Weekend in Westport

Ally and I just spent the past two days in Westport, Co. Mayo, one of Ireland’s few planned towns in Ireland. We took the bus from Galway yesterday afternoon, and arrived to a rainy/misty night. After checking into The Old Mill Holiday Hostel, where we shared a 7-bed female dorm with a solo New Zealander (guess it’s low season for Westport?), we hit the streets of the town centre, which the hostel is conveniently located in. We were mostly checking out the bars to scope out where we’d land for the night, but got in some decent window shopping and plan of action for the next day at the same time. We ended up at Matt Malloy’s on Bridge St., a cozy, no-frills, salt of the earth bar with live traditional music in the back and packed to the brim with locals throughout. It’s the exact kind of pub that would be my ideal wedding reception spot. We camped out with our pints at a table by the door and shared a bench with two middle-aged women on their umpteenth round of vodka sodas, just as one of them stood up and said, “Fuck it, we’re not going home now, let’s have us another round!” They had mouths like sailors and were having the time of their lives.

Westport borders a charming river and its streets are lined with Georgian architecture, charming shops that remind me of Fillmore St. in San Francisco, small alleyways and offshoot courtyards, and of course pubs and pubs galore! After a yummy breakfast and coffees at Curry’s Cottage Bakery across from our hostel, we spent the morning roaming the streets and poking around the shops for Christmas presents. The town is clearly ready for Christmas and easily sells itself as a charming place to spend it. After a lunch of burgers and Guinness at Cozy Joe’s on Bridge St. again, we walked a bit more beyond the town centre before collecting our bags from the hostel and making our way back on the bus for Galway. A short, but very satisfying and worthwhile mini-trip indeed.

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