On Thursday afternoon, Damon took me down to the docks where the Corrib River, which runs through the city, meets the sea at Ballyknow Quay. This is where Damon took the beautiful pictures of the swans back in September 2004, the first time he visited Galway for work. The swans were still there with hundreds of seagulls and pigeons and a few ducks. We watched parents and children feed the swans and pigeons pieces of bread, took some pictures and walked along the beginning of the promenade, which starts in a green-meadowed park (South Park/Claddagh) along the sea by city centre. There are walking and bike paths along the "prom," as the locals call it.
We also enjoyed a few meals down in city centre since arriving in Galway - one at Gemelle's on Quay Street, where Damon had a delicious pork dish with sauteed mushrooms and mashed potatoes and I had a lemon-parmesan risotto with vegetables - and another at Mustard, just off Quay Street, a place known for its gourmet pizzas. We had a pizza with serrano ham, rocket (that's what they call lettuce here), local goat cheese, roasted peppers and herbs. It was quite good, and we'll definitely go back. We also had a nice meal at The Thai Garden, recommended to us as the best Thai restaurant in Galway, located right on the docks. The portions were very large and responsibly priced (around 16 Euro for an entree with rice). We'll definitely go back there too.
On Friday morning, we walked from city centre all the way down the prom to Salthill, our new neighborhood, which took about 30 minutes. We checked out the gym, Leisureland http://www.leisureland.ie/, and then looked into several of the shops in Salthill. We made friends with the owner of our local wine shop, who tasted us on a Cotes du Rhone and only carries wines from Italy, France and Spain - and only from tiny producers. We stopped at Da Roberto's, an Italian restaurant recommended to us by our agent. We had two salads and shared a pizza with pepperonis, mushrooms and peppers - the tomatoes on the salad weren't too favorful, but we are spoiled in California - but we'd definitely come back. The pizza price of 13 Euro was reasonable, and the restaurant is maybe a half-mile from our apartment. There were pictures on the walls of Lucca, the walled village in western Tuscany we visited two years ago on our honeymoon. Our waitress was Australian - the third Aussie waitress we've had - she was very sweet and next time we'll find out what the Lucca connection is; perhaps the owners are from Lucca? And I also need to find out what the connection is between Australia and Ireland - is it just that Aussies come here during their winter due to their countries past ties with the U.K.?
On Saturday we were going to go the Aran Islands http://www.arandirect.com/, off the coast of Galway - but we made the decision too late and missed the first ferry. It was a glorious day - sunny skies - perfect for a visit to the islands. It is supposed to rain on Sunday, so we may have missed our opportunity to visit the Arans for another week or so. I hope the weather holds. Instead we visited the big farmers' market down by St. Nicholas's Cathedral near city centre. My observations at the market:
- The broccoli florets are smaller than those in the U.S.
- The cauliflower are about the same size
- Carrots here are much bigger
- Cherry tomatoes have the best flavor here (the big tomatoes are bland)
- The strawberries are smaller
- The cheese selections are amazing!
- The oysters are bigger here (sadly, I like the small ones)
- Hummus is big here (many types sold at the farmers' market)
- Pestos are big here (many types sold at the farmers' market!)
My next adventure will be to the grocery store next week. Should be fun.
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