Little Trip to Galway!

Last week I went on a little summer holiday to Galway in Ireland with my parents and boyfriend, we flew to Shannon and stayed on the West side of Ireland. We have family friends who live out in a little town called Quin so we went over to see them. The flight over to Shannon took approximately just 40 minutes.


On Wednesday we went round to our friends house in Quin and stayed there for the night, we had a BBQ and got to meet some other lovely people. Quin is a picturesque small quiet town, and it is just how you imagine Ireland to be. When we got to Quin we walked round the town and the Quin Abbey. 

Quin Abbey

On Thursday we travelled to Galway where we stayed for the rest of the holiday, we were house and dog sitting for our friends parents-in-law. Whilst staying at the house we looked after their springer spaniel called Twizel, who was such a big sweetheart. The houses in Ireland all seem so lovely, they are all spaced out and have huge gardens. We also caught the bus into the city centre and walked around the bars and shops. Galway is fairly surprising really, as you expect it to be a small town with barely anything there but the city centre was heaving with people. There was the Galway International Arts Festival on so the streets were lined with people watching all the arts and acts. What is also fairly surprising about Galway is that there are not too many shops, and the shops which they do have are fairly small in size and with limited stock. However Galway is packed with bars, pubs and places for food. We walked round the town and the docks and through the Galway Museum, which again was fairly small in size. 

Twizel

On Friday we went to Salthill beach for the day, and shockingly I actually got really sunburnt in Ireland; all my legs ended up sunburnt! The beach was really lovely, and was again packed with people and families. The views from the beach were amazing too, looking out from the beach you could see other parts of Ireland, such as County Clare (where Quin is). 

Salthill Beach

Also on Friday night my boyfriend and I went into town again and managed to see the comedian Milton Jones. Milton Jones has done shows at Live at the Apollo and is regularly featured on Mock of the Week. We didn't have tickets but thought we would try our luck and try get tickets on the night and luckily we did! We watched him in a small personal pub called Roisin Dubh in Galway City centre, and tickets cost €23. We were stood to the side of the thick black curtain (instead of a door), and whilst the host comedian was on introducing the night a man came and stood by the side of me, and i realised it was in fact Milton Jones himself, which was pretty impressive to be stood next to a huge comedian watching other comedians before his own show. The host and support comedian were also great. 

Milton Jones at Roisin Dubh

On Saturday we again went into the city centre and went to a great little restaurant on the main stretch in town and had really yummy food. On Sunday we watched another comedian called Patrick McDonnell at a place called the Laughter Loft, which was also part of the Arts Festival. We also went to watch a play at the theatre called Ballyturk, which was starring the actors Cillian Murphy, Mikel Murfi and Stephen Rea. Cillian Murphy is such a huuuuuge actor and has been in so many of my favourite films, so it was so amazing to be in the same room as such an exceptional actor. Stephen Rea has also been in one of my favourite films; Interview with the Vampire, so it was really fantastic to watch a play with them both in. 

On Monday we dropped by Ennis, which is a small beautiful town near Quin. We only had a short amount of time before we needed to be at the airport so my boyfriend and I just went to a little cafe, where we had a delicious pizza topped with goats cheese, olives, pine nuts and spinach. 

It was a really lovely week spent with family and friends, and I definitely would like to return and the trip has also made me want to visit Dublin again some time in the near future. If anyone is contemplating visiting Ireland I highly recommend it. The city was packed full of people from various countries and cultures, ranging from the US to Spain to Australia, so is definitely a popular city and area to visit. I really do hope to visit the West of Ireland soon!