Saturday saw us embark on another day of traveling. Our destination was the City of Galway on the west coast of Ireland along the Atlantic Ocean. We also heard this place referred to as the City of the Tribes or tribal city…apparently referring to its history of fourteen merchant families basically ruling the city. Our method of traveling to this coastal town was by way of the Irish Rail.

We arrived in Galway early in the afternoon and decided to grab a bite to eat before we found lodging for the night. We hit up the Foxs Porterhouse located next to the train station and basically in the city’s center. It was Guinness stew and soup du jour for us…and it was wonderful.

We were there for a couple hours, watching the rugby game, talking with the patrons, and joking with Brendan the bartender.

Later we were referred to the Kinlay House where we were hooked up with an awesome room and met some amazing Irish folks (Frank and Loftus.) Right outside the hostel in the square there was a Christmas market and this one far outdid the first market we had visited in Dublin.

There was a fantastic Belgian baker there who made the best apple cake I’ve ever had.

There was also a cupcake vendor, Sweetie Pies, that had a whole booth of fantastic cupcakes, brownies, gingerbread and more.

There were a variety of vendors at the market selling food, drink, and crafts. I thoroughly enjoyed the booth with hot drinks like hot chocolate and mulled wine…which is awesome by the way. The German guy running the booth was hilarious and super funny…and wearing that strange capris-jump-suit thing…what’s that called?

Walking the streets of Galway was wonderful. To be honest, this is what we had expected with Dublin: cobblestone pedestrian walkways and local shops.

Our quest for good Irish music led us to Tig Coili where we got good music and also Ringo, the drummer. He loved music, especially spirituals, which I thought I’d know a lot about…haha, no lie. According to him, I should check out the Carolina Chocolate Drops…which I did. And they’re pretty good.

This is Johnny “Ringo” McDonagh and he’s apparently a pretty accomplished musician, something that I discovered later on. He’s pretty phenomenal on the Bodhrán and has even introduced new techniques for playing it. I think he even toured the US in the eighties…but I’m not a 100% on that.

This guy was also one of the bartenders.