Galway Ireland – The Jewel of the West

October 29, 2014

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"Big Top" and Galway Cathedral during Art Festival.

Galway Ireland – The Jewel of the West

– Damien Peters

The jewel of the west coast, Galway is probably Ireland’s favorite city, and it’s a rare visitor that will not find something to enjoy during their trip to the Atlantic coast where it sits. One of the very few places on the island where the Irish language can still be heard in the vernacular, Galway is an artistic and bohemian town that somehow manages to still seem welcoming to the huge numbers of tourist and parties that descend on it all the year around.

The Atlantic seaboard of Ireland is known to be wild when it comes to weather, so a summer time trip is perhaps the wisest choice, especially around the time of the Galway Races in August.

During the winter, when biting winds blow in, your best bet is to hunker down in one of the many pubs that boast a roaring open fire and enjoy an Irish coffee or hot whiskey and wait for the music to start.

In the city itself, the sights include Lynch’s Castle and the Spanish Arch, just off Galway Bay. The Arch was constructed during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, when the legend says that stragglers from the defeated Spanish Armada washed up on the shore and married into the local population. Though this is a fanciful notion, the Arch in fact was an extension of the walls that protected the city at the time when it was a prosperous continental port.

Aside from providing washed up sailors, ships from Spain also landed filled with wine and brandy, and the Arch serves as a reminder of the cosmopolitan air that Galway had in this period. Today, it is a good central meeting point, and the three story Galway City Museum nearby is also worth visiting for a glimpse into the city’s past.

Lynch’s Castle on the corners of Shop Street and Abbeygate Street was originally built as the fortified seat of one of the ruling Irish families during the 14^th century. Rather unromantically, it was converted into a bank in 1966, but its gothic style and preserved windows and carvings make for a fine example of medieval style and what the city’s website refers to as “old Galway.”

The Lynch name had an impact far beyond the shores of Galway that may sound familiar also. The story goes that a sailor became involved with a female member of the family in the 1490’s and was murdered for his trouble by one of the girl’s brothers.

When none of the city authorities showed any inclination to become involved, the outraged patriarch of the Lynch clan took the law into his hands and hung his own son for his crime. This gives rise to the modern terms “Lynch law” and “Lynch mob”.

Just a short walk from the Arch, the Collegiate Church of St Nicholas of Myra dates back even further, to the 1320’s in fact. With its distinctive pyramidal spire, it is easily spotted, and the church is actually the largest medieval parish church still in use in Ireland.

Though it has been rebuilt and enlarged over the centuries, it retains much of its original form, and the carvings are an incredible testament to the faith and craftsmanship of medieval Ireland.

Interestingly, the church is dedicated to St Nicholas of Myra, the patron saint of children, who of course is better known today as Santa Claus. What few people are aware of is that he also performs the role of patron saint of mariners, a very important saint to a seafaring city where the ocean has a nasty habit of swallowing sailors and even whole ships at a saddening regular rate.

There are tours available of the Connemara area outside the city, but if you prefer to see things in your own time, it is best to rent a car and just drive. It’s no exaggeration to say that driving west for twenty or thirty minutes will lead you to a completely different world. Prior to Columbus’s voyage, the Connemara area was regarded as the furthest reaches of the world, and driving through its rocky fields and mossy landscape today, that sense of extremity still persists. It’s a mood unlike any other in Ireland, and it needs to be experienced directly to be fully understood.

Two points to set the GPS for on the drive are Kylemore Abbey and the Cliffs of Moher (which are actually just across the border in County Clare).

Kylemore is set on a property of 1,000 acres, including the Abbey itself and a fine six acre walled garden. It was originally built as a private home by Dr. Mitchel Henry, with construction beginning in 1867. One hundred men worked for four years to complete the Abbey, with funding coming from the Henry involvement in the then booming Manchester cotton trade. Following the First World War, Kylemore became home to a community of Belgian nuns who came in 1920 to escape the ruins of their own country.

They opened a world renowned boarding school for girls and began restoring the Abbey, Gothic Church and Victorian Walled Garden. Their school closed in 2010, and the sumptuous Abbey is now the most popular tourist attraction in the West of Ireland.

The 700 feet tall, shale and sandstone Cliffs of Moher are also one of Ireland’s most visited stop off points. In all, their gigantic size has been measured at one hundred square miles across, and their dramatic views of the ocean and its almost breathtaking vertical drop to the crashing waves below are not for the faint hearted.

The Cliffs were featured in the ever popular movie The Princess Bride, and fans should expect to get somewhat nostalgic if they visit. The nearby Burren area is also full historic sites, including tombs, burial chambers and even the Celtic high cross of Kilfenora. The well-preserved Corcomroe Abbey is also popular.

If time allows, a trip to the Aran Islands is also advised. Ancient stone forts, dating back to the Celtic pre-Christian era abounds, as do monuments from the highpoint of Irish Christian civilization (circa 450 A.D. to 800 A.D.). Some of the best examples are Dún Aengus, Dún Eoghanachta, and the crumbling Dún Dúcathair.

The tiny islands are also notable for the thousands of miles of stone walls that run all across their landscape. Given the communal nature of the inhabitants, it would seem strange on first sight that they were so proprietary, but the walls actually came about from a purely practical cause. The fields of the west were so strewn with hard igneous rocks that agriculture was all but impossible unless they were removed.

Stone wall typical for the West of Ireland

Lacking heavy machinery to carry the rocks far away, the farmers merely stacked them into walls and the defining physical of the west of Ireland was born. If you’re staying overnight, be sure to take a stroll up to one of the cliff tops in the evening for a view that you’re unlikely to ever forget.

If you’d like to learn more about this amazing place, be sure to visit here.

– Damien Peters

Dublin Walk: In the Steps of Ulysses

October 24, 2014

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Dublin Walk: In the Steps of Ulysses

– Damien Peters

Coming back home after a few years always has a great way of put things into perspective, and as someone who lived in Dublin on and off for six years, it certainly seems like the city has got its stride back these past few months. It’s safe to say that Dublin is considerably more lively than it was a couple of years ago, even if the nightlife still has a way to go before it hits the heights of pre-2009.

There are fewer better times to visit Dublin than this time of year, when the trees that line the streets on the Southside of the River Liffey are all turning yellow, red, and brown, and there is still just a mild bite to the air.

In the early mornings the sun shines over the parks and busy streets, and in the mornings there is a buzz that has been absent for too long. Things are moving again: the national football team appears to have gotten its stride back with a recent point against the German world champions, and in the UFC, Conor McGregor is wading through all that is put in front of him.

People are complaining that things are getting expensive. Dublin just might be back.

It’s no joke that Ireland’s capital, like most of the cities on the island, is quite expensive. Luckily though, just strolling around on one of these fine mornings is free, and in the city center, it’s probably still the best way to see things and soak up the mood of the city.

James Joyce’s masterpiece Ulysses famously opened on a sunny Dublin morning, and there are fewer better plans than to walk in the footsteps of Leopold Bloom, its protagonist, and even to catch the odd glimpse of the Dublin he would have known. Veering from the route he takes in the book slightly, a walk south from the corner of his Eccles Street home onto Dorset Street and then onto Frederick Street will bring you straight into Georgian Dublin.

The houses along here were originally constructed as well-to-do family homes, but after the Dublin Parliament was dissolved by the British in 1801, the area went into a long decline. As the richer families abandoned the former capital, the houses were converted into tenements for the poorer laboring people that were pouring into the capital from the countryside.

Walking south on Frederick Street takes you past the Dublin Writer’s Museum on Parnell Square, and the James Joyce Center itself is just a block over on North George’s Street. A little further along here brings you to Parnell Square and past the Garden of Remembrance, a memorial dedicated to the various Irish independence movements from 1798 to 1921. A little further down brings you to O’Connell Street and to the Parnell Monument, which features a statue of the man who campaigned for Irish devolution in the British Parliament during the 1870’s and 1880’s.

On O’Connell Street itself, Ireland’s main boulevard, restored since it 1990’s nadir, two of the must-sees are both on the eastern side. The first is the neo-classical General Post Office, or GPO, which served as the rebel headquarters of the 1916 Rebellion. Next up is Eason’s bookshop, which stocks a full range of Irish and international titles over the whole of its five floors. As in most Irish bookstores, the history section is particularly well stocked, and it is well worth a browse.

Crossing over the bridge just to the south takes you past the monument to Daniel O’Connell, for whom the street and bridge are named, and who gained the title “The Liberator”, for his carrying of Catholic emancipation in 1829 following a campaign of peaceful agitation. A turn to the right off the bridge on the south side will take you to the “Cultural Quarter” of Temple Bar, but unfortunately the area today is over-priced and over-crowded and best avoided.

Walking further along takes you through College Green, with Trinity College on your left. Ireland’s oldest university, it was founded during the 1500’s and was granted a charter by Queen Elizabeth I. Its campus is a great venue for a stroll in itself, and the Book of Kells, probably Ireland’s most famous historical artefact, can be viewed there also.

Keeping to the straight route past Trinity brings you to the Molly Malone statue at the base of Grafton Street. While Grafton Street is known for its shopping, its parallel neighbor Dawson Street features another of Dublin’s landmark bookstores in Hodges Figgis, as well as a wealth of coffee shops and bars. This continues as you move over again to Kildare Street, where the National Museum, National Gallery, and National Library are all situated. The entrance to the Irish parliament, the Dail is also located here, and it is a popular venue for protests and marches. If you want a taste of the real flavor of local language and character, here is the place!

If you’re interested in keeping the Joycean nature of your stroll intact also, you can stop in at Davy Byrne’s pub, where Leopold Bloom treated himself to a glass of wine and cheese sandwich for lunch during his own tour of the city way back in 1904. The pub is still open a hundred and ten years later, and is certainly still popular with both locals and visitors in its spot just off Grafton Street on Duke Street. It’s bright and open air atmosphere contrasts heavily with another authentic Dublin bar nearby, John Keogh’s. Still decorated in the fashion of a traditional pub, Keogh’s does a fantastic pint of Guinness.

If by this stage the evening has worn on slightly, and music is required, then a quick walk across the street to Bruxxelles might be in order. It is notable for the statue outside of Phil Lynnot, frontman of Thin Lizzy and probably best known in the U.S. for the classic “The Boys are Back in Town”. Alternatively, there are also usually traditional musicians just around the corner again in O’Donahues off St. Stephen’s Green, where the Guinness flows long into the night to a selection of age old tunes and reels.

– Damien Peters