Things to do in County Galway
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Blue Note
This jazzy pub-cum-dance-bar has a great summer beer garden and usually no cover charge.
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Kylemore Abbey
A few kilometres east of Letterfrack stands Kylemore Abbey. Magnificently situated on the shores of a lake, this crenulated 19th-century neo-Gothic fantasy was built for a wealthy English businessman, Mitchell Henry, who spent his honeymoon in Connemara. His wife died tragically young.
Admission also covers the abbey's Victorian walled gardens. You can stroll around the lake and surrounding woods for free.
Kylemore's tranquillity is shattered in high summer with the arrival of dozens of tour coaches per day, each one followed through the gates by an average of 50 cars (yes, over 2500 cars a day).
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Monroe’s Tavern
Often photographed for its classic, world-weary facade, Monroe’s delivers traditional music and ballads, plus it remains the only pub in the city with regular Irish dancing. A pizza joint buried within turns out good pies.
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McDonagh's
A trip to Galway isn't complete without stopping at McDonagh's. Divided into two parts, with a takeaway counter and a cafe with long communal wooden tables on one side, and a more upmarket restaurant on the other, Galway's best chippy churns out battered cod, plaice, haddock, whiting and salmon nonstop, all accompanied by homemade tartare sauce.
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Synge's Chair
At the desolate western edge of the island, Synge's Chair is a lookout at the edge of a sheer limestone cliff with the surf from Gregory's Sound booming below. The cliff ledge is often sheltered from the wind, so do as Synge did and find a comfortable stone seat to take it all in. The formation is two minutes' walk from the parking area; you can leg it around the bleak west side of the island from here in an hour.
On the walk out to Synge's Chair, a sign points the way to a clochán, hidden behind a house and shed.
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Mustard
In the cellar of an old mill, some tables view the still-turning wheel. Burgers and excellent pizza are the thing here. Go nuts and have the Boxty Burger, a vegetarian treat made from mashed potatoes, green onions and more. Be sure to start with the ‘garlic crust’, which comes with pesto. Yum.
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Teach Ósta
The island's perfect pub hums on summer evenings (grab a table outside for the views) and supplies snacks, sandwiches, soups and seafood platters. Though the pub often keeps going until the wee hours, food service generally stops around 7pm and may not be available in the winter months.
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Séhán Ua Neáchtain
Painted a bright cornflower blue, this 19th-century pub, known simply as Neáchtain's (nock-tans) or Naughtons, has a wraparound string of tables outside, many shaded by a large tree. It's a place where a polyglot mix of locals plop down and let the world pass them by – or stop and join them for a pint.
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Food 4 Thought
Besides providing organic and vegetarian sandwiches, savoury scones, and wholesome dishes such as cashew-nut roast, this New Age-y place is great for finding out about energy workshops and yoga classes around town.
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EJ Kings
A busy old pub established in 1852, EJ Kings has decent though fancy pub food, but it’s really the place to quaff some pints on a busy weekend night. Get a tip on the ponies.
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Sheridans on the Docks
This waterfront bar is a chic yet relaxed spot for cheese platters from the family's cheese shop, Sheridans Cheesemongers, as well as wines by the glass and boutique beers.
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Bierhaus
The imported beer here won’t insult your sensibilities. Good brews from across Europe are on offer along with Hooker. At night DJs provide a Euro beat.
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Joe Watty's Bar
This is the best pub in Kilronan, with traditional sessions most nights and rather posh pub food (noon to 8pm) from June to August. Turf fires warm the air on the 50 weeks a year when this is needed.
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Bridge Mills
A general purpose shopping centre in an old mill building by the river at the western end of William O'Brien Bridge.
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Spanish Arch & Medieval Walls
Framing the river east of Wolfe Tone Bridge, the Spanish Arch is thought to be an extension of Galway's medieval walls. The arch appears to have been designed as a passageway through which ships entered the city to unload goods, such as wine and brandy from Spain.
Today it reverberates to the beat of bongo drums, and the lawns and riverside form a gathering place for locals and visitors on any sunny day. Many watch kayakers manoeuvre over the minor rapids of the River Corrib.
Although a 1651 drawing of Galway clearly shows its extensive fortifications, depredation by Cromwell and William of Orange and subsequent centuries of neglect saw the walls almost completely disappea…
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Eyre Square
Galway's central public square is busy in all but the harshest weather. It's a welcome open green space with sculptures and pathways. Its lawns are formally named Kennedy Park in commemoration of JFK's visit to Galway, though you'll rarely, if ever, hear locals refer to it as anything but Eyre Square.
The street running along the southwestern side of the square is pedestrianised and lined with seating, while the eastern side is taken up almost entirely by the Hotel Meyrick(formerly the Great Southern Hotel), an elegant grey limestone pile restored to its Victorian glory. Guarding the upper side of the square, Browne's Doorway (1627), a classy, if forlorn, fragment from the…
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Kenny Gallery
Established in 1968, West Ireland's first gallery displays an exceptional collection of Irish art in a higgledy-piggledy terrace house. Look out for work by up-and-coming Galway artists, including Charlotte Kelly's abstract landscapes, Kieran Tuohy's bog-oak sculptures (crafted from bog-oak roots preserved in the oxygen-resistant turf for thousands of years), Jennifer Cunningham's prints and Liam Butler's welded copper.
All works are for sale, but even if you're not here to buy, Kenny's offers a glimpse into the future of Galweigan art. Proprietor Tom Kenny is a fount of information on the local scene.
Kenny's also trades antiquarian books online, including many Irish-lang…
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Salmon Weir
Upstream from Salmon Weir Bridge, which crosses the River Corrib just east of Galway Cathedral, the river cascades down the great weir, one of its final descents before reaching Galway Bay. The weir controls the water levels above it, and when the salmon are running you can often see shoals of them waiting in the clear waters before rushing upriver to spawn.
The salmon and sea-trout seasons usually span February to September, but most fish pass through the weir during May and June.
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Aughnanure Castle
Built around 1500, this bleak fortress was home to the 'Fighting O'Flahertys', who controlled the region for hundreds of years after they fought off the Normans. The six-storey tower house stands on a rocky outcrop overlooking Lough Corrib and has been extensively restored. Surrounding the castle are the remains of an unusual double bawn (area surrounded by walls outside the main castle, acting as a defence and a place to keep cattle in times of trouble), and underneath the castle the lake washes through a number of natural caverns and caves.
Aughnanure Castle is situated 3km east of Oughterard, off the main Galway road (N59).
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Tobar Éinne
Locals still carry out a pilgrimage known as the Turas to the Well of Enda, an ever- burbling spring in a remote rocky expanse in the southwest. The ceremony involves, over the course of three consecutive Sundays, picking up seven stones from the ground nearby and walking around the small well seven times, putting one stone down each time, while saying the rosary until an elusive eel appears from the well's watery depths. If, during this ritual, you're lucky enough to see the eel, it's said your tongue will be bestowed with healing powers, enabling you to literally lick wounds.
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Connemara Heritage & History Centre
Farmer Dan O'Hara lived here until his eviction from the farm and subsequent emigration to New York, where he ended up selling matches on the street. Its present owners have restored the property, turning it into a window onto lost traditional ways, with demonstrations of bog cutting, thatching, sheep shearing and so on. It's possible to stay at the farmhouse in more comfort than Dan ever enjoyed. The homestead is 7km east of Clifden on the N59.
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Galway Cathedral
Lording over the River Corrib, imposing Galway Cathedral was dedicated by the late Cardinal Richard Cushing of Boston in 1965. The cathedral's unwieldy full name is the Catholic Cathedral of Our Lady Assumed into Heaven and St Nicholas, but its high, curved arches and central dome have a simple, solid elegance even if the greater whole feels rather sterile (although a side chapel with a mosaic of the Resurrection does include a praying JFK in the tableau). The superb acoustics are best appreciated during an organ recital (program dates are posted on the website).
From the Spanish Arch, a riverside path runs upriver and across the Salmon Weir Bridge to the cathedral.
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Connemara Smokehouse
If you’re curious to discover how salmon is smoked here, you can tour the family-run Connemara Smokehouse. Free tours show you the hand filleting, traditional preparation, slicing and packing of the wild and organic salmon, and shed light on various smoking methods before finishing up with a tasting. Advance reservations are essential. Outside tour times, it’s usually possible to stop by the smokehouse and stock up if you call ahead.
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Coole Park
Once home of Lady Augusta Gregory, cofounder of the Abbey Theatre and a patron of Yeats, the house here was demolished by nitwit bureaucrats in 1941. But displays recall its literary legacy and the present-day nature reserve is a beautiful place to stroll. Look for the autograph tree, on which many of Lady Gregory's literary guests carved their initials. It's about 3km north of Gort off the N18.
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Salthill Prom
A favourite pastime for Galweigans and visitors alike is walking along the Salthill Prom, the seaside promenade running from the edge of the city along Salthill. Local tradition dictates 'kicking the wall' across from the diving boards (a 30- to 45-minute stroll from town) before turning around. At the time of writing, plans were underway to extend the Prom all the way from Salthill to Silver Strand - about 7.5km all up.
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