Walking Tours of Galway

05/02/2025

Sometimes, the hair does be standing on the back of your neck!

'There was once a man living in Errismore.

He had a boat and he used to bring goods from the mainland to Slyne Head for the light house keepers. The place where he used to load the boat was near high water mark and there would need to be a very high tide before she would float.

The tides used not come fair sometimes, once the food was getting scarce in the island. And on one dark night, this man had to load his boat and go with food.

His cousin was with him and they were going along as fast as the two paddles could bring them.

It was so dark that if you stretched out your hand you could not see it. But when they were about midway across, a kind of red light appeared in the water and they got very much afraid.

Then a splatter came in the water and they saw the devil with two big horns swimming in the water.

He was coming towards them in great haste until the man said "In the name of God leave us alone and take who you like but don't take us.' He left them alone then.

When they landed on the island, they took the food and luggage to the lighthouse.

When they went home in the morning the house was filled with people and the woman of the house laid out in the room.

The men were very put out about it but they had to take with it. When they were about half an hour at home, the man went out to milk the cow to make some tea.

When he went into the stable he saw the cow stretched back dead. He got half bewildered with the fright.

Then he heard someone saying: 'You said take who you like, but do not take you or your cousin.'

A scary story from the Schools' Collection from the school at Roundstone.

For more stories of the history of Galway, see my book 'The Little History of Galway.' In all good bookshops or at: https://www.etsy.com/ie/listing/1867494645/little-history-galway-ireland-colm

Pictured are two men and a currach, taken from the UCD Archives.

01/02/2025

30/01/2025

The closure of the Galway to Clifden railway in 1935, after only 40 years in service, left the greater Connemara district even more isolated and economically re****ed for the following 90 years!

'There was a train to Galway from Clifden and they say that it was one of the saddest things in the world when the last train left here before they started taking up the track.

They say that the whistle of that last train pierced the heart, so that people had the tears spring to their eyes listening to it. It was like something human going away forever, they said.

It was a loss to the town, too, for it was an evening's diversion to go down to meet the train and see was there a new face come off it. People went every evening; it was something to do. I have been myself, for the same reason.

Now they go to meet the 'bus, but it's not the same. A 'bus is somehow so much more purely mechanical - there is something "personal" about a train.

Well, but there it is; times change; first it was the port that fell into disuse and got silted up and the warehouses became rat-ridden ruins. The Marconi station went, too, that gave employment to the whole place for miles around.

Then the railway; now donkeys graze on the grass-grown sleepers - they never finished taking up the track.

The station is still used as a goods depot, so people still go down there, but what is a
station without a train?'

Ethel Mannin, the English author who lived in Connemara for a time in the 1940s, describing in 1946 the feelings of the inhabitants of the town to the closure of Clifden Railway Station a decade previous.

For more stories of the history of Galway, see my book 'The Little History of Galway.' In all good bookshops or at: https://www.etsy.com/ie/listing/1867494645/little-history-galway-ireland-colm גו

29/01/2025

Storm Éowyn was something else entirely. Nothing like anyone in Ireland ever experienced. Hurricane force winds. A lot of damage, no electricity, no water, no Internet, no phone signal. We finally got our electricity back after 4 days... So we are very happy to be open again in Joe Wattys with good food, drink, warmth and company! (And Wi Fi for those still without!)

20/01/2025

Galway is the City of Trad ... and so much more.

The SESSION CITY GALWAY list of traditional Irish music sessions for this week! 🥳
We will publish a list each Monday.

Monday:
5:30- Taaffes Bar -advanced
6:00- Tíg Chóilí -advanced
6:30- Crane -no session due to bereavement 🙏
7:00- Galway Slow Trad Sessions in The Office Bar -beginners/intermediate (See their Fbook page for more info)
8:30- 13 on the Green -intermediate/advanced
9:30- Crane -no session due to bereavement 🙏
9:30- Tíg Chóilí -advanced

Session City Galway

Tuesday:
5:30- Taaffes Bar -advanced
6:00- Tíg Chóilí -advanced
7:00- Galway Slow Trad Sessions in The Office Bar -intermediate (See their Fbook page for more info)
8:30- 13 on the Green -intermediate/advanced
9:30- The Crane -advanced
9:30- Tíg Chóilí -advanced

Session City Galway

Wednesday:
5:30- Taaffes -advanced
6:00- Tíg Chóilí -advanced
9:30- The Crane -advanced
9:30- Tíg Chóilí -advanced

Session City Galway

Thursday:
5:30- Taaffe's -advanced *Eb session*
6:00- Tíg Chóilí -advanced
7:00- Kelehans -intermediate/advanced
8:00- Carroll's -advanced
8:30- Killoran's -intermediate
9:00- The Western Hotel -intermediate/advanced
9:30- The Bierhaus -intermediate/advanced
9:30- Tíg Chóilí -advanced
9:30- The Crane -advanced

Session City Galway

Friday:
4:30- Monroe's -advanced
5:30- Taaffes -advanced
6:00- Tíg Chóilí -advanced
6:00- Carroll's -advanced
8:00- St.James GAA Club -intermediate
8:30- The Western Hotel -intermediate/advanced
9:30- The Crane -advanced
10:00- Tíg Chóilí -advanced

Session City Galway

Saturday:
5:30- Taaffes Bar -advanced
6:00- Tig Choili -advanced
7:00- Carroll's -advanced
9:30- The Crane -advanced
10:00- Tíg Chóilí -advanced

Session City Galway

Sunday:
2:00- Tíg Chóilí -advanced
2:30- The Crane -intermediates welcome at start yielding seat to advanced players/occasional legends as the session goes on
5:30- Taaffes Bar -advanced
6:00- Tíg Chóilí -advanced
7:00- Carroll's -advanced
9:00- Tíg Chóilí -advanced
9:30- The Crane -advanced

The Galway City traditional music sessions available to us all change a bit each week (and definitely does as the seasons change), so follow our page now to keep in touch with all of Galway City's tremendous trad sessions!
Session City Galway

The sessions listed are to the best of our knowledge at the time of publishing.

If you are looking to book musicians for your pub, hotel, wedding, or special event, send us a note on messenger, or an email at [email protected], and we will direct you to some excellent musicians and choices.





Galway Bay FM Flirt FM 101.3 The Latin Quarter Galway Galway Chamber Irish Music Irish Music Magazine official Galway's Westend Raidió na Gaeltachta (Oifigiúil) Garavans Bar Kelehans Bar Bushypark Galway Murty Rabbitts O'Connors Bar Galway Thirteen on the Green Galway Visit Galway Mary Mullens Bar Taylor’s Bar & Beer Garden Eyre Square Hotel Eyre Square The Park House Hotel Galway HYDE Hotel Galway Hyde Bar Galway House Hotel Galway Imperial Hotel Galway The Village Salthill The Galmont Hotel & Spa Tig Choili Taaffes Bar The Western Hotel - Galway City Centre Seven Bar Galway Monroe's Galway Carroll's on Dominick Street Galway Civic Trust / Dúchas na Gaillimhe Flannery’s Hotel Galway Tom Sheridans Bar Knocknacarra Galway Maldron Hotel Galway Menlo Park Hotel & Conference Centre Galway Bay Hotel Salthill Hotel The Ardilaun Hotel Clybaun Hotel Travel Tips Ireland - Irish culture, History and Craic

10/01/2025

Here’s a beautiful walk for a Sunday in spring!

07/01/2025

Something for your diary. Next Monday at 8pm in the Harbour hotel

GAHS free illustrated public lecture on THE BLAKES OF MENLO CASTLE on 13th January at 8 pm. The venue is the HARBOUR HOTEL, and the speaker is PATRICK LARKIN.

Menlo Castle sits on the banks of the river Corrib, a few miles upriver from Galway city. It was constructed as a defensive English outpost in a Gaelic world, gradually morphing over time to become a comfortable home worthy of its wealthy aristocratic owners. These were one of the merchant Tribes of Galway, the baronets Blake, ennobled for their services to the state. The castle was occupied for three and a half centuries, until a tragic accidental fire consumed the iconic building.

The speaker, Patrick Larkin is a Galway native, a graduate of University College Galway and a chartered chemist. A former president of the Galway Archaeological and Historical Society, he is a widely published independent scholar with a particular interest in 13th century East Galway.

30/12/2024

Such a sad occasion.. and so unnecessary! Greedy rate and rent hikes are killing off all our indigenous industry and businesses! Eimear worked so incredibly hard. Goya’s cakes were the best!

Red Velvet cake from Goyas was one of Galway’s best-kept secrets, but now the bakery that created it will be turning its ovens off.

The family business, based in the medieval street known as Kirwan’s Lane, will sell its last courgette bread and signature chocolate cakes and more on New Year’s Eve.

It is among the latest in a line of independent businesses in Galway and countrywide that have been forced to close due to high costs and lack of affordable housing for staff.

A month ago, Goyas founder Emer Murray was reporting cheerfully that staff were up to their ears in “raisins, brown sugar and bottles of Hennessy” as they prepared for Christmas.

However, a rent increase, along with struggles to keep staff, who are facing their own rental challenges, and a hike in city council rates, means this Christmas will be their last at Kirwan’s Lane, she says.

“I’m not doing this out of choice,” Ms Murray, who founded the bakery 33 years ago, explains. “I have been overwhelmed by the reaction since I had to announce this, and I hate to see people so upset because of it.”
A recent rent review will push rent up substantially, she says, while she has had to cut hours due to staffing issues.

“I have had the most excellent staff, but they just can’t afford to live here in Galway,” she says.

“My heart is broken as I wasn’t ready to retire. I have never skimped on so much as an egg, as I was always keen to ensure quality would not suffer.”

24/12/2024

15/12/2024

The Irishman James Joyce was one of the most celebrated writers of the 20th century. He left behind an impressive literary legacy, and two children whose stories are of sadness and unrealized potential.

When Joyce met Nora Barnacle, he was an impoverished struggling writer, and she was a Galway chambermaid. The couple had two children together, though they didn’t marry until the children were adults. By the time their son Giorgio reached his teens, Joyce was an international celebrity, thanks to his controversial novel Ulysses. Giorgio took up with a much older married American heiress, and they were eventually married. He had planned to become an opera singer, but his alcoholism ruined his chances.

The life of James Joyce’s daughter Lucia was especially tragic. She had shown promise as an avant garde dancer but was eventually overcome by mental illness. After multiple episodes of violent and dangerous behaviour, Lucia was institutionalized in 1932, at age 25. She would spend the remainder of her life in asylums.

Giorgio and his wife had one child, Stephen Joyce, who eventually inherited James Joyce’s estate and spent much of his life suing anyone who dared quote his grandfather’s work. Stephen died on January 20th, 2020, childless, at age 78. James Joyce now has no living descendants.

The photograph is of Lucia Joyce, who died in an English mental health hospital at age 75, on December 12th, 1982.

15/12/2024

Nora Barnacle was born in 1884 at Galway City workhouse, the second child of Thomas and Annie Barnacle.

At a young age, she was sent to stay with her grandmother, although later she returned to live at a house in Bowling Green in the city with her mother and six siblings.

Nora was known for being impulsive and carefree and enjoyed flouting convention.

She moved to Dublin in 1904 where she worked as a maid in Finn's Hotel on Nassau Street.

It was at this point that she caught the attention of an aspiring author named James Joyce.

Later that year, after a whirlwind romance, the pair eloped to Switzerland. They lived together thereafter and had two children, although they did not marry until 1931.

It appears that James Joyce visited his wife's home county of Galway just twice.

On the second occasion in 1912, he spent several weeks and attended the Galway Races, cycled to a graveyard in Oughterard, sailed to Inishmore and possibly went as far as the Marconi Station near Clifden.

Joyce was clearly inspired by his visit to the west.
His poem 'She weeps over Rahoon' is written about the cemetery in Galway while Joyce also wrote two essays on the county.
He also published an article on his namesake, Myles Joyce, hanged unjustly for a murder he did not commit at Maamtrasna in 1882.
Joyce and Barnacle moved around Europe regularly over the coming years and Nora became a multi-linguist.

She also worked various jobs, including as a laundress, to support her husband, whose career as a writer took some years to take off.
Nora was less than impressed with Joyce’s complicated writing style, and later said she had never read Ulysses, his most famous book.

Nevertheless, she was a superb muse and Joyce based many of his most famous characters, including Molly Bloom, on his wife.
Joyce eventually found literary success, giving Nora much of the credit for her support.

James Joyce died in 1941, having not returned to Ireland since his sojourn to Galway in 1912.

His relationship with his homeland was strained.
“Do you know what Ireland is? Ireland is the old sow that eats her farrow,” Stephen Dedalus, a character in Joyce's 'A Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Man' says, perhaps mirroring Joyce's own view of the country.

Nora Barnacle outlived her husband by a decade, dying in Switzerland in 1951.

Today, there is a little museum in Galway City, Nora Barnacle House, dedicated to her life and that of her husband.