Galway, Ireland – Day 5

I woke this morning to the sound of Veronica (aka V Money) doing dishes. Today was pack up and move out day. Somehow, Jen and I are having difficulty closing our suitcases, and we are only at the start of day five. We collected towels and tossed them in the laundry, took out the rubbish, and headed out the door.  There is something so ominous about tossing the keys through the mail slot – no turning back and grabbing that last item – door closed, and moving on to the next space.

Jen, again, sat behind the wheel on the right side of the car while shifting with her left hand, staying far to the left side of the road (some might say too close to the left), and navigating signage and roads of Ireland. We are so lucky to have her driving!

Today, we crossed the entire country in two and a half hours, still on our original tank of gas. We were on endless flat stretches of motorway bracketed by fields trimmed with stone walls. Large rolls of hay alternated with cows and sheep the entire drive. We had about an hour of total silence until I ruined it and forced the kids off their devices. Then it turned into an hour and a half of shoving, laughter, yelling, mild scratching, a few threats, and some delightful banter.

According to the GPS, we were ten minutes outside of Galway, but I still didn’t see any real sign of the city. We had only a short uptick in housing, and then we were dumped into the middle of a lovely town strewn with flags, taverns, cute stores, and loads of pedestrians.

Galway is charming!! Saturdays and Sundays, year-round, there is an artisan market. Aran Island wool products are sold everywhere, and there is the distinct smell of the sea and sticky beer. After a quick bite at a pub, we meandered in pairs and small groups from stall to stall and store to store around Quay Street and the Latin Quarter.

Jen took the twins off to a playground, and to walk the seafront, while Veronica and Addison (aka Addie baddie), and I had a quick tinto de verano (wine cooler meets Spain meets slice of orange) and two plates of tapas. We gradually met by the Spanish Arch – an arch added in the 18th century to already existing 16th-century walls. We left the kids to watch swans and the rising tide to take a quick stroll and make a plan-ish for the rest of the evening.

We rallied the kids to walk to the Galway Cathedral. This modern cathedral (construction began in the late 1950s) is capped with an octagonal green dome and mixes a Renaissance revival style with modern airiness. The ceiling is lined with wood, which creates warmth in this large open space. The building is almost entirely built in limestone, and it is easy to see different artists were used for different elements of the construction. The two rose windows are very different from the rest of the stained glass, and all of the stained glass is quite high and hard to see. However, I feel like we had a special gift because we could see the cathedral on a sunny day (it turns out the sun doesn’t shine with blue skies every day in Ireland the way it has for us.) The stained glass was high, but the reflections and glow from the windows danced along the light limestone walls, creating moving refractions of shifting light.

We came to visit right in time for Sunday evening mass, so Jen and I convinced only one kid to join us inside for the full mass. Any guesses? It was a lovely service about taking in the messages from messengers in whatever form the messengers may come to us. (That was my takeaway).

We walked back over the salmon bridge (that is really what it is called) and ate at the King’s Head. This pub has supposedly been open for 800 years and was a delicious end to our evening. Kate and I split mussels, and Jen had the best seafood chowder I have ever had. I am running out of steam….

We had more ice cream from the best ice cream place – Murphy’s – and then walked to the car around 9:00pm. Most of the drive was during the golden hour, and our drive (or Jen’s drive) was resplendent with golden glowing hills, green vegetation, cotton ball clouds, and long bovine shadows. We got a little lost finding the new Airbnb, and a giant black bullmastiff recommended we turn around, but his owner was quite friendly and helped us find our way.  Time to sleep.