In center city, its hub, several blocks in from the river, is Eyre Square, whose green lawn is offset by a strikingly angular fountain sculpture mimicking the russet sails of the traditional “Galway hooker” fishing boat; one of the streets that run alongside is pedestrianised and lined with shops and cafés. The street life is lively, accentuated by buskers along Shop Street as well as High Street and Quay Street down near the riverfront. These include fiddlers and other traditional musicians, and in addition to that, there are plenty of Irish folk music performances (known as “trad sessions”) most every night in Latin Quarter pubs such as The King’s Head, housed in an 800-year-old building which among other things was the home of one of medieval Galway’s many Lynch family mayors.

Read more in my post Galway Is an Irish Charmer - and a 2020 European Capital of Culture.

Gabriele Zufetti