Originally, I was planning on heading to the Cliffs of Moher, a popular tourist spot that can be seen in films such as Leap Year with Amy Adams, The Princess Bride, and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. The problem was that the Cliffs were over an hour away by bus and I really did not feel up to spending the time or money. Instead, I opted to do a free walking tour in the morning around Galway with my new Australian friend, Jess! Lara, our tour guide, was fantastic. I am so happy that I went with the tour option because after, I appreciated Ireland, Irish history, Galway, and Irish people a thousand times more. Lara really did a wonderful job. She incorporated a brief history of the Island and laced the tour with her own stories and angles. I learned that the term, "lynching" originated during the 17th century. Mayor Lynch of Galway had a son who knew about a financial scandal involving Spaniards. The son murdered a Spaniard to prevent further embezzlement and his father sentenced him to death. However, the town begged the mayor not to kill his popular and well-known son and even tried physically standing in his way. Not about to let justice go unpunished, the mayor brought his son to the second story of a building and hung him from the window in front of the town. The mayor also wanted to keep ties between the Spaniards because of the heavy reliance on trade. A tragic story that was immediately followed by Lara sharing a tale about a monkey saving a baby out of a burning building! Great stuff.
Another interesting thing I learned was the name of the park in the city center. J.F. Kennedy was the first Irish Catholic to be elected as a US president. JFK visited Galway shortly before he was assassinated so the town renamed their 300-year-old park in memory of him. Below are some pictures from the tour:
A mosaic of JFK in one of the Cathedrals
Galway Cathedral built in 1964 out of stone from the 60-person jail that existed in the same spot
Random Irish gent sleeping next to me in the pub after the tour!
After the tour, Lara told us about a pub crawl for 10 euro that included a guide to four pubs, a half pint of Guinness, and three shots. Each pub had live music (sadly it was alternative, not traditional) and beer games (beer pong, etc.). Everyone assumed that since I was American that I would be grand at the games! Ha. My college experience was very untraditional so I failed miserably! But I had a blast. The two guides were SO energetic and responsible for all 35-40 of us! Below are some pictures:
Dom and Keeva, our guides
Jasmine from Germany
Australian Jess! She is on a 6-month solo backpacking trip all around Europe! Such inspiration
My German besties! Laura (or Lara?) and her common law husband! ;) These two were fantastic to talk and hang out with... We also had some really interesting discussions about American politics and 9/11... Fascinating stuff
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