I’m a big fan of Galway (slightly less of their races)
We’ve officially exited the south part of Ireland, everything is north from here!
Today we drove from Limerick to Galway, which included 1.5 hours on the main highway and them bam, we were here. It was definitely the shortest day driving wise of the trip to date, since yesterday we did most of the things between there and Galway anyway. So, we thought it would be nice to just get from A to B without detours (shocking) to maximise time in Galway itself.
Galway has been my top place of interest in Ireland since we started planning the trip so I’m very happy we’ve finally made it! We got into the city around 1pm, and found central parking to kill some time wandering around before we could check into our Airbnb at 3pm. We found the coolest pub in the Old Quarter called The Kings Head, where we had something small to eat and a drinkies. From there we just wandered up and down the streets, ducking into shops that looked cool and enjoying the lovely weather. We genuinely haven’t used our rain jackets since Dublin which is wild considering Ireland really didn’t have good weather until the day we got here. You’re welcome Ireland we must have brought the sun with us. Galway so far has been the only city other than Dublin that we’ve found to actually be busy. It reminded us that this is peak tourist season for Ireland, which I feel like we hadn’t really experienced anywhere else. This was reassuring for us, as we knew we wanted to see some lesser-known parts of Ireland as well as the touristy bits, so being surprised by people was a good indication that this went well!
Even though we only spent a couple of hours walking around Galway today I can say with 100% certainty it’s got suuuch a good vibe. Everyone seems really extroverted and funny, and though it was busy with tourists it was very much still an Irish city, which I think Dublin misses sometimes. Big Galway fan over here! Probably not going to be able to experience a solid night out in Galway just because of how intense our days are, but I just know it would absolutely be top tier.
Once we found our Airbnb, a 15 minute drive out of the city, we got changed for our afternoon activity, the Galway Races. I was not enthused at all for this time of the day, I really didn’t see the point in going to the races when we had a cool city to explore, but Dad really wanted to go and I didn’t really have a say, so off we went. I think if I wasn’t as tired as I was I would’ve wanted to go more, but I’d had a bad headache most of the day and being around loud, drunk Irish dudes for the afternoon didn’t really seem like a wonderful idea to me. I also didn’t have the social battery to fake having a good time, but I knew Dad would be irritated at me if it looked like I wasn’t having a good time, so it was really a lose lose situation.
Once we got in and figured out how everything worked, it wasn’t a bad afternoon at all. I think because it was their summer carnival there were lots of people there and it had a great atmosphere. It seemed like a good activity to feel like a local, it definitely wasn’t touristy at all, so that’s good. I think it’s just been a while since I’ve really wanted to go to the races, or thought I was going to have a good time there. We usually go to the races at home when one of our horses is racing so it feels more like an intentional trip. I don’t really understand going to the races just for fun. But it was going to happen whether I wanted to or not, and considering that, it was a fine afternoon. We stayed probably 3 hours and watched 4 races, unfortunately none of our tips won, but it was interesting to see how their races differ from home. I’m not going to go into too much detail since I can almost guarantee at least 90% of you do not care at all about the racing, but it was certainly a very different setup.
From the races we drove back to our Airbnb then walked from there down the road to a local pub for some dinner. I’ve included a photo of the pub itself, the exterior was so cool, and the staff were great. We watched the last couple of races there and then the Olympics came on, which was definitely a great show. Ireland got their first gold medal of the Paris Olympics and it was in the swimming, so everyone at the pub were celebrating. It is so endearing to see how patriotic the Irish are, there is so much evident care and pride in their fellow Irish, which obviously translates into their athletes. It was so heartwarming to see these guys at the pub cry over the win, it solidified to me how much I love the Irish, they’re just great!
Tomorrow we’re going to do a bit more driving in the morning to explore some cool spots a bit further out of Glasgow, but hoping we have some more time in the afternoon to check out Galway more. And then the day after we’ve got our biggest driving day of the trip, so we’re gearing up for that!
Currently MIA,
Lauren x
