Ireland: Galway

(More) Trains
After an enjoyable but hectic few days in Dublin, we headed across Ireland by train to Galway. The train was amazing, comparable with East Coast or DB. I'm still overawed by the fact that the passenger names were on little electronic tabs above the seats, complete with whatever jesting epithets I'd included when I'd entered the passenger details online.




Weather
Ireland is certainly not the place to go for Sun, Sea and Sand. OK, Sea and Sand maybe, but Sun not so much. So, as if making up for the uncharacteristically good weather we had in Dublin, in Galway we suffered the worst of what Ireland has to offer: a month's worth of rain in 48 hours. I had scrimped on packing and deemed waterproof trousers unnecessary, so was soaked to the bone on our first day in Galway.




Nightlife
Guidebooks on Galway wooed us with the promise of a vibrant and bohemian city of culture - Ireland's Bratislava, effectively - and the reality did not disappoint. Galway's main street leading down towards the harbour is lined with pubs and eating places, the former all having great selections of real ales and live music. Galway has much the same to offer as Dublin, but in comparison to Dublin, Galway feels a lot more genuine, perhaps because it caters more for its student population than the transient tourists.





Sights
Of the cultural delights Galway has to offer, by far the most pleasantly surprising was the Cathedral. A beast of modern architecture which combines bold lines with vivid frescoes, the interior is likely to fascinate any visitor.




Hidden Connemara, a Promo
The best part of our stay in Galway, however, has to be our day-trip out in the wilds of Connemara with Shane from Hidden Connemara (http://www.hiddenconnemara.com/Hidden_Connemara_Tours/Homepage.html). Given the month's worth of rain which had fallen the previous 2 days, Shane kindly gave us the option to pull out, but we said we would persevere however boggy the bogs would be. Driving to the ancient monastic settlement of Cong, we started with a low-level woodland walk..







.. but after a bit of a drive around and some lunch in the valley, it had brightened up, and we set out to climb Diamond Hill. This afforded some awesome views over the West coast..




.. as well as teaching us that Bog Venus Fly Traps are actually a thing.




Without wanting to sound too sucky, Shane was the perfect guide - full of random facts and tales, and his maximum group size of 8 meant that the trip was far from impersonal. For the ability to get around an otherwise impenetrable area and experience it from an insider's perspective, Hidden Connemara was was definitely the best €20 I've spent on a day out.