This was my second visit in Galway this year. I enjoyed my last time here, meeting Damien and Laverne- my Irish friends- and having a wonderful weather. I wasn’t so lucky with the weather this time: it was raining and the sky was covered with dark clouds. Despite the nasty weather I had amazing time in Galway and it proves that it is worthy to visit the same place more than once. I really like this town, in every possible weather.
Rainy days in Galway
We arrived late, as our day was full of events again. It was dark already upon our arrival and after two days on the road and numerous parties along the way we were sort of wrecked. Despite of being late a warm welcome waited for us at Radisson Blu hotel. Speedily checked in and the cosy room for each of us. Warm shower, fresh clothes and we were ready for our next scheduled event in half an hour. We started with sushi and drinks watching the Galway Bay by night. What a spectacular view! The little harbor is lightened marking a narrow path into the bay.
Raddison Blu Galway
Later the same evening (I know it sounds like it would be midnight already, but it was around 9 p.m.) we walked to amazing place called Ard Bia at Nimmos: a restaurant and cafe located in old part of the town Spanish Arch. The 16 th century remains of the town’s wall host this amazing restaurant. Considered the best not only in the area but also well known in whole Ireland serves eclectic food combining traditional ingredients with oriental spices.
This restaurant is also special because of its location and interesting interior design. It is cosy inside and for me it was pretty successful in creation of a very friendly space for a meal with bunch of friends. I suppose that many people would call it cute. This was amazingly pleasant evening. And it wasn’t over before we got back to the hotel and before our real Irish coffee served (after the midnight, obviously). Therese- our guide- gave us some indications how such coffee should be served and drank. So first, it should contain brown sugar, freshly ground coffee, Irish whiskey and cream at the top. We were told that you should never mix the cream with coffee before you drink it. I had a very interesting conversation with Tony and Mary Jo about the general migration trends in the world and about the primary motivation why people travel, and what are the advantages of being bi- and trilingual.
Irish Coffee
Next morning, I got up before the sunrise and enjoyed beautiful view on the Galway Bay. The breakfast was served in a huge dinning hall with lots of other tourists and business people. I had my full Irish and it was really delicious. Our morning was filled with a guided tour in a hill-village I will tell you about in my next post but we returned in the afternoon for a guided segway tour. And was truly amazing experience. By all means!
John from Segway Adventures waited for us at the Galway Promenade in front of a row of segways. This was the first time I was riding such thing. At the beginning there was a slight drizzle and so we didn’t much care about it. Well, John didn’t so we were quite enthusiastic towards riding the segway. But the drizzle turned into a regular rain and eventually in heavy rain. John was like a rock. “We’re in Ireland and it’s raining here” – he said and continued the introduction. He was just amazing! I mean, he really didn’t care that it was raining and while at the beginning we didn’t care either after a while I started to get grumpy. Despite the nasty weather and slightly bad mood it was fun. Each of us received individual instruction how to deal with our segways and we could ride is as we pleased. That was the only advantage related to the weather condition: there was nobody around. Just us. And our segways.
Segway Adventures
Half of us has a previous ride on segways while the rest didn’t and even though we were able to learn how to do it in 15 minutes. I think it is really cool gadget and quite brilliant in terms of a guided tour in a city or town. I’m not sure how easy it is for people who have trouble with walking long distances but for us it was fast and cool way to watch all touristic spots in a very short time. To be honest: after a while of heavy rain I was soaked, my glasses were covered with rain drops and my hands were frozen. But even though I consider it really nice experience. I know I want to try it again. I can hardly imagine how cool it is in a sunny day. Or play frisbee while riding segway. Totally cool!
Courtesy of John you can have a look how cool it is with a nice weather.
Frisbee on segway- how cool is that?
Sunny day in Galway
Soaked and tired we got back to our hotel and before we went back to Dublin we dried ourselves and changed clothes. This was an amazing day and I saw Galway in a very different way. And I am very happy I did.
Read about other outdoor activities in Ireland here.
