A Day in Galway

"...and they're off."

It is racing week in Galway. We were warned. The traffic is bumper to bumper and bunting festoons each pub and advertises Guinness.

Although we are not interested in the horse racing, it does add an air of gaiety and perspective to the city.

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The outlying district is rural, with sheep and cows, tractors and stone walls. We saw men chipping stone to complete a bridge coming into Galway. The stonework looks new but blends in with the old nicely.

There are abandoned buildings that have been taken over by trees and vines.

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Galway has a port and people happily sit on the banks of the river having a drink and talking after a day at the races.

Spanish arches were built a long time ago, are a feature of river bank activity and are the gateway for an old town quarter with tourist shops, pubs and wonderful buskers singing U2, traditional songs and laments. There were living statues as well. A silver man and two green soldiers (one of whom was saw at Maccas later).

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We have seen more tractors in Ireland than anywhere at any other time. They are on the highways, in paddocks, driving down riverside innercity thoroughfares and on country roads. 

There are rock carrying tractors, hay bale tractors, digging ditch tractors, double decker tractors, overturned tractors holding up traffic for a mile, peat carting tractors and a few others we did not recognise as having a specific task.

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Flowers on bridges and in window boxes, beside rivers and at the foot of poles add a special touch to the nearby towns. We wonder who tends them. We see them on houses, walls and shops.

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