I title this post "Galway City" because we initially asked our questions wrong, for Ireland. We might ask someone, "what do you recommend we see in Galway?"

People would then begin to tell us all the things in County Galway that we should see. We found that the Irish people consider their counties first, and the cities later, if at all. So, if we wanted to know what to see in the city, we had to specifically ask what to see in Galway City, not Galway.

Galway city was a vibrant place, even in a light rain. We started near Eyre Square and walked for over an hour all around the city center area. We also made some good purchases for the grandchildren in Galway.

I think of castles as being out of town, on the top of a hill or overlooking a lake or river or something like that. But if you go back in time, the same place might be in a city now. The next photo is Lynch's Castle, right in Galway city center. We learned that it's a medieval fortified house, though its name is Lynch's Castle.

Other times in town, I would poke into an open gate or garage type door and be surprised by what I found behind it, and it was not a garage.

We planned to listen to some Irish music while in Ireland. Our expectations were that we would be inside a pub in the evening. In Galway, all we had to do to hear Irish music was walk down the streets. The same was true in some other towns.

Plus, there were people performing out in the streets other than just street musicians, like the artist below.

Galway had lots of great stores for shopping and nice places to see and visit.