Galway

Galway is a city in Ireland.

Galway is the third largest city in the Republic of Ireland, after Dublin and Cork (from an all-Ireland perspective, both Belfast and Derry are bigger.) However, Galway is often perceived as Ireland's cultural capital. Whereas this is arguable, what can not be denied is that Galway is the only city in Ireland where a significant percentage (14% according to the latest Census figures) of the population speak Irish (Gaelic). The Irish language and the culture associated with it permeate the city's cultural life.

Galway is also one of Ireland's youngest cities - from a demographic perspective, that is! Between the city's two institutes of third level education (The National University of Ireland, Galway (NUIG) and the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology (GMIT) some 20,000 students live in the city - between a fifth and a fourth of the entire population. This gives Galway a distinct studenty feel not unlike college towns in the U.S.

Tips

Galway is Ireland's only bilingual city. According to the last Census 14% of the city's population speak Irish as an every day language. Also, the country's biggest Irish-speaking area, Conamara, is just west of the city. This makes Galway probably the best place in Ireland to experience Irish (often referred to as 'Gaelic', the Irish for 'Irish' is 'Gaeilge') as a living language. Places to seek out are the slightly hidden, but cosy Club Árus na nGael pub on Dominick Street and Tigh Taaffe (Taaffe's Pub) on Shop Street.

There are a number of places mostly Pubs offering free wifi. These include Mcswiggans, The Skeff, The Western, Massimo's and Port cafe. The time to definitely avoid Galway is during Race Week, which is the last week of July. Unless you are really into horse racing, throwing away money like it grows on trees, and being stuck in traffic in your S.U.V. being worried about what hats the other ladies are wearing. For low-budget travellers, the problem is that ALL accommodation in Galway is booked out way in advance for this period.

The first week of July is the week of the Film Fleadh, the biggest film and tv festival in Ireland. The second and third weeks of July are the Galway Arts Festival, Ireland's biggest Arts Fest. Be warned - the Arts Festival is not what it used to be and ticket prices have gone through the roof. A breakaway fringe festival ran alongside the main festival in 2006 but chances are it will not run again in 2007.

Don't worry about trying to make sense of the city's confusing public transport system which is run by two operators neither of which believe it would be a good idea to post route maps or time tables at the bus stops. Just walk instead!

Trains and Bus Éireann buses operate to Ceannt Station near Eyre Square in the city centre. Two other bus companies, Bus Nestor and CityLink, operate to a carpark just beside the main bus station and the tourist information office.

Hitchhiking is still quite common in the west of Ireland and it shouldn't be too hard to find a ride. Travelling west from Galway to Conamara, position yourself somewhere close to Silver Strand. For trips out to the Clifden direction, position yourself across from Corrib Village University Campus. For travel to Sligo, try anywhere along the Tuam Road. For all other directions East and South position yourself at a safe spot along the Dublin Road, for example near the Merlin Park Hospital (you can take a bus here.)

An often heard complaint about Galway is that there is little to do during the daytime. (Everybody knows what you're meant to do in Galway during nighttime.) Make up your own entertainment! Feed the swans at Nimmo's Pier near the mouth of the river Corrib; in summer, go swimming at the diving boards at the end of the Prom in Salthill; take the lift to the top floor of the car park in the Eyre Square Shopping Centre to enjoy the view over the city and the bay - the only place in the city centre to see Galway from a high vantage point.

CouchSurfers

A maybe, yes or definitely search reveiled Galway city had 34 couchsurfers at the end of February, 2007. However, quite a few of the profiles seem to be inactive members.

Trivia

Galway was awarded the status of Fairtrade City by Fairtrade Ireland [1] in 2006. This means fairtrade produce is used in more than a certain percentage of Galway cafés and restaurants and available in many retail outlets. These percentages are audited on a yearly basis. It should be easy, if not downright simple, to find a cup of fairtrade coffee in Galway. But even though fairtrade is widely available, good coffee however and a good café atmosphere can be hard to find, with many Galwegians still lamenting the closure of Café Bananaphoblacht in 2006. Amnesty International on Middle Street have good fairtrade coffee but very few seats; all Arabica coffee shops serve good fairtrade coffee but lack a bit of atmosphere.

Couchsurfing was mentioned in Foinse which is Ireland's national Irish language newspaper, which happens to be produced in Galway.wikitravel:Galway wikipedia:Galway