Galway

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Travel Tuesday: Galway Restaurants

June 10, 2014 in Food, Restaurants, Travel by traveleatlove | 4 comments

Many people mention food in Ireland and wrinkle their noses. I would venture to guess they haven’t traveled there in over a decade or were just not looking at the right places. Galway, Ireland is like home to us, and it’s also one of my favorite dining cities, as small as it is. It has an incredible Saturday market, great cheese and wine shop, fishmongers, and more, all capitalizing on Galway’s coastal location. The food in Galway is usually exceptional, especially if you know where to look. Below are just a handful of places we stopped on our recent Galway travels.

High Café – After an afternoon of tipples and chatting on St. Patrick’s Day, we went with a bunch of family to High Café. It was a chilly day and a long one, with an early morning start at Ballynahinch Castle, the Galway St. Patrick’s Day parade, and time spent at Jury’s, and the exceptional comfort food at High Café was a perfect way to end the night. High Café features a huge menu with lots of different salads, pastas, pizzas, and appetizers.

Trying to get some veggies into my diet, I had a salad topped with goat cheese stuffed smoked salmon and one of High Café’s garlic bread-like pizzas topped with shrimp.

In between bites of this, I had some of my husband’s pasta with cream sauce and ham. The food at High Café is filling, delicious, fun to share, and a great value. I’d recommend popping your head in on a rainy Galway night for some cozy cuisine.

Spanish Arch Hotel – The Spanish Arch Hotel is a great place for music, but I also love it for a slightly upscale pub lunch. Their Prawn and Smoked Salmon Marie Rose Salad is one of my favorites in Galway. Paired with a pint and some brown bread, this makes a nice light lunch.

Hotel Meyrick – This is your spot for lunch or tea, sometimes with music. On our last day in Galway, we met with some more family and friends for lashings of tea and soup and glasses of wine and to listen to the most delightful piano music. The Meyrick is absolutely gorgeous, a great luxury hotel option in the center of Galway. I’m dying to check out their Gaslight Brasserie.

Gemelle’s – Just looking at the exterior probably tells you that Gemelle’s is a charming, romantic spot. Their short wine list offers some fun options, and the restaurant’s world cuisine offers something for everyone.

Galway is the best place for wandering at night, even in the rain. Ducking into a pub or wine bar or café is always easy; there are so many lining its beautiful streets!

Cava Bodega – We actually couldn’t get into Cava on our last Galway visit; it was that crowded. Cava is said to have the best tapas in Ireland, and their incredible reviews just keep coming. If you’re in Galway, make a reservation at Cava for sure.

Jalapeno’s Tex Mex – I know it’s a little odd to go for Southwestern US cuisine in Ireland, but the food here is oh-so-good. They do Tex Mex right, paired with some spectacular wines of the world. I couldn’t resist slabs of ribs and corn and slaw, all washed down with a spicy Tempranillo. Service was warm and friendly; this is a place you’ll want to linger over a big meal.

Above are just a few of the Galway restaurants we love. I missed my birthday dinner at Aniar due to a broken Aer Lingus plane, but I know, even without eating there, that I love it. Aniar will be my first dinner stop on our next Galway trip.

Tags: Dining out, Galway, Ireland, Restaurants, Travel, travel blog, travel blogger

Wine of the Week at my Favorite Wine Bar

April 4, 2014 in Travel, wine by traveleatlove | 4 comments

My “Wine of the Week” post usually comes along on Wine Wednesday, but due to Whole Grain Sampling Day, it’s a little late. Better late then never, eh? I think a wine recommendation is a good thing any day of the week, especially on Friday!

On our visit to Ireland, I got to spend our last afternoon in Galway relaxing with family at one of my favorite spots. Sheridan’s Wine Bar. It’s bright, airy, full of good wine and food, and it overlooks my old apartment and the Galway Saturday market.

They had many wines open the day we visited, and they were eager to let us try them all. When we happened upon this Castello di Verduno Basadone, I halted the rest of my tasting and went straight in for a glass of this beautiful wine.

This wine is a stunning, light ruby red with summery, fresh, fruity notes, lots of brightness and acidity, and a finish that evokes spice and dried fruit. We kept saying beautiful with each sip and swirling our glasses to admire the color in the sunlit room.

Wine tasting made us hungry, and a cheese board was just the thing to curb our appetites until dinner. Sheridan’s Cheesemonger is downstairs, and it is fabulous.

My favorite cheese was the most local one, a Galway cheese studded with fenugreek. Afternoons spent lingering over wine and cheese while watching the action in the market are one of the best ways to spend the last day of a vacation.

A place like Sheridan’s is perfect for discovering new favorite wines. They are so passionate about what they do, and they are excellent at taking what you normally drink and offering something similar to taste.

We finished off this wine tasting afternoon with a walk along the river to the Galway Cathedral, tea and music in the Meyrick, a big dinner, and songs at the Crane Bar. I have so many more Galway adventures left to share!

Tags: Galway, Italian wine, Travel, wine, wine bars, wine of the week, wine tasting

Hiking in the West of Ireland

April 1, 2014 in Travel by traveleatlove | 5 comments

It almost doesn’t seem real a lot of the time, the way the landscape in the West of Ireland rolls and changes, is cloaked by fog, then seen through the filter of a rainbow before being drenched again in rain or sun. I’ve said it over and over again, but to me, Connemara is one of the most magical places ever, and heading out there on each trip to Ireland is a priority. This trip to Ireland, before we dined and reclined at Ballynahinch Castle, we did some driving around Connemara and climbed Errisbeg, a mountain right outside the town of Roundstone.

Our original plans included climbing Ben Baun, where my father-in-law grew up, but upon driving West, we saw that a thick fog had taken over the top of the mountain. My FIL knows best when it comes to these mountains, and if he says it’s not safe to climb, we change our plans.

We spent a bit of time driving, taking in the pops of yellow gorse against the green and brown mountain backdrop.

We stopped briefly outside Lough Inagh Lodge for a stretch of the legs and some photo ops as we figured out how we were going to spend the day, now that our original climbing plans were foiled.

Lough Inagh Lodge

It was decided we would picnic at Connemara National Park, then head toward Clifden and then on to Errisbeg, which, from what we could see, was in the clear.

On the way, we passed Kylemore Abbey, a place we have spent many lunches and tea times visiting aunties, enjoying the gardens, and soaking up silence in the Gothic cathedral. We had a mountain to climb, so we didn’t stop at Kylemore this time around.

Instead, we had a quick picnic lunch in the visitor center at Connemara National Park and then, after a short drive, set off to conquer Errisbeg.

The mountains we climb in Connemara often look fairly harmless, even when I am in the best of shape, and I am always horribly wrong when I think the climb will be easy. Where it’s not always a super athletic endeavor, it is one that keeps the mind guessing. We hiked through bog, over stones that were covered in slippery lichen, and teetered on loose rocks and cliffs of earth. It’s a slow and steady wins the race type of effort, and while the seven of us were scattered about the mountain, we never lost sight of each other. A walking stick is an immense help for stability, as is a good pair of wellies. I often found myself over ankle deep in water and mud (and sheep poo!), and my feet stayed completely dry.

Natural beauty isn’t the only thing you’ll observe on some of these hikes. On our way, we passed ridges where potatoes were planted prior to the Great Famine and the ruins of homes where people who depended on the potatoes lived. The homes were literally one room, made out of stones, and while the roofs were gone, the stones were stacked in a way that still keeps water out all these years later.

The rewards for making the trek up a mountain in Connemara are absolutely endless. We were surrounded by sea on several sides, with Dog’s Bay and Rusheen Bay on one side and Roundstone’s harbor on the other. Like I said earlier, it almost doesn’t seem real. It’s a place where you firmly plant your feet, breath deeply, and experience the moment with each of your senses, committing it to memory, imprinting it on your soul.

Throughout our Connemara hike, we had a bunch of laughs, plenty of quiet time, and a fair bit of competition, mostly amongst the boys, who had to go to the very top ridge, while the rest of us were satisfied with stopping at the hill below, thank you very much. It gets chilly and blustery up there, and when the fog and drizzle start to roll in, it’s time to find a cozy pub.