(click on any picture to see it full-size)

Galway is a lovely little town on the west coast of Ireland. Being in Dublin and being in Europe period you get glimpses of history everywhere you look, but it's when you go into the smaller towns and villages where you really feel like you're somewhere ancient. All of the little towns look like this:

Skinny little roads, cars parked on the sidewalks, and shops everywhere. So many shops!!!












This is the main shopping street in Galway just off Eyre Square:






This has been my favourite shopping experience/cultural experience thus far. There were amazing musicians busking in the street:






This is a woman playing the Uilleann pipes. The instrument is kind of like bagpipes except it has a beautiful sound that verges on haunting, and you pump up the bag with your arm.






This trio played traditional Irish folk music and the singer (on the left playing the guitar) had the most resonant bass voice I've ever heard. His voice carried all the way down a very busy street - no amplification needed.






I should have put my wide angle lens on for this shop but yah... It was a cheesemongers shop, cheese, cheese, and more cheese. I am very lactose intolerant but I cannot give this stuff up. I pop a couple Lactaid and dig in. Ian and I bought about 8 different cheeses (only about 100 grams of each) and they are all amazing. My favourite though, was a nice, aged, Irish Gouda.. I'm a sucker for a good Gouda!






The country roads are littered with old ruins like this. We must have told our bus driver, Greg, to slow down 15 times to capture beautiful sights like this.






Lovely old graveyards,






picturesque churches,






and ancient stone walls and fences. I just found out today that the stone fences weren't built because the Irish love their privacy! They were built because most of Ireland was covered in stone ( we saw areas of un-quarried stone on the ground today - it looks like tile floor ) and the most efficient way of getting rid of it was to build fences. They have stood the test of time without mortar by allowing air to pass through the holes. It's a pretty ingenious invention!
Today we visited the famous Aran islands. I can't wait to share those shots!
Slainte!
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