Galway, Ireland, our first official stop on our tour. Dublin will come later.

Dear Family and Friends,

We met up with our travel group in Dublin.  We had a welcome dinner and the next morning did a drive through Dublin and then headed out to Galway.  

Galway was not destroyed by bombs during WWII which means that the town was preserved and the buildings are original.  The town is a very popular tourist destination for the Irish people.   

A couple of photos from our drive.  FYI, pictures are very difficult to take from a tour bus.  The scenery was as beautiful as we expected it to be.

I loved this little cottage.

Here are some holiday campers.  

When we got to Galway, we visited Galway Cathedral.  This cathedral is special for several reasons.  One is that an old prison was destroyed in order to build this church.  The other is that while he was president of the U.S., this church was visited by President Kennedy.

The church is built with the stones of the prison.  

The inside is beautiful.

After the assassination of President Kennedy, this mosaic was designed as a tribute to him.

After visiting the church, we walked into town.  

This town was so crowded.  I took pictures but all I seemed to get was the crowded streets.  There were so many people you can hardly see the buildings.  It is, believe me, a very charming town and I think it would be fun to visit and explore in the fall after schools are back in session.  Less people means better photos.

I included this photo because my maiden name is Powers.  Maybe we have Irish roots.

We went to a tapas bar for a light dinner.  

The menu had food from all over the world.  

We ordered three tapas.  Here is the first tapa to come to the table.  Calamari with a coconut, chili dipping sauce.  It was absolutely incredible.

We also ordered skewers with duck meat and chicharrons, which was pork belly with crispy skin attached.

Somebody that was in charge of photographing the food, dove into the other dishes and did not even think about pictures until the end of the meal.  

A fun time was had and I am glad we came to visit this little town.

Next post I will share some gorgeous pictures of our visit to Kylemore Abbey.

Love,

Nancy