A Weekend In Galway


“Through the storm we reach the shore
You give it all but I want more
And I'm waiting for you

With or without you
With or without you
I can't live
With or without you”
~With or Without You, U2

Weekend Market
It’s been a lovely weekend in Galway. I’ve been blessed to have such spectacular weather. The sun was shinning. YES, SUNSHINE MAKES ME HAPPY! Lovely weather & actually found some craic too! Well, Saturday morning I was up early chasing the light you could say. Yes, a photographer knows when to go out, beat the crowds & just be in oneness with the art. I stumbled upon the Weekend Markets & I was in love. There’s so much beauty there with the fresh meats, vegetables, seafood, fruit & cheeses to name a few of the items along with some art mixed in. It was grand. The flavors just wanted me to get into my culinary groove, but that’s on hold backpacking. Freshness of ingredients & locally sourced foods are essential to better health for the body, mind & spirit.
View of Spanish Arch from Galway City Museum
I had a wee walk around the city before meeting my family. I stumbled upon the Spanish Arch, the  Galway City Museum which was free & yes all of the museums are free in Ireland & found the colorful houses that make Galway famous. Well, let’s just say that my personal power got a wee bit of a test yesterday to meet my family. Long story short I thought that I wasn’t going to meet them since myself & my cousins had a wee bit of miscommunication on what bus station. Apparently, there are two bus stations here in Galway, the old one is where the trains go out of & the new one is where the express buses go out of. We each thought that it was the bus station that we were familiar with. Well, I learned a new trick that saved my arse. I asked the security guard for wifi in the station & he told me that I had to stand in front of a bus to get it since the bus station doesn’t have wifi, but the buses do. I also found out that there were another bus station two streets over. I immediately b-lined it over & had my cousin paged from the inspector office too. As my faith turned out that I found my cousin by getting into my messages from the wifi on the bus. I was very happy to have meant them at Eyre Square Hotel.
Funny, how you can immediately pick up on the family resemblance. We literally just bumped into each other & embraced each other with hugs. It was nice to spend some time with them, even if it was short. I had a lovely salmon lunch at Imperial Hotel The Imperial & enjoyed meeting with my family very much. It was nice that we shared with each other photos & about our families. 
After saying good bye to my family, I decided to take a lovely stroll down to Salthill. It’s a charming village right next to Galway City. I found myself in a bar enjoying a pint of Guinness, walked “the prom” or Salthill Promenade back to Galway, found a Famine Memorial & chatted with locals along the way. It’s a very Irish thing to just to have a random chat with people on the street, I will admit that I have done that a lot no matter where I am in the world. I decided to treat myself to a proper dirty curry as a friend of mine from Bristol would say. I had a late dinner over at Kashmir of Jheenga Curry with King Prawns & Basmati Chawal. I was in heaven cos it was very nice to finally have a proper curry, it’s been a long time. I decided to go out for some live music at  Monroe's where I saw an American Folk Singer Dar Williams & opening for her was Malojian from Belfast. It was lovely. I had the opportunity to meet both performers after the show & had a wee bit of a chat with them. Funny, Dar could pick up on my international energy & basically told me the same thing that my friend Melissa Boyd has told me a number of times during my readings. It was lovely to have such an amazing high energy chat with people who’s creativity energy is in alignment with yours. It seems where ever I have been lately in the last few days I tend to meet people who have similar interests as myself & been having some incredible chats with them.
Galway Bay
It has just been relax for a Sunday. I ended up checking out Galway Cathedral & ended up staying for Mass since it’s Sunday.  I enjoyed listing to the sermon about the practice of gratitude & it was very nice that the practice was talked about in a positive light. I found a lovely Curry Vegetable Pie atThe Pie Maker& was in heaven with a proper pie, something I haven’t had in a long time. I will admit that I have been cheating a wee bit with the whole GF thing, but a proper pie & Guinness are only a few of the exceptions. Funny, how I just can’t handle them as I used to with getting rid of so many layers & years of eating that stuff & feel amazing from it, since I’m on holiday I can indulge once in a while for some hearty goodness of Irish food & drink. I will admit that a nice pint of Bulmers is lovely too & a nice alternative to beer. Charlie Byrne's is a great local bookshop worth checking out. Book prices start at one Euro & have an excellent selection of Irish books & not to forget both old & new. It’s a great place to trade in both old & new books & soak up a great literary find. Eyre Square Centre is a great place to check out for some shops & not to forget finding the grocery store & Irish department stores. I stumbled upon a dance performance from The Little Shop of Horror while I was there too.
Overall it has been a wonderful weekend in Galway. I’ve grateful to have meant up with my family, soak in some live music & got lost wandering the streets. You never know what kind of craic you can find, just trust your higher source to let it shine! 






Popular Posts