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. 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. 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. 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.   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.   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.  

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I always knew that meeting people as you go is probably the most important part of any travel. Meeting your friends is even more so. But meeting a friend after 10 years is truly spectacular. Ten years is a long time. That’s enough to go around the world at least once. Here is my story about a very special meeting in Galway. A decade has passed since I saw Damien last time, and funny thing, it was in Italy. We had been studying in Milan and met one evening in a student accommodation. At that time the university had a particular idea on foreign students: they placed all of them in the same accommodation, who knows to what purpose. Integration, I guess. This was quite striking: a red hair guy in Italy. He was- and still is- very tall, so it wasn’t difficult to notice him. You could see him a mile away on a street as almost nobody has red hair in Italy. Quite naturally we spent a bit of time together, visiting the city and struggling with the language challenges (at least WE spoke the same language). While hanging around, just as other students did, we joined some of the ‘happy hour’ thing, student parties, which after ten years we have only a misty memory of. I remembered Damien’s face burnt by the sun after one of the weekends and he remembered one of the parties we went together, that I have no memory of. All in all, this was charming to chat about the past, especially when the memories are good. For ten years the only thing we did was exchange emails from time to time. It was hard to follow the country of residence of my friend as he traveled the world more than I did but from time to time we always exchange important information. Actually, this meeting in Galway is a proof that electronic media helps to sustain and develop social ties. There was time when Facebook did not exist (I know it’s hard to believe) and simply through emails’ exchange it was still possible to stay in touch. Just few weeks before my trip to Ireland I wrote to Damien again and he replied with enthusiasm that we need to meet. Well done my friend, I would say! There is no better thing than visit a city with locals, therefore, I accepted Damien’s invitation with joy. He and his lovely girlfriend showed me their hometown Galway. They spent all Saturday with me in this enchanting town, including tour at the university where they both studied, local market, and their favorite restaurant. Oldest church (St. Nicolas), Cathedral, Lynch’s Castle, River Corrib Walk, NUIG, Lynch’s Window- all that with compact and interesting explanations. They were also extremely helpful in purchase of Irish SIM card which worked brilliantly in a remote location of the Aran Islands (receiving 200 free text messages and taking into account they were only people with the Irish number I knew this was a risky business;-) My stay in Galway was awesome! Thanks to you guys I had a great and stress-free time. There is a clever idea. Two ideas, actually. We had an idea to meet this year in Milan (the same place, ten years later), or to meet precisely in TEN YEARS from now. We’ll try to figure it out which option wins. I will keep you posted. In a mantime the story about my stay in Ireland continues here.  

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