So, the last day in Galway ended in the Glenlo Abbey Dining Room with soup, mashed potatoes and two lattes. It was a fitting end to a day of freezing wind and rain and 9 holes of golf in traditional Irish conditions.
On the walk back to the apartment we walked on Circular Road as it meandered through the countryside above the city, and saw the Irish President’s house. From the large, but not ostentatious, house you could see all of Galway stretched out below. It was a long and gradual descent into the Atlantic Ocean with a long, curved coastline populated by the hearty Irish families who have survived this weather for the millennia . . or more!
The walk was an analogy for our trip to Galway. Beautiful tracts of homes overlooking the region, walls that were a thousand years old adjacent to the road which had been there for more than a thousand years . . and still standing and sturdy, St. James National school with parents tending to their children on the school grounds, roads that were only wide enough for 1 ½ cars at a time, along which we had to run in order to avoid the passing cars, and a park in the meadow with a bench that faced a hill of grass and gorse. At the end we were slowly descending the hill and we could see the golden arches . . yes, Mcdonalds. We were almost at 7 Shantalla Place.
It was an invigorating walk, even though at times it was a run to keep from being run over. And, it was beautiful. It was Irish. What better place to experience the vivid green vegetation, cold blustery winds, and freezing rain that fell so hard on your face that it stung.
It was a beautiful day in Ireland.