Galway - Ireland Trip 9/2019

Galway was the first town of my Ireland vacation that I attended with my girlfriend Anna and her family for their cousins' wedding. Our trip started on August 29th and ended September 7th and we stayed 3.5 days in Galway. We drove straight to Galway (west side of Ireland) from Dublin airport which took us about 2 and a half hours driving. The country is as green as advertised, although I slept through most of the car ride. Driving on the left side of the road as an American is an adventure in itself especially with all of the roundabouts.

We stayed at the Hotel Meyrick in the center of Galway, where Anna's cousin Ash, was to be married (have his wedding reception). It is a very historic hotel and central to everything that you would want to walk to while visiting the city. If you stayed during the summer, not having air conditioning could be a bit of an issue but would recommend the hotel otherwise.

We arrived at the hotel on Friday around 1 PM and ate breakfast at the hotel and lounged around for a few hours as the rooms were not ready. We opted not to go outside and explore as the rain was coming down pretty good and we were all exhausted from traveling through the night sleeping as much as we could in an airplane. While we were lounging, we sat through our first Irish tea time which was quite fancy as the bar was packed with people wearing their Sundays best while getting some tea, drinks, and treats. Once we got checked-in we took a nap and then got ready for dinner where we checked out our first pub, An Pucan, and got our first Irish fish and chip experience along with a live band in the background. As far as fish and chips go, this place was pretty average but the pub was worth checking out for at least a drink. The amount of live music at pubs / restaurants / etc was quite impressive in itself but I was even more impressed with the quality of the music. Most of the bands played acoustic covers of famous bands in the states but it was always lively. After dinner, we went to the Murty Rabbits to meet Anna's relatives for a drink. After catching up, Noah (Anna's brother), Anna and I went to a bar called Darcy's for another drink and more live music. An older gentleman was jamming at this bar and was the best live performer I have ever experienced playing covers at a pub playing everything from Neil Diamond to Van Morrison. We didn't stay up too late as we were still all exhausted from all of the traveling. All three of these pubs were all within a football fields length away from the hotel which made the location even more appealing. On Saturday, we got up early and had breakfast at the hotel and explored the city and got some shopping in before the wedding. Galway has some amazing shopping, from stores to markets (almost like vendor stands/farmer market style) that sell everything from artwork to food. Anna and I were able to get our daily juice at a stand and wondered why we don't sell our juice at the Ann Arbor's farmers market. I got really big into juicing with a Breville Juicer after watching the Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead documentary and have been juicing almost daily since watching that documentary in 2013 so I was excited to get my green's at the market. We also purchased some cheese and copa from a deli next to the market. Before the wedding, I got a workout in at the hotel gym and sat in the sauna which was at the top floor of the hotel and gave a really cool view of the city to take in. The wedding started at 1 and was a traditional Catholic church wedding at St Mary's Church in Galway which was a beautiful church right on the water and was about a mile away from the hotel and only about 100 people. It was a beautiful ceremony with great music led by the guitarist whose band played at the wedding. The river right next to the church was a runner, and if we had more time I would have enjoyed getting some white water kayaking in as the river is allegedly the fastest flowing river in Europe (one of the many fun facts picked up by Irish taxi drivers). We got some amazing pictures and then headed back to the hotel where the ceremony was going to take place. The reception started off with tea time and desserts and Anna and I actually went back to our room to eat some of the cheese and copa we purchased earlier and we made the mistake of not eating lunch prior to the wedding. After several drinks at tea time, we moved upstairs to the main reception area where we had dinner and the band would be playing. The food they served was amazing as we all had the choice of Irish beef or salmon for our mains and overall the venue was amazing (imagine it wasn't very cheap either). The band was amazing and Noah even rocked out and played a song. My first Irish wedding was quite the experience and I was very impressed with the endurance of the grandparents of the bride as the wedding activities started at 1 PM and went to 3 AM and the majority of them rallied through the entire thing.

Top to Bottom, Left to Right Everyone at our Table for the Wedding Not Sure, Ashs' Boss, Ashs Boss' Wife, Ash (Groom, Sunnys Cousin), Pavela (Bride), Soosh (Ash Sister / Sunnys Cousin), Anna, Myself, Lakshmi (Ash/Sush Mom), Lisa (Annas' Mom), Chenna (Sunny's Uncle), Sunny (Anna's Dad), and Noah (Anna's brother)

On Sunday, we had a little bit of a late start after the wedding and after breakfast, we went back to the market and shops where we shopped the majority of the morning into the afternoon until our kayaking at the river /lake. The lake is the biggest in the Republic of Ireland and the second biggest on Ireland called Lough Corrib. Of course, we got traditional Ireland rain/wind for this kayaking experience but it ended up being a great day on the water that felt a little bit like the Delta to me. We had a tour guide for the kayaking trip named Jim (through his company Kayakmor) and would recommend anyone in Galway wanting to get outside to check out Kayakmor. After our kayaking tour, we went to post wedding BBQ at O'Connors Famous Pub in Salthill which the owner was somehow in Pavela's family and got another night of amazing live music. We met an amazing couple, Mike and Adele, who Anna and I sat with at the wedding and got to visit them again and had a great night with them. This was the best pub we experienced in Galway and although it was about a mile outside of the main downtown would recommend it for the live music and unique decor. The following day we would be leaving for the Cliffs of Moher and staying in Doolin, Ireland about 2 hours away.