Galway west

In the evening, I decided to have a look at Galway's west, which is the entertainment district. But first a visit to the Celia Griffin Memorial Park at Grattan Beach. Celia was a 6 year old victim in 1847 of the Great Famine in which over a million Irish died and more than a million fled overseas. In short even though she was in the care of charity previous hunger had weakened her so much that her body could not absorb nutrition and she perished. She is emblematic of all the child victims because her case is documented.

Within the park stands the Famine Ship Memorial which is a tribute to the ships that carried many of those escaping to other countries. It's estimated that the Great Famine caused a loss of a quarter of Ireland's population at that time.

Looking out at the bay:

Then I parked at Galway Cathedral and walked into the city centre. I hankered for a taste of home so I patronised a pan-Asian restaurant and tried their version of a Malaysian favourite, char koay teow. It was alright, but tasted a little strange. In general East and South East Asian cooking was a lost cause in Ireland, probably because they don't have the numbers of native chefs immigrating.

I went through the pedestrian precinct again and took an picture of these statues of Oscar Wilde and Eduard Vilde that I missed earlier. Investigation shows that this sculpture is a replica—the original residing in Tartu, Estonia—presented to Galway. The two were born within a couple of years, but the meeting seems to been imagined by the sculptor to have happened in 1890.

Crossing a minor canal between the east and west sides.

The wider canal next to it.

Galway's Westend is the dining and entertainment centre of the city and the locals were having a good time. I think there was a key sport fixture that evening too.

Lots of choice here.

And here.

The weather was warm enough to dine outside.

A jazz venue.

And that was the end of my exploration of Galway.