This would have been a good day to get an early start. Our fourth-floor balcony showed blue skies out above the aquarium (which is immediately beneath our balcony), Galway City (which is off to the left, a little in the distance), and Galway Bay (which makes up most of the rest of our view). I could study a lot about the lay of the land from the balcony, but we could not really get into it until we had a quorum of people who were awake and ready. And yesterday we did climb a huge mountain, so everyone feels like they have the right to sleep in today.
The early morning hours hint at a remarkably favorable weather day — it’s even hot on the balcony from the direct sunlight at 7:30 — but we cannot take this sort of thing for granted. Sure enough, by the time four of us are ready to go out and explore, clouds are slowly starting to gather.
Fortunately, we are steps away from the Salthill Promenade, which stretches for miles along the shore of the bay, and we are able to pick out some a few must-do activities as we explore. Here’s a truth about Galway, though, if you don’t plan your time wisely, you’re not going to be able to do all the things you want to.
And we’ve already gotten off to a late start!
Stop 1 (as soon as all five of us are ready). The aquarium, which is very few steps from the door of our building. It is also a nice way to spend an hour or so. Interesting fish and such.
Stop 2. The downtown, which is well-visible from our balcony and only a 20-minute walk from the aquarium. The downtown that we find is bigger than Westport and Sligo, more tourist friendly than Limerick. There is an intricate canal/river system that meets the bay right about where we enter the city. A multi-colored row of houses lines one edge. A very festive pedestrian way branches off in the opposite direction. Which way will we go? We’ll do both, of course. Walking around cities is one of the things we do best, and Galway is a great place to walk around. We even sat outside a pub with some snacks and drinks and watched as most of the city seemed to pass us by.
This happens to be the time of the Galway Races Summer Festival, which is a week-long event where the fun includes, but is not limited to, horse racing and betting. Today was “Most Stylish” Day, or perhaps “Ladies’ Day.” There were many well-dressed people walking around either on their way to or after having visited the race track. It was rather like prom night, but on a larger scale given that it was people of all ages dressed up.
Step 3. The mysterious island at the end of a long causeway into the bay. We could see the causeway this morning from our balcony. It might be the only slight disappointment that Galway had for us today. The mysterious island at the end of the causeway is a water treatment plant.
Stop 4. We’ve never done an escape room on a boat before. What’s that like? It’s pretty cool, though we can’t share too much about it because someone reading this might want to try it for themselves some day. I can say that there are a lot of cool props in this one, including an entire tank — on a boat! Is that giving away too much? I don’t think so. We got a certificate for finishing in such good time. I don’t think they give those to just anyone.
Stop 4. Dinner. We got Italian, and wasn’t the restaurant filled with dressed up people — mostly groups of young women in all styles of dresses. As the evening progresses, there is ever more style on the streets. We’re practically getting run over by style by the time we’re walking back to Salt Hill.
Step 5. Jump in the water off a large tower. We found the Blackrock Diving Tower during our morning walk, but Zoe and Lanie had to wait all day for the tide to come in. It did not look like a good idea at low tide. Of course, the sun was mostly a memory by the time we came back this evening, so it didn’t look like a good idea to jump now for a totally different reason. But this reason did not stop them.