Galway City Ireland

Day 78/Ireland 11

Travelled:195km along Wild Atlantic Way in Connemara to Galway City

Visited: sights along the way and Galway City

Stay: Galway Nimmo Pier carpark N53.2672 W9.0541

Yoo Hoo - no rain today as we continued following the Wild Atlantic Way and stopping at most of the spots along the way of the Connemara stage to Galway. 

We have using this website which has been very handy..

Our first stop was at a beautiful bay where a smokehouse (closed) sold smoked fish direct to the public and also offered tours.

 We then popped in to have a look at Dog’s and Gorteen Bays.

Here are some different houses we saw along the way...

New stone house

Old castle ruins

Small crofters hut

Crofters house

These are a popular design now in Ireland

There are a few thatched houses around this area too.

 We had a stroll along the street to the harbour of Roundstone, an old fishing village, now filled with cafes, pubs and hotels. 

Close by we enjoyed a cooked breakfast on the shores of Cloonisle Quay where we learnt about seaweed harvesting which is easily accessible during low tide.

We continued zig zagging our way along following the WAW signs and came to another little pier. There are plenty of these around for the locals to access.

Here is a hooker and is regularly maintained with a tar like product probably produced from peat.

 In Gortmore we made use of the lovely new service point.

 We then made our way over several stone bridges/causeways to the Islands Gorumna and Lettermullan as well as a couple of others. The landscape was quite rocky. We made it to the end of the road where we chatted to a very friendly local who said he couldn’t live through another winter here! 

More narrow roads to navigate...Bluey can’t escape the bushes

Lots of horses here too.

Coral Beach was very popular and we found out that the ‘sand’ is actually dead pieces of algae and like most places, the water was very clear. 

 

The heather is flowering creating colour in amongst the very rocks

There are a lot of dry stone walls created from rocks whilst trying to create fields.

After a quick visit at Ballynahown Pier,

 we had a walk in Spiddal which is another town focused on beach holiday makers. 

As Galway was only 20mins away and it was just 2pm we decided to try our luck to find a parking spot, being a Sunday afternoon. We had success at our first attempt at Nimmo Pier and didn’t waste anytime going into town. 

The Latin Quarter is where the action is and as we crossed the bridge we were struck by the crowds, but happily it was not overwhelming.

 There was plenty of atmosphere with the street lined with pubs, shops and buskers. 

We chose a pub with traditional live music and enjoyed a beer and a jig (dance). We also had a fun chat with a local, Veronica.

 Later we went to explore more of High Street up to Eyre Square, but didn’t dally as we had skipped lunch and we’re now hungry. Having accomplished filling our bellies with food we crossed the Salmon Weir Bridge, where firshermen still catch salmon as they make their way up river. 

We managed to have a look inside the Cathedral which was only built in 1965.

  The  stone work was very impressive along with the mosaics and the centre dome. 

We then returned to find another pub with live traditional music. As we downed our liquid refreshments, Mark a Murphy’s Irish Stout and I, a Bulmers cider, we listened to the music whilst chatting to another friendly local at the bar.

An excited fan punched a hole in the ceiling as he raised his arms in celebration, so the pub framed it!

 On our way back to Bluey we crossed over the river where a small tower sits on the bank. It was built in 1853 and used as a draft netting station as well as a lookout for poachers and to check fish stock levels. 

A view of the Cathedral down river

Spanish Arch

We had a cuppa and settled in for the night as the sun went down on another full day in beautiful Ireland. 

Here are a few murals we saw ...