Galway - Day 2

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Geo: 53.2711, -9.05387

I started today with a walking tour, what better way to get to know a town. There were only three of us on the tour, the pamphlet said it started at 10.30 but when no-one turned up I rang the number and it was actually re-scheduled for 11.30. Its definitely the end of tourist season. So about Galway, the first village here was built up by the Mor De Burgo family (the Burkes) who were an Anglo-Norman family. They invited 14 families to come join them, 12 Anglo-Norman and 2 Irish. The town prospered and the 14 families decided that there wasn't enough room for the Burkes who spent far to much time with the Irish, getting their Gaelic on. So they ran them out of town. In the town square there are fourteen flags with the family crests of these families still on display. Given the Irish love of the english I thought this was a little weird.

We walked down a lane called dead mans alley. The story goes that lord Mayor Lynch, in the 1400's invited the son of a Spanish merchant to stay with his family, as a way of improving trade relations. Young Gomez crossed the seas to Galway and became good friends with the lord mayors son, Walter. He became even better friends with Walters betrothed, Agnes. One night a suspicious Walter, followed Gomez to Agnes house, in a fit of jealous rage he charged in the house and chased Gomez down to the docks where he stabbed him and threw him into the water. When the body was discovered Walter's blade was still imbedded in the body. The custom of those times was that the Lord Mayor was the presiding judge in all criminal cases. The lord mayor just happened to be walt's father. Rather than playing the family card the Lord Mayor sentenced his own son to death. However none of the hangmen would do the job as they were all scared of the lord mayor, so he had to do it himself. This is where the word lynching comes from. As for poor Gomez, he was only at Agnes house to give her father a Spanish lesson.

We walked to St Nicholas church, which is the oldest church in the town. As we walked past the fence our guide told us that the fence originally ran around the town square. When they pulled it down and moved it one old lady in town made the comment "Those protestants, they're taking everything now!" While we were in the church the guide talked to us about the Connacht Regiment. This was a regiment with the British army, made up of local irishmen. The troop disbanded after the WW1 as it was felt that an Irish soldier could not fight with the British and against them as well. The poor soldiers who fought in WW1, on returning home, could not acknowledge that they had fought with the British for fear of reprisal. As the guide was telling us about these guys an old bloke sitting on one of the pews piped up and told us his grandfather had been in the Connacht regiment and had fought int the boar war. He himself had gone to South Africa with a film crew when Mandela was released from prison. He visited some of the battle sites and found a cannonball. He had intended to declare it at customs, but on a dare from the other lads in the crew, he walked through customs in Johannesburg, without declaring. He made it all the way through security and never got caught.

After the walking tour I had some lunch and went for a walk around town. At 4.30 I jumped on the Princess Corrib for a cruise of Lough Corrib. It was a really cool cruise. On the way out the host got on the PA and started telling us about the lake and stories from the region. Going back to the Burgo family, they had a very tense relationship with the O'Flaherty's. However the Burgo's owned all the land. One day Lord Burgo rode out to the O'Flaherty's to collect the rent. O'Flaherty took him in, gave him dinner, provided entertainment and wined and dined the Lord, then cut off his head. The next day at the door of the Burgo castle was a bag, with the head and a note. "here is the O'Flaherty's rent for the year, with interest."

At another time a Ballentine Burgo developed a taste for all the good things in life, however only paid for half of them. On amassing quite a few creditors he would hide out in his castle through the week and only emerge on Sunday's. The rule at the time being ine could not be arrested on a sunday. So he would be seen whooping it up in town on a sunday, then just before midnight, jump on his horse and ride back to the safety of his castle before midnight. Earning himself the name Cinderella Burgo. At some point he learned that if he became a politician he would not need to pay his debts. However he couldn't campaign without getting arrested, so he built a boat and visited the local landowners from the lough. Because apparently you cant get arrested on the water either. Love these Irish laws.

About halfway through the cruise it started to rain so everyone went downstairs to keep dry. We were treated to an Irish Coffee making demonstration by the 2011 Irish Coffee making champion. Yes you read that right folks. There is a championship! AND...oh yes there is more, Ròsín, is the first female champion. She gave us very explicit instructions on how a proper Irish coffee is made and I now know the rest of the world is doing it wrong. Its not just a matter of chucking a dash of whiskey into your coffee. There is an art to it. I can verify Ròsín does make a very nice coffee. After making the coffee she treated us to a lesson in Irish dancing. There wasn't much room on the boat so there were seven "volunteers" were brought up the front, and taught the "Seige of Ennis". It was classic. I was in the front row and got my feet squished a couple of times. No I didn't dance, I was enjoying my Irish coffee.

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