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| Towns in Galway | ||
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Athenry
Carna Cleggan Clifden Clonbur Furbo |
Galway City
Gort Leenane Moyard Moycullen Oranmore |
Oughterard
Portumna Roundstone Salthill Spiddal |
Galway, a place of great social activity and atmosphere, where music, song and drink are pursued with great vigour. As a town, Galway owes its importance to the sea and its Spanish connections where in times long past the Spanish ships came with wine and gold. The sculpture by Eamon O'Doherty of steel sails in Eyre Square is a celebration of this past. Evidence of Spanish influence can still be witnessed in Galway building styles with 'Spanish Arches', as Galway became home to The survivors of the ill-fated Spanish Armada which was wrecked off the Galway coast in 1511.
Galway boasts some of the best seafood in Ireland. In fact Clarinbridge is sign posted 'The home of the Oyster', the focal point for the September Oyster Festival which attracts visitors from around the world. Galway has been the source of inspiration for writers and poets over the ages. In fact it is here W.B. Yeats used to spend his summers in Thoor Ballylee, near Gort with its history of Gaelic kings and Norman invaders.
Connemara is where many a tourist has lost their hearts. Cliften, the largest town in Connemara is nearly completely surrounded by small mountains except where it is open to the sea, at its west. Connemara, with its wild landscape and beauty to match your expectation in every view, as the mountains give way to fields which give way to bogs which gives way to rivers and lakes. Where visitors can wander among bogs and grassland or simply see salmon leaping. Connemara is that of which dreams and memories are made.
Far out in Galway Bay you can see the Aran Islands floating out of the sea. The Irish speaking Aran where visitors flock in search of the old Gaelic way of life, in discovery of the 'real Ireland' virtually unspoiled by exploitation. It was here John Millington Synge found inspiration for his plays 'Riders to the Sea' and 'The Playboy of the Western World'. There are seven stone forts on the islands all believed to date from the early Celtic period (2 to 3 thousand years ago), four on Inishmore, two on Inishmaan, and one on Inisheer. All the forts have an atmosphere of power and are claimed by mythology and island folklore. The remnants of the old Gaelic clachan or farm clusters are still evident today with its irregular grouping of houses and farm buildings with no street or square. Today on the island Seaweed and kelp production continues as a local industry. It has been said by tourists and even the Irish themselves that 'leaving was harder than coming'.
Neighbouring Counties
Clare |
Mayo |
Offaly |
Roscommon |
Tipperary
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