"Beautiful Galway" a Galway Travel Page by auschic1

Now obviously im going to be a little biased towards Galway coz I spent a fantastic few months living and working there.

But it truly is a magical town. Not a place for one to go and see a billion things as theres not too much to actually do in Galway, it's all about the atmosphere! When the sun is shining everyone's out shopping and drinking and laughing. Walking down the long pedestrian street you will encounter all kinds of buskers, from piano players to puppeteers to people making pretty patterns from coloured shells.

Down by the water is a place called the Spanish Arch. Unless its raining you will always find people loitering on the grassy banks looking out at the water. Grab a book, a couple of friends or a bottle of bucky (Buckfast)and you wont go wrong.

For somewhere that is a relatively small town it sure has a big city vibe once the sun goes down. On any given night the pedestrian street will be full off people hopping from bar to bar or lining up to get kebabs. The atmosphere in the bars is always good craic! Almost all the bars will have some kind of live music on most nights of the week, be it traditional irish music, jazz, rock or salsa theres always something going on.

For a quiet relaxing day (after a big night out) a stroll along the promenade of Salthill is a good option. In the afternoons and on weekends it seems everyone is out jogging or walking along the large stretch of concrete that runs parallel to the west coast of Ireland. If you get a bit thirsty theres plenty of bars to keep you hydrated.

Also if it's Saturday the markets are on down by the church. Just start walking down the pedestrian street and you will see all the stalls veering off to your right. A good place to stock up on some fresh fruit and veges as well as some hot fresh doughnuts. Lots of little stalls selling things you arent likely to find anywhere else.

From Galway there are many companies selling bus and ferry tickets to the Aran Islands. It takes about 1 1/2 hours on the bus and roughly 40mins on the ferry. This costs no more than 30 euros.

I only visited the largest island, Inis Mor where there's a population of about 1000 people and the language most spoken is traditional Irish.

Getting off the ferry you will find people trying to rent you bikes or coax you into a horse and cart ride. Both are a good way to see the island. For the first half of my day we walked around aimlessly, content to just take it all in. It's like stepping back in time, thatched cottages and vast stretches of land and beach. A lot of the times you feel very isolated, like your the only ones on the island-its quite invigorating.

The weather is very unpredictable so always be prepared for anything.

A truly extraordinary and exhilarating experience!! No gates to block your fall and extreme gusts of wind blowing through, Dun Aengus is a cliff drop of 350 feet straight to the roaring ocean!

Feeling so vulnerable at the hands of nature was overwhelming. I crawled on my stomach to the edge of the cliff and looked straight down, nothing on either side of me except a very big drop. Straight ahead stretched the vast ocean, next stop Boston.

Definite must do if you go to the Aran Islands.