High Street, Galway, Co. Galway, Ireland

Whenever we mentioned our plans to kick around Ireland, the city of Galway was invariably offered as a suggestion from the crowd.

"Go to Galway" - family friends

"Don't miss Galway" - friend's family

"Galway to da enda da street n turn lehft" - random homeless guy stopping to give me directions I didn't ask for while standing outside of a cafe talking about Ireland

So naturally, because all good suggestions originate from the hive mind (think political sentiments, social media application, and how to feel about current events)

We got up on that train and we done and did it. Easy Japanesy. What are some tips for navigating the trains in Ireland you ask? How dare you mine this blog for information that can be easily googled.

Galway is a very small town that can effectively be experienced over a 3 day weekend. The charm of it's character is authenticity and historical preservation. If there weren't so many selfie stick carrying hipster euro families ditzing around pointing at things with their perfectly manicured finger nails (both the men and the women of course), you might actually feel that you had passed through a time warp and would soon be interrogated by a knight who looks and sounds like Sean Connery. Except in Irish.

In fact, Irish is still spoken all over Galway and the surrounding area of Connemara. And no, we don't mean the "Tere's tree of tem over tere" (English translation -- 'There's three of them over there') kind of Irish that gets you a job hosting open mic's at The Field in downtown San Diego -- we mean Gaelic, the original Celtic language spoken predominantly by Irish people throughout most of their history.

Gaelic is a difficult language to negotiate -- it's pronunciation is very different than it's spelling.

Example:

"Buíochas le Dia as Google Translate" means "Thank God for Google Translate" and is pronounced "Wok awee befo aye slap ya" (pronunciation source: local pub patron)

Rebecca scored us the deal of the century at "Prairie House Boutique Hotel" -- a lodging choice which was most likely actually a clandestine equipment shed turned into a very classy room by enterprising hotel staff as a side hustle, because it was through a secret door away from the rest of the hotel it was in, which had a different name, and was only one of two rooms in that section of the building. The other was where the workers slept. But...it was AWESOME, steps from the water, surrounded by casinos + restaurants + bars, and at 35 euros for the night -- A third the price of most other options in the area. It was in Salt Hill, which is a 10 minute bus ride away from High Street, which is where everything pops off in Galway proper.

Prairie House Boutique Hotel, smushed behind the Blackcat Restaurant

Because all three or four of you reading this are scopin' it out on the internet, and the internet loves lists... here are our 5 recommendations of things to do in Galway. But I'm gonna format it in a very unlisty way, just to be a punk.

Kings Head Tavern. Mcdonaghs (Fish n' Chips, no affiliation with that clown). Aran Islands. Spanish Arch (including vagabonds loafing around close by). Guinness (not actually a place, more a state of mind)

The (Slightly Unimpressive) Spanish Arch

100% recommend popping over to Galway for a few days if you find yourself in Ireland -- or even coming from western Europe for that matter. Maybe even worth coming all the way from Mars if you had the technological capacity and the 'I'm so rich and eccentric it would be funny just for the story lol " futuristic swag effect going on.

Galway -- How to Get a Lot for a Little