate Church - founded in 1320, and dedicated to the patron saint of seafarers, St. Nicholas of Myra.
Wandering the town, pubs and the river:
The first picture is to commemorate Richard Martin who was an Irish MP known for his efforts against cruelty toward animals. Our guide found that quite ironic, given that Martin apparently fought something like 100 duels and was said to have killed 4 men during his lifetime.
The last picture below is of the famous "Galway Girl" (songs by Steve Earle in 2000 and Ed Sheeran in 2017). The term reflects a popular stereotype of Irish women as being beautiful, charming, and full of life.
After the guided tour I took a slightly different route back to our hotel, and got settled in my room (now available) and changed for our 'medieval dinner' at Dunguaire Castle, an early 16th century tower house on the southeastern shore of Galway Bay. We had a 3-course dinner and entertainment. A fun evening ... and the area right around the castle was beautiful.
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