Ireland (Lonely Planet, 9th Edition) - Fionn Davenport [333]
Money
Irish banks with ATMs abound in the city centre.
AIB (Lynch’s Castle, cnr Shop & Upper Abbeygate Sts)
Bank of Ireland (Eyre Sq) Two branches on the square.
Post Office
Post office ( 9am-5.30pm Mon-Sat) Also changes money.
Tourist Information
Ireland West Tourism ( 091-537 700; www.discoverireland.ie/west; Forster St; 9am-5.45pm daily Easter-Sep, 9am-5.45pm Mon-Sat Oct-Easter) Large, efficient information centre that can help arrange local accommodation, and regional bus tours and ferry trips.
Tourist Information Booth (Eyre Sq; 1.30-5.30pm Sun Oct-Easter, 9am-5.30pm daily Easter-Sep) Operated by the main tourist office, it dispenses free city maps and local info.
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ADVICE FROM A COLUMNIST
Every week readers of Galway’s Tribune newspaper turn to Carlie Adley’s column about life and much more in the city and the region. An unabashed fan of the place, Adley’s heart still had to be won over originally. He came to Galway 17 years ago after a life in London, San Francisco and elsewhere. He hasn’t looked back.
‘The city centre is the perfect size for walking around, chilling out and bumping into people’, he says from one of his favourite pubs, Séhán Ua Neáchtain’s Click here, where he often has his afternoon office, watching the world go by while a movable feast of friends comes and goes.
Later, after the pub? ‘Who knows – Galwegians don’t make plans. The perfect Galway day is one that takes its own shape.’
Adley’s perfect day includes ‘sitting on a rock on the beach at Salthill; watching the tide turn; looking out at the ocean and trying to spot one of the Aran Islands; just being calm; and appreciating the volatile light and weather, which truly offer a different view across to County Clare every day of the year.’
Visitors looking for the real Galway, he says, need to do the above, plus ‘do the pubs and music and you can’t go wrong. Galwegians will reach out to you and have a chat; the craic awaits.’
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SIGHTS & ACTIVITIES
Collegiate Church of St Nicholas of Myra
Crowned by a pyramidal spire, the Collegiate Church of St Nicholas of Myra ( 091-564 648; Market St; admission by donation; 9am-5.45pm Mon-Sat, 1-5pm Sun Apr-Sep, 10am-4pm Mon-Sat, 1-5pm Sun Oct-Mar) is Ireland’s largest medieval parish church still in use. Dating from 1320, the church has been rebuilt and enlarged over the centuries, though much of the original form has been retained.
Christopher Columbus reputedly worshipped here in 1477. One theory suggests that the story of Columbus’ visit to Galway arose from tales of St Brendan’s 6th-century voyage to America (Click here). Seafaring has long been associated with the church – St Nicholas, for whom it’s named, is the patron saint of sailors.
After Cromwell’s victory, the church was used as a stable, and damaged stonework is still visible today. But St Nicholas was relatively fortunate: 14 other Galway churches were razed entirely.
Parts of the church’s floor are paved with gravestones from the 16th to 18th centuries; the Lynch Aisle holds the tombs of that illustrious Galway family. A large block tomb in one corner is said to be the grave of James Lynch, a mayor of Galway in the late 15th century, who condemned his son Walter to death for killing a young Spanish visitor. As the tale goes, none of the townsfolk would serve as executioner, so the mayor personally acted as hangman, after which he went into seclusion. Outside on Market St is a stone plaque on the Lynch Memorial Window, which relates this legend and claims to be the spot where the gallows stood.
The two church bells date from 1590 and 1630.
Lynch’s Castle
Considered the finest town castle in Ireland, the old stone town house Lynch’s Castle (cnr Shop & Upper Abbeygate Sts; admission free) was built in the 14th century, though much of what you see today dates from around 1600. The Lynch family was the most powerful of the 14 ruling Galway ‘tribes’, and its members held the position of mayor no fewer than 80 times between