Galway! It’s just one of those places, those special,
magical places that everyone wants to visit if they’ve never been there;
that every visitor wants to return to; and that anyone lucky enough to live
in, never, ever wants to leave
Sit back and enjoy this 12 minute video of Ireland West, covering the three Counties of Galway, Mayo and Roscommon.
With grateful thanks to Ireland West for the production of this video.
County Galway splits into clearly identifiable areas,
each with strong distinctive characteristics. Galway city is the great social
magnet of the region, a lively place to visit any time of
the year. Connemara - a term
loosely applied to encompass the west of the county - has
the best of the scenery, with vast open expanses of bog,
exhilarating mountains and superb white-sand beaches.
Equally appealing, the Aran
Islands combine raw landscape with some of the most
exciting pre-Christian sites in Europe - and considerable
legends. The east of the county is far less compelling; flat
and less inspiring, it nonetheless does hold medieval ruins
of interest. The area around south Galway Bay, nestling
between the Burren and the water, at times has some
of the tantalizing, ethereal quality of north Clare.
The Aran Islands - Inis
Mór, Inis Meáin and Inis Oírr - lying about thirty miles
out across the mouth of Galway Bay, have exerted a
fascination over visitors for over a hundred years. Their
geology creates one of the most distinctive landscapes in
Ireland, the limestone pavement giving the islands a stark
character akin to the Burren of County Clare. This
spectacular setting contains a wealth of pre-Christian and
early Christian remains and some of the finest
archaeological
sites in Europe. And it's not only works in stone that have
survived out here: the islands are Irish-speaking, and up
until the early part of the last century a primitive way of
life persisted, a result of the isolation enforced by the
Atlantic.
More
info..
The most detailed map of the islands is produced
by Tim Robinson of Roundstone, available on Inishmore and at
bookshops and tourist offices in the Galway and Clare area.
In fact the Aran Islands are quite easy to explore and the
map isn't essential for finding the major sites. It is,
however, of great value to those interested in detailed
archaeology and in Irish place names. Although it's possible
to do a day-trip from Galway to Inishmore, and from
Doolin (County Clare) to Inisheer, you really need two full
days to see the main sites of Inishmore alone, and an
overnight stay on Inisheer adds a priceless dimension to a
visit. As for Inishmaan, staying the night is the only way
to experience its bewitching silence - and to be guaranteed
a return journey.
Dominated by two mountain ranges, Connemara is exceptionally beautiful. The
Twelve
Bens and Maam Turks glower over vast open areas
of bog wilderness, while to the southwest the land breaks up
into myriad tiny islands linked by causeways, slipping out
into the ocean. The whole area has superb beaches, with huge
sweeps of opalescent white sand washed by clear blue water.
Chance upon good weather here and you feel you've hit
paradise; even on the hottest of days the beaches are never
crowded.
This is country you visit for its scenery rather than its
history. There is little evidence of medieval power in
Connemara, either ecclesiastical or secular, beyond a few
castles along the shore of Lough Corrib and the occasional
one further west. The great exception is the profusion of monastic remains dotted over the little islands off the
west coast. Mainland settlements up until the nineteenth
century were widely scattered, and the area has always been
sparsely populated, due to the poverty of the land. There's
never been much to attract marauders or colonizers, and any
incursions have involved a battle against the terrain as
much as against the people. It's easy to see how such a land
would remain under the control of clans like the
O'Flahertys for centuries, while gentler landscapes bowed
to the pressure of foreign rule. In the famine years the
area suffered some of the worst of the misery, and a thinly
peopled land was depopulated further as people chose to
escape starvation by emigration.
Continued economic deprivation and isolation have meant
that an ancient rural way of life has continued for far
longer here, so Connemara is still Irish-speaking, the
largest of the Gaeltacht areas. In Spiddal you will find a traditional craft village which is well worth a visit. You can watch and learn from these artists the various crafts of Pottery, Weaving and Woodturning to name but a few. Visit the Craft Village or Ceardlann as it is in Irish. A Gaeltacht
summer school is held in Spiddal , and Casla (Costelloe)
is the home of Raidió na Gaeltachta radio station
(556m MW, broadcasting daily 8am-7.30pm). English is spoken
too, however, and the only difficulty for the visitor is
that the signs on the roads, and on some buses, are often in
Irish only. Spiddal is also home to the Crúiscín Lán Hotel in the centre of the village, which comes alive at night to the sounds of traditional music.
Whilst on the subject of traditional music, there is an excellent music shop or An Siopa Ceoil, as it is known in Irish in the Spiddal Craft Village, where you can see and purchase a range of traditional Irish instruments.
Discover more on the History, Geography, Attractions and other Areas of Interest in and around the County of Galway
For all its beauty, the dramatic mountain landscape of
west Galway is surprisingly undeveloped in terms of tourism,
owing in part to the infamous Irish weather and in part to
the fact that walking has not been the popular recreation in
Ireland that it is in other, more urbanized European
countries. If you're in search of solitude, you won't have
to go far to find it.
More info...
The city of GALWAY , folk
capital of the west, has a vibrancy and hedonism that make
it unique. People come here with energies primed for
enjoyment - the music, the drink, the "crack" - and it can
be a difficult place to leave. University College Galway
guarantees a high proportion of young people in term time,
maintained in summer by the attractions of the city's
festivals. This youthful energy is an important part
of Galway's identity, and the city's mix of culture and fun
attracts not only disaffected bohemians from other areas of
Ireland but folksy young Europeans who return each year with
an almost religious devotion. Galway sees itself in many
ways as the capital of Gaelic Ireland, where traditional
aspects of Irish society, primarily music and language, are
most confidently and colourfully expressed.
As is the case with many other Irish cities, Galway has,
for the past decade, been experiencing a surge of economic
growth. Constant renovation is in progress in the small and
crowded city centre, and during the summer it has the energy
of a boom town, with an expanding number of shops and
restaurants to cater for the increase in visitors and
students. The downside of this is the huge amount of
property development galloping ahead in the city centre,
threatening to take away some of the city's unique
character, though, for the time being at least, Galway
retains its human scale.
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