Exploring Galway: Aquarium, Food, and Storytelling
By Mia Robin Markeloff, Jack Phillips, Becca Rochford, Matthew Duseau
The sun and heat of the first few days we were in Galway were transitory: the skies have been gray more than blue and it has been raining intermittently. As the last few days of the class and the pressing work on final projects begin, there are less planned outings, but we can explore on our own. On Sunday the 29th, Jack went with Jamie and Meg to the Galway Aquarium:
It was rather small, only two floors. However, I got to learn a few interesting things. The front of a Japanese high speed bullet train’s design mimics the beak of a kingfisher. Some tire treads were designed to mimic the shape of a tree frog’s toe pads for better traction in rainy weather. When George De Mestral invented Velcro in 1941, he was apparently inspired by the burrs he found stuck to his dog's fur. I also learned about the existence of Pink Vent Fish and Pompeii Worms.
On Tuesday, we had tickets to see a storyteller perform in the upstairs room of The Crane Bar. Several of us walked there, following one of the more well-trafficked streets in the city. One section travels past the hospital on the west and a line of restaurants and shops in close-together gray buildings on the east. Zambrero, a small Mexican restaurant, is in one of the narrow shopfronts. Becca had a good experience there:
I didn’t think I would get Mexican food in Ireland. I thought I would be eating Irish traditional food, but the Mexican food I tried at Zambrero was good. I got a beef burrito with cheese, lettuce, salsa and a garlic sauce. This place was like Chipotle, but better, and I felt very welcome to eat there. The food there tastes fresh. I really wish America had something like this that isn’t Chipotle. It only cost me $16 with a medium burrito and a drink, and the medium was large enough that I had leftovers for the next day.
Some way past this, we took a left onto the older, winding streets of the city. The Crane Bar is situated on these narrow streets.
The Crane Bar has a lived-in feeling. The lighting is dim and the first floor smells strongly of alcohol and could be called “cramped” or "intimate" depending on your mood.
On the second floor, framed posters from musical events hung on the yellow painted walls- The Crane is proud of its traditional live music and storytelling nights. Across from the low stage, there was a small corner bar and bar stools, but the furniture, for the most part, was low tables paired with equally low stools and chairs and benches hugging the walls. The seats filled up mostly with adults, in their younger and middle years.
The storyteller was an unremarkable man in most respects: nondescript clothing, tanned skin, short gray hair sticking up in a tuft in front, a strong nose. Still, he had *intensity* in his eyes, and expressive hands. They punctuated and sketched his words as he talked.
A tale, once told, can never be told the same way again, and that was the case that night. He told us a tale anchored in old myths, featuring a “wee old lady, ten miles high” who shapes the mountains and the valleys of rainy, rocky Scotland with rings of her hammer. Callieach is her name, and she was not the central protagonist of the tale, but she shaped the lives of the men in it as forcefully as she hammered rocks into shape.
He was skilled with accents. When he dropped out of his ‘little old lady’ voice to his regular speaking voice, I jolted, the present abruptly coming into focus. The eyes of the crowd were fixed on the storyteller- all mesmerized, as I was.
I’ve really enjoyed getting to explore on my own this week. Galway is an absolutely gorgeous city, and I am incredibly grateful to have had free reign to explore it for a week and a half. This is a thriving city with a culture that is very much alive and well, with all sorts of local restaurants, festivals, historical artifacts and much more. The little things like that storyteller we went to in the bar are the telltale signs that this city has a beauty that not many cities do, especially nowadays. Just in these last few days alone, I have tried more foods and walked greater distances than I have in basically any other city that I have ever been to. That’s because this city has encouraged me to step out of my comfort zone and try new things which is a huge feat for someone as shy and go-with-the-flow as I am. I would say that I enjoy Galway much more than Dublin, and it has easily been my favorite part of this course. - Matthew Duseau
