As the second last stop on the trip of a lifetime Galway didn't disappoint. Our hostel was situated on what is called a walking street so no cars drive on it. Down both sides of the street and several side streets there were pubs and restaurants with outdoor patios and little shops inbetween. The best part was all of the musicians playing in the street- every couple hundred meters someone would be playing away on anything from a banjo to the uillean pipes.The atmosphere in Galway was relaxing and in many ways inspiring! Our first full day here was spent on a tour out to the Cliffs of Moher. We got to see the Irish countryside and stopped several times to learn about old ruins, hills and walls. We even stopped at a 12th century church, which had a foundation made in the 11th century! As Candians I think we can say that our oldest building is newer than the majority of the buildings here!! In the 19th century we had Fort Edmonton, and in the 11th century they had sturdy stone churches and houses! We also learned a little but about the potato famine in Ireland and saw these incredibly long stone walls built into the hills which were used basically as 'make work' projects that rich land owners would fund so that people who were hit by the famine could be employed and make a little bit of money.
Luck has been on our side for all of the tours we have taken in terms of weather and the cliffs were no exception! When we arrived it was hot and sunny and so clear! Lindsay and I hiked along a path at the top of the cliffs and found the perfect spot to hang our feet over. With 700 feet between our legs and the rocks below it was thrilling!! We sat for quite awhile at the edge of the cliff before hiking off on the other direction to get a view from a different angle! It was stunning and definitely worth a stop if you are ever in the area!
Our second full day in Galway was a shopping day which I unintentionally commandeered completely! Since we started this trip I have wanted to bring a violin home from Ireland as a souvenir and because we were in a city that was so infused with music it seemed like the perfect place to look around! On our travels around the city (and the help of Google) we had noted several music shops very close to the hostel! In the morning we set of to the closest shop called Kieran Moloney's. The first thing I confirmed with myself was that I have an expensive taste in instruments, and the second was that when you know, you just know. The first violin I picked up and played was a unique German violin made in the 1800's with a lions head carved right into the scroll. It had a fantastic resonant sound and within about 5 notes I was in love. Lindsay was my bonafied consultant and we decided it would be wise to try a few more out before settling on this violin that was about $900 more than I was intending to spend (the things you do for love). Our next stop was Paul Doyle's. A hole in the wall shop across the river. Paul had left a sign on his door saying he was out for a coffee so we decided to do the same, still waiting 45 minutes after this for him to arrive. We learned here than Ireland time is very similar to Ghana time! To get into the work shop we climbed a set of old wooden stairs into an attic-like shop. In every available space dusty instruments of every shape and size were hanging from the roof. In many spots a chain would hang down and off of it about 10 violins would hang off each side-like fish! In the middle of the very tightly packed room was the work bench where many instruments had been created, repaired and modified- this was also the source of all the dust! Here we met Paul Doyle, Irish Santa Claus. He showed me his stash of antique violins and introduced us to his assistant and understudy who was actually a guy from Vancouver! I tried out German, Italian, French and Chinese violins but the one that really caught me was a Czech one. It had a sound that rivaled my lionhead across the river but looked like it had been given to a gang of 5 year olds to use as a toy. It was also very expensive! In the end I said goodbye to the Czech find and headed back to find my German violin. It was around this time that the day got stressful. We were informed that the only way to pay for the violin was in cash because the violin maker who was only in on Tuesdays, was too old fashioned to use credit cards. How is that even possible? And so started a wild goose chase around the city in a futile attempt to withdraw a large amount of cash off of a Canadian card with a low withdrawal limit. Followed by a wild goose chase of phone calls to the bank to try and extend the limit of said card. After almost half a day of desperate but fruitless attempts at getting the money as only an hour and a half before the shop closed I gave up and went back to tell them that there was no way I could get the money to them. It wasn't until I had to leave the shop in tears that I realized how much I had wanted this violin! I settled for buying some wool socks and hamburger to cookl for dinner and when we returned to the hostel we threw the meat on the stove and got the ball rolling. I was still devastated and was texting Ian when he suggested Lindsay and I both try to withdraw money... Something which hadn't occurred to either of us in the last 4 hours! With 20 minutes to go we turned off the stove and ran to the nearest ATM where very long story short Lindsay bailed my butt out if a lifetime of regret and currently owns more than half of my new violin!!
Our evening finished off with a 3 hour love concert from a phenomenal band in a pub literally 15 steps from the front door of our hostel. Not a bad finish to an exciting day!