We headed northwest to Galway, the sixth largest city in Ireland, where it rained unremittingly. What to do when it rains? You spend time in the museums and then have a great meal. The Galway City Museum offered wonderful insights into the history and culture of this walled medieval city. They have a Galway Hooker, the world famous fishing boat, suspended from the ceiling, an excellent collection of old photographs and many artifacts a well as exhibits of works by contemporary local artists. We also spent time in the Fishery Watchtower where we learned about the City’s unique “several” fishery, which means that it is privately held and can only be fished with the permission of the owners. The first documented reference to the Galway Fishery and the use of fishing weirs is found on the Pipe Rolls dated 1283. Since then the lease has been sold and re-sold and today it is in the hands of a wealthy fish merchant located in London. Long and short is that you can’t fish without first paying a fee. The Galway Fishery is situate in both tidal and fresh water, extending from Lough Corrib to the Sea. With umbrellas in hand we traipsed around the city. A small unassuming seafood restaurant on a quiet street caught our eye.  It turned out to be foodie heaven.

 Old map of the walled City of Galway

The Galway Fisher Watchtower

A Galway Hooker

We had delicious oyster, mussels, and hake at Oscars.

***Full disclosure: The above pictures were not taken by us. We accidentally deleted our Galway photos before downloading. The text is, however, our own words. Stay tuned. There are many more of our original photographs to come.