Galway

Rest days - Monday 9th & Tuesday 10th, July 2018: Galway 0 km / 1982 km, 22°C, sunny

For me, Galway means I've done half the way. I don't know exactly how many kilometres I'm gonna walk so I can't know when I'm in the middle of my trip. But as Galway is at the same level as Dublin on the opposite coast on a map, it represents the middle in my mind.

Regarding the traffic and the crowd, it sure is a big city, quite busy (and as it's summer holidays, there are fewer students I guess). In my opinion, it's a little bit like Nantes in France, but much more colourful. And there are restaurants, pubs, bars in almost every two shops. It reminds me of Lille as well. It's very lively because of the music because there's always one or two singers in the streets. And it's almost a game to find the old buildings between the new ones.

I chose to visit the city with a free walking tour. Funny fact, my guide Arthur was French, he had been living in Galway for five years and was as funny as Irish people. It was a really interesting guided tour. Most of the streets are still in the same places as 400 years ago, even if some of the walls of the city are now in the shopping mall! I was surprised to learn that some of the arches of the Spanish arch were destroyed by the tsunami resulting from the Lisbon earthquake. And of course, most of the castles of the city are now just towers. 

But I liked it, and of course, I went to listen to traditional Irish music in a pub as I expected!