Walking in Galway Center

It’s a good thing we did the Cliffs trip yesterday because today the weather is not as good. We decided to take the bus into downtown and do a walking stroll through town. Galway center is not all that big and very easy to walk with a large pedestrian area and a walk along the Corrib River and through the medieval streets. We first visited the Collegiate Church of St. Nicholas which was built around 1320 on the site of an earlier chapel. It was added to and modified over the centuries but still has many of the original features. It is the largest medieval parish church in Ireland still in constant use.
From there we walked along the river to the Galway Cathedral. This cathedral is very modern having been built in the 1960’s. It is a magnificent church and we spent quite a while looking around inside and watching a video presentation about the building of the cathedral which was interesting and informative. While we were inside, someone was practicing on the organ – probably the organist who was scheduled to play a concert that evening, so we were quite pleased to hear some of the work. The organ was built in Liverpool and consists of 2000 pipes ranging from 6 inches to 21 feet. It sounded heavenly and music filled this very large cathedral.
After walking everywhere, we stopped for fish and chips at McDonaghs – recommended by our hosts. I had salmon and John had cod – both were outstanding – and filling. We headed for home.