Galway City Ireland information and places to visit

The ancient port city of Galway hangs on to a romantic past that has been seasoned as much by myth as by reality. It isn't the glory of the early Gaelic kingdoms that haunts the local folk memory so much as the swashbuckling days of the Spanish Main. It was then that the prevailing south westerlies, speeded tall ships toward Galway from the ports of Spain. In the 15th and 16th centuries, the two places were engaged in a rich, bustling commerce, and the image of noble Spanish hidalgos swaggering through the cobbled streets of Galway still burns bright in the imagination.

Galway city and its Spanish connection

Galway is proud of its medieval Spanish connection, almost to the point of forgetting that the really potent influence in shaping the city was Anglo­Norman. The citizenry sees the hand of Spain everywhere, and indeed some of the old back-street townhouses and courtyards are faintly reminiscent of all things Español. Down near the docks, the celebrated Spanish Arch is an extension of the fortress walls that protected the old city and probably got its name from the Spanish sailors who once frequented the nearby alehouses.

Galway nurtures the fables of a colourful past in other ways. Its most famous legend is that of the mayor who hanged his own son. This archetype of the stern father was one James Lynch Fitzstephen who, in 1493, condemned his son Walter as a murderer. Apparently, Walter had killed a visiting Spaniard for stealing his girlfriend. So popular was Walter throughout Galway that no one could be found to hang him, so the father had to do it himself. A stone memorial window marks the execution spot. Even though gray-bearded historians have debunked this story in modern times, a stone window still stands, and most Galwegians are loyal to the legend.

Christopher Columbus and Galway City Ireland

There's a stronger ring of truth to another much told tale, that of Christopher Columbus discovering Galway before he ever clapped a weathered eye on America. It is believed that he called here and prayed in St. Nicholas's Church en route to the uncharted western seas. The church might be considered an auspicious stopping-off place for any would-be discoverer, because this particular St. Nicholas was the patron saint of sea voyagers.

Whatever the truth of the Columbus story, it is hard to shake the faith of Galway natives in their own notable explorer and saint, Brendan. They and many other Irish people believe that St. Brendan discovered the New World centuries before the Italian upstart. Naturally, Brendan sailed from Galway.

Galway's origins go back long before the 6th-century St. Brendan and Christian times. There were settlements on its river in pagan days. The Irish for Galway is Gaillimh (pronounced Golliv), and legend has it that the name comes from a princess, Gaillimh, who was drowned in the river. Nowadays, the river is called the Corrib, and its surging waters rushing into Galway Bay are the pulsing soul and spirit of the city. In summertime, legions of silver salmon swarm in from the Atlantic feeding grounds in response to the im­memorial spawning call and fight their way upriver to the headwaters where they were born. This natural phenomenon used to be one of the more uplifting sights in Galway, and it still is in a way, though the salmon have been thinned out by pollution and the nets of the factory ships.

The history of Galway City Ireland

It was the Normans, not the Spaniards or anyone else, who developed Galway into a thriving mercantile city. During the 13th century they hop­scotched from Britain to Ireland with the help of a pope and a traitorous Irish prince, and when their armies reached Galway, they quickly subdued the native tribes, taking over the city. They built stout walls around it to keep out the wild Irish - and then, in a matter of decades, became more Irish than the Irish themselves. Much later, in the mid-17th century, Cromwell smashed his iron fist on the city and reinforced the chains of conquest.

Galway became known as the City of the Tribes because of the 14 dynastic merchant families that controlled its wealth and fortune for several centuries. Outside the walls, across the river, the relics of the ancient Irish civilization survived in the fishing village called Claddagh, which spreads out from Nimmo's Pier at the estuary of Galway Bay. Its thatch-roofed cottages have been torn down and replaced by drab, utilitarian homes, but it still manages to retain its identity and remain independent of Galway City.

From the middle of the 19th century until quite recently, Galway was a port for passenger liners plying the Atlantic between the United States and Europe. The passage was not always comfortable. During the potato famine of the 1840s, thousands of starving Irish peasants sailed from Galway to the New World aboard vessels whose abysmal conditions won them the chilling name "coffin ships." Only in recent years has Galway expanded rapidly and become highly industrialized. A recent half-mile-radius extension of the city borders increased the city's population overnight, from 30,000 to 55,000, and a massive urban renewal program in the late 1980s transformed the downtown area. This surge of progress, though, barely affected the leisurely rhythm of life here.

The old charm still lingers, especially in the back streets and alleyways. It is there that, in fanciful moments, a visitor can almost hear the thrum of Spanish guitars and the clack of Castilian castanets.

Places to see in Galway City

Eyre Square - This is the heart of the city and the place visitors usually see first. It once was the Fair Green, where livestock and produce were sold, and is now named after one of the ruling merchant tribes, the Eyres. (Charlotte Bronte got the title of her famous novel when she saw the name Jane Eyre on a gravestone during a visit to Galway.) The original pastoral appearance of the green was destroyed by local authorities in an outrageous act of philistinism during the I 960s, when they poured concrete sidewalks along its edges. The park within the square is named after John F. Kennedy, in memory of his Galway visit. There's a fascinating statue of a quirky gnome of an Irish writer named Padraic a Conaire at the northern end. A splendid cut-stone doorway, of a type seen in the better homes of long ago, also stands in the park, this one from the home of another tribe, the Brownes.

St. Nicholas's Church - This is the place where Columbus is said to have prayed before sailing off to discover America. Originally built by the Anglo-Normans in 1320, it has been greatly altered through the ensuing centuries: It retains its original chancel and is a repository for some striking medieval stone carvings and relics. The three­gabled west front is unparalleled in Ireland. After the reformation, the church became the prize in a tug-of-war between Protestants and Catholics and changed hands a number of times before Cromwell's forces finally secured it for the Protestants. It is also pleasant to wander through the country market set up outside the church on Saturday mornings.

Market St. Lynch Memorial Window - Just up the street from the church, this stone window marks the spot where the mayor of the city, James Lynch Fitzstephen, is said to have hanged his son Walter for murder in 1493. It isn't the actual window through which the luckless lad exited to the next world - this one was carved some 200 years later. The hanging story is a good one but almost certainly untrue.

Market St. Lynch's Castle - The ubiquitous Lynch tribe that gave so many mayors to the city originally lived in this 16th-century building, regarded by many as the finest town castle in all Ireland. It has been lovingly restored and preserved.
Salmon Weir - The centuries-old salmon fishery is below the Salmon Weir Bridge, opposite the new Catholic cathedral. This is a pleasant place to pass an hour in summer watching the salmon on their way up to the spawning grounds.

Catholic Cathedral - On the site of a former jailhouse opposite the Salmon Weir Bridge, this structure, built in the early 1960s, was inspired by Renaissance and other church architecture of the past. It is a large building but not remarkably lovely. Earl'sIsland.
Spanish Arch - The best-known landmark in Galway, the arch was built in 1594 as an addition to the Old Town wall, as well as protection for the docked Spanish ships unloading their wines nearby. Attached to the arch is a museum through which a traveller can climb to the top of the arch and look across the Corrib to Claddagh. Beside Wolfe Tone Bridge, where the river enters the sea.

Claddagh - This district was originally a fishing village where the native Irish clung to their old culture in defiance of the usurping Anglo-Normans within the walls. Claddagh people no longer fish, nor speak Irish, but they still proudly maintain a sense of separateness from the city. The famous Claddagh ring - two hands clasping a heart surmounted by a crown - was fashioned by local goldsmiths as the traditional wedding band. Cross the Corrib at Wolfe Tone Bridge to reach Claddagh.

Salthill - Galway's seaside resort is really part of the city. Salthill has three sandy beaches on Galway Bay, but invariably the weather is hostile to sunbathing and surfing. When the weather is good, swimming is safe and there's no crowding. The Leisureland complex that dominates the seafront has a huge heated indoor swimming pool and Coney Island-style amusements for children and adults. Southwest of Galway, Leisureland is reachable on foot or by frequent buses from Eyre Square.

Franciscan Abbey - Built in 1836, the abbey is on the site of a 13th-century friary that was founded by the De Burgos (Burkes), the first Norman Lords of Galway. St. Francis St. University College - The original building, completed in 1849, was modelled in neo-Gothic style on some of the colleges at Oxford. Built as a non-denominational institution, it was once condemned as godless by the Catholic bishops, who forbade Catholics to attend, but the ban was ignored. A small university, it has a friendly, unstuffy atmosphere; someone is always willing to show visitors around. Main entrance to the campus is off University Rd.

Generally, Galway is a quiet place, but it does have its moments. In Autumn it lets down its hair and stages the closest approximation of la dolce vita that anyone will find in Ireland. This is the Galway Oyster Festival, held every year over a very long and vertiginous weekend in September.

A most sybaritic occasion, it has many more temptations than the oysters everyone ostensibly comes to eat. The organized events of the festival are rather expensive and must be booked in advance. It's also advisable to reserve a hotel room, especially at any of the other better hotels in Galway. Events of the festival, from Friday night to Sunday morning, include a reception and dinner, festival banquet, lunch, oyster tasting, and recuperative Irish coffee "morning after.”

The Galway Arts Festival, held for 10 days in July, has developed into one of the most innovative and exciting occasions in Irish life, attracting hosts of young people from all over Ireland and abroad. It features a brilliant array of Irish and international plays, musical events, and art exhibitions, as well as a week-long carnival and all sorts of fringe happenings.

Finally, don't leave Galway without visiting the Aran Islands and see if you can take part in one of those medieval banquets in Dunguaire Castle.
Southern Ireland is one of the most beautiful places to visit in Europe, and the best way to get around is to hire a car at your airport in Ireland. Car hire can be pre-booked to save you time and money when you arrive, and leaving you free to enjoy your stay in Galway City, Dublin or any other destination in Ireland. You can find cheap deals for flights and accommodation in Galway City and Dublin, and whatever you want to see in Ireland, you can book it before you go.