Galway, mon véritable amour

‘Twas another early morning for Chrissy and I, as we had a train to catch!  We hopped on the tram to Dublin Heuston, one of the Dublin train stations.  We grabbed some scones & coffee before boarding, and as we sat down, we realized we had almost the entire car to ourselves.  We gazed out at the Irish countryside while discussing anything and everything.  We chatted for a good while with the conductor, who was so fun and interesting.  The bathrooms on the train were kind of crazy, though…Chrissy went to go, and while she was in there, some kind of alarm started going off, accusing her of smoking and telling her that the conductor had been notified.  Luckily, the conductors never found us.  Bwahaha…

We arrived in Galway a couple of hours later, and ours smiles grew as we stepped out into the sunshine in Eyre Square.  Our hostel, called the Kinlay House Hostel, was a “1 minute” walk from the station.  We checked in, dropped our luggage off and chatted with the desk attendant about the city, picking his brain about what we should do.  He told us to take advantage of the weather and walk along the coast, which is exactly what we did.  It was breathtakingly beautiful, and my nose was going crazy with the smell of the salty air; it reminded me so much of being at LBI with my family.  I found a little park, and went on the swings for a while (honestly one of the best decisions I have made in the past several months).  There is just something so peaceful and comforting about the easy gait of swinging; pump your feet just a little bit, and off you go, forward and backward, forward and backward, flying through the air.

We were both starting to get hungry, and we found a cute little restaurant on Quay Street called the Spanish Arch, which was apparently part of the Spanish Arch Hotel.  We ordered some tea to start, and I finally realized why exactly tea is such a large part of Irish culture; when I took a sip of this tea, I felt like I was home.  It was so warming, so nourishing, so…welcoming, almost.  Chrissy and I went through two whole pots, enjoying each sip more than the last.  We ordered some lunch, too, and both had seafood chowder and ham & cheese sandwiches.  The seafood chowder was the best I had tasted, with fresh shrimp and salmon, and a bit of chorizo, too.

Instead of doing intense sightseeing, we decided to have a relaxing day.  We walked around the city, perused the cute stores lining Quay Street, Shop Street, and the surrounding area, and strolled through Eyre Square.  Chrissy bought an adorable pair of red Keds (jealous), and we both got little pastries from Griffin’s Bakery.  Sometime in the late afternoon, we went back to the hostel to freshen up before dinner.

We talked to a different desk attendant this time, and asked him about the best places to eat a traditional Irish dinner (as if I hadn’t had enough stew already).  He recommended Monroe’s Tavern, and off we went.  I had another delicious Irish stew, this one with beef and a Guinness base; so tasty! I also had some brown bread and a pint of Bulmer’s (hehe).

After we finished our dinner and pints, we decided to head out to the pubs.  First, we went to the Quays (excellent recommendation by my friend Mike), which was a great, multi-level, traditional Irish pub with traditional Irish music.  While Chrissy and I were sipping our pints, I looked up and was astonished to see my friend Doug walking down the stairs.  It made me realize what a small world it is; out of all of the countries, cities, and pubs we could have been in at the same time, we were in the same one.  Crazy!  We had a nice chat before he went off to dinner.  After spending some time at the Quays, we went to another pub called Tig Coili, which my friend Stevie recommended to me!  We both loved this one, and tried a shot Kelsey told us about, called the Baby Guinness.  It consisted of Kahlua and Bailey’s…wow.  Party.  In.  My mouth.  It was the best alcoholic beverage I have ever tasted, which could possibly be dangerous if I decide to invest in a bottle of each of these.  After Tig Coili, we went to Taaffe’s for one last pint.  We were exhausted at this point, so by the time we had finished our beers, we decided to head back to our hostel.

On the walk home, I had a realization: my heart was made for Galway.  I had fallen head over heels in love with its quaintness, its charm, and its location on the coast.  The smells and the people simply made this incredible little city feel like home.