We took a train from Dublin to Galway on Thursday morning. That means, geographically, that we went from the East coast of Ireland to the West coast. Ireland is a relatively small country so the trip took only about 2.5 hours, including the8 stops along the way. The train was not crowded. The weather was overcast so we did not experience the multitude of green colors for which Ireland is so famous. What we saw were many, many small farms with small pastures for small herds of cattle and sheep. I do not recall seeing any grain fields, but that may just be because of the season.
We arrived in Galway and walked to nearby Eyre Square. I had thought it was windy in Dublin, but the wind took my hat and sent it through the air as soon as we left the station. I was able to chase it down. We knew that the Hardiman Hotel, where we are staying, was described as being on Eyre Square, but after looking at 3 sides of the square and consulting Google Maps, I could not find it. Google Maps said it was 60 feet away and I was sure that must be wrong. Patricia, using her eyes instead of a map, said “look behind you.” We had been standing with our backs to the hotel and I never thought to look around. Google Maps was exactly right, and I still missed it. It is a good thing (for many reasons) that we travel together. I’d have probably tried to hire a cab to take me to the hotel.
Our room was not ready yet, so we had a snack in the hotel’s Oyster Bar before we went to our walking tour. We started out at the Hall of the Red Earl, which was excavated in the late 1990’s. The site was going to be used for a new civic building but when the ruins were discovered below the ground, the building’s design was changed to preserve the site of the 13th century customs hall. The site is very close to where the harbor and storehouses would have been. It was in use for about 300 years and is the oldest excavated site in Galway. Our guide, Brendan, was an archeologist and history enthusiast. He took us to several places in the oldest part of the city and described where the city walls were, why they were necessary, when the fire burned much of the area, when the Anglo-Normans invaded, when Cromwell’s Army invaded, and about 90 other things. We did not walk particularly far, but we learned a lot about Galway history. The only problem was that Brendan knows so much that he would sometimes (often) go off on a tangent and would have to reluctantly re-focus. The 1.5 hour tour was still going after 2 hours but we left to get back to the hotel. It was a great introduction to medieval Galway.
The Hardiman hotel is 173 years old. After we tried to figure out how to get the room to be a little warmer than the outside using the electronic temperature control system mounted on the wall with little success, we discovered the old-fashioned radiators behind the window drapes. Patricia asked if they were putting out any heat and I said of course not. This is an updated hotel, and nobody uses radiators anymore. [You already know where this is going, don’t you?] We could not get the room to warm significantly, so I asked at the desk and was told “turn on the radiators.” That worked.
Our evening entertainment was a dining “experience.” If you are of a certain age, you may remember the British TV series “Fawlty Towers.” The Faulty Towers Dining Experience recreated some of the well-known skits from the TV show. We sat at a table of 8 (there were 13 tables overall) and laughed as we watched the re-enactors make a huge mess of a dinner. Even so, we had a good meal, and, while we weren’t laughing, had a lot of conversation with our table mates who were all Irish, AND enjoyed about 3 hours of completely silly skits. [Fawlty Towers was the fiction name of a hotel run by proprieter Basil Fawlty. “Faulty” in the dining experience probably means somebody has copyrighted the original “Fawlty.]
After breakfast at the hotel this morning (Friday) we visited two Galway churches. When we were here in 2010, we visited one of them. I thought it was the Galway Cathedral, but Patricia thought it was St. Nicolas Collegiate Church. Patricia was right. St. Nicolas was begun around 1320. It would have been within the city walls and it was easy for us to find and walk to. [My English teacher, Mrs. Ford, would not be happy about that “to”.] Like many other very old churches, this one is being renovated so there was a lot of noise inside. St. Nicolas is justly famous for its stained glass windows. There are quite a few information signs and interesting remembrance plaques. The majority of the plaques seem to commemorate soldiers who lost their lives, often in foreign wars. The religious aspects of the church almost take second place to the historical aspects and the church’s place in the community. It is still a working place of worship.
To get to the Galway Cathedral, we walked through a neighborhood of old row houses. For a few blocks there was no difference as each house, attached to other houses left and right, showed no variation: white stone front, black door, one window, only a foot or two from the road.
The cathedral is far younger than we knew. It is on the site of the old Galway jail, and construction started on it in 1958. It is spacious inside, and not too overtly modern. The dome is 145 high and can be seen for some distance. The windows are as colorful as any I have seen. I took pictures of the interior, but I must admit my heart wasn’t in. For me, part of the attraction of the old churches / places of worship we visit is thinking about the multi-generational difficulties of construction and for how many years they have been important to the religious life (and political and community lives as well) of the area. The Galway Cathedral did not have that weight of years for me, despite its imposing exterior and beautiful interior.
After a short rest, Patricia and I went to a tea service in the hotel. We had all sorts of goodies and drank tea. It wasn’t like the fancy tea we had with Abby in London, but it was enjoyable to nibble, drink tea, talk quietly, and listen to the (recorded) chamber music.
I have posted a few pictures on the Galway pictures page.
