Ireland Guide
Galway and Mayo
Galway city
Known for its festivals, music and bars, Galway (Gaillimh; 
www.galway.net ) is a vibrant, fun-loving city and, though it has few sights to visit, many people end up staying here longer than intended. Conveniently, history and leisure combine in this hedonistic place: the pubs, many of which retain their original, huge fireplaces and other Gothic features, are the best place to get a feel for the medieval city.
Galway is the capital of the Gaelic West – it's the only city in the country where you might possibly hear Irish spoken – and draws young people from up and down the coast to study at the National University of Ireland at Galway and the Institute of Technology. In the summer holidays, however, its bohemian diversity becomes more overt, as hundreds of English-language students renew the city's traditional maritime links with the Continent, while dozens of buskers from all over the world sing for their supper. This cosmopolitanism is reinforced by the setting: Galway is the only coastal city in Ireland that really seems to open up to the sea, with the docks cheek by jowl with the compact city centre, as you're constantly reminded by salty breezes and seagulls. The jewel in the city's crown, the long, pedestrianized main drag of William, Shop, High andQuay streets, becomes a boisterous, Mediterranean-style promenade during summer, lined with pub and restaurant tables. At its lower, western end, the street narrows to its original medieval dimensions, then flows straight out into Galway Bay along with the thundering River Corrib, providing faraway views of the Burren hills of County Clare.
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