Galway and the West Coast of Ireland

You know you are off to a good day in Galway when you are eating this otherworldly brown bread at Anton's Restaurant.  This stuff is so good we had breakfast here two days in a row.  We have learned that Irish brown bread is a staple of almost every meal in Ireland, in addition to potatoes of course.  But not all brown breads are created equal, and Anton's bread is exceptionally delicious!  We begged the staff for the recipe, but their lips were sealed. They did seem very appreciative of our emphatic praise of the bread and sent us off after the second day with an entire loaf on the house.  So very kind!

We took a day trip over to Spiddal, a coastal town about 45 minutes up the winding scenic road from Galway.  On our way, we spotted houses with real thatched rooves!  Apparently they provide very good insulation, but it can be difficult to insure a house with a thatched roof as they are highly flammable. 

The drive along the Atlantic was absolutely beautiful and as you can see, Ireland had quite a rocky coastline. 

Spiddal has a small craft village that we explored.  All the crafts are authentically made in Ireland, if not right in the town of Spiddal.  Here is a loom used to weeve Irish wool.  

The rocky shoreline was gorgeous, I had to take photos!

Old rock walls are all over Ireland.  We passed a bunch of them on our train ride from Dublin to Galway and here they are again on the coast.  

Everyone keeps telling us that the weather is never this good.  They had a terrible winter with tons of rain and serious flooding.  It's often cold and foggy if not raining, so it is probably reasonable to state that it was the five of us that brought the blue skies.

Dublin to Galway

Monday morning's soft light passing through our diamond-paned bedroom window as we began another perfectly sunny day in Ireland.  

On our agenda for the day included a trip to the historic Kilmainham Gaol (or Kilmainham Jail in English), and taking a train ride out of Dublin to the west coast.  Fortunately, the jail was a short walk from the train station, situated right next to the pretty canal pictured above.  We were able to leave all of our luggage at a hostel by the train station and tour the jail unencumbered by our bags.  

The Kilmainham was built in the late 1700s and was intended to replace the old prison system.  Instead of a horrible dungeon in which groups of prisoners were thrown into large rooms full of violence and disease, Kilmainham had individual jail cells. 

Kilmainham Gaol played a big role in the 1916 Easter Rising and it is one of the most important Irish monuments related to the struggle for Irish independence.  After the Rising, Kilmainham held many of the Irish revolutionaries including the 14 leaders of the Rising who were each sentenced to death by a firing squad in the enclosed courtyard of the jail.  

They were each held in individual cells until it was time for their execution.

"Beware of the risen people that have harried and held ye that have bullied and bribed."  Written by prisoners from one of the many uprisings in the 1800s.

The main section of the prison incorporates a more modern layout where a guard standing in the middle is able to see every cell.  Our tour guide reminded us that this is also the most common layout for shopping malls.  Due to Kilmainham's unique yet traditional look, it has been used in many movies over the years, famously including "The Italian Job." 

One woman jailed here was an artist, imprisoned for her satirical cartoons around the time of the 1916 Easter Rising.  On her cell wall, she painted the Virgin Mary, which has been preserved.  I was able to take a picture of it through the peephole in her door. 

Along this wall is where the 14 leaders of the Easter Rising were executed by a 12-person firing squad. 

The Irish people were fighting for their independence from the English for nearly 600 years and it wasn't until 1922 that they were granted their independence.  

After leaving the jail, we walked through the courtyard of the Ireland Museum of Modern Art.

This was a picturesque shortcut to get to the train station.  We left Dublin and headed straight west for the city of Galway.  On our train ride to the coast, we were fortunate enough to sit next to an Irish man named Wayne, who has been living on one of the islands off the west coast of Ireland for the past year.  He gave us a little lesson on the history, culture and lifestyle of the people living in the "true" Ireland.  

Wayne said the people from Dublin are much more English since the British had so much control of that part of Ireland for such a long time.  In fact, for years the people of Ireland were forbidden to speak their own language and as Gaelic speakers passed away, the language began to disappear.  Fortunately for the Irish culture, the English had little interest in the hard, rocky, infertile land in the western part of the country.  Because the West had such insufficient resources, the English ignored them completely and the people living there when on speaking Gaelic even though it was strictly forbidden throughout the rest of the country.  For this reason, Irish culture on the coast was able to remain intact.  Wayne said all the people on his island speak Gaelic and he had to work hard to establish his place as a member of their community having come from Dublin, the "English" East. 

We hopped off the train in Galway, a much smaller, quainter city when compared to Dublin.  

We bumped our rolling suitcases down the bustling pedestrian street lined with shops and Irish pubs. 

There are several canals passing through Galway which empty into the River Corrib, whose rapids eventually flow into the Atlantic Ocean. 

It's just a short walk from our Airbnb into town. 

We walked through the festive streets in search of a bite to eat and some authentic Irish music. 

Which we found!  This trio played jig after jig.  The guy in the middle had at least 5 different flutes he kept switching between.  It was simply impossible to sit still while these guys were playing. 

Good food, good drink, good music, and good company.  It doesn't get much better than this, boys!