Taking our time in Galway

- October 17, 2013

Buskers on the street ... love, love,love Galway!

Putting Aleria to bed and taking in the city

In the morning, the harbourmaster's team took away the boat that was in our slip. Then we had to maneuver Aleria from one slip into the other. No easy task for our lady of poor reverse. Usually, springing her around allows us to bring the stern around. But there just wasn't enough room without bow thrusters. Alex managed to get her close without bumping into anything and thankfully, Brian came down to assist. I threw him a spring then the midships line and jumped ashore with the stern line. Piece of cake. Now about a half hour of adjusting docklines until she was just right in the slip with chafe protectors in position and we were set.

Aleria in Galway...she's happy there.

One advantage to having Aleria in the harbour is that we are in the middle of the old city, the best part of town in my book. We took our time getting everything cleaned up, stowed and ready for the winter. We scrubbed the decks, scrubbed the floors, polished the galley, and put away all manner of gear. We took a lunch break then a walk into town to see what was up, visit the chandlery, Eason's book store and McCambridge's ... our usual stops. It was a beautiful sunny day, and there had been a massive rugby match the night before so the town was jam packed.

The main streets in Galway are always so colourful. Buskers of the highest caliber entertain all day long. Restaurants abound for any taste. Pubs show matches as the Guinness flows freely. It is always a festive atmosphere. And good shopping to boot.

We walked the town enjoying the sights. Alex's mother was picking us up at lunchtime tomorrow so we had to pick a place to have dinner and lunch tomorrow. We chose to sample Lime, an Asian fusion restaurant at the Spanish Arch. We were so cold when we arrived that the waitress brought me the softest blanket under which to snuggle. I chose the Pad Thai with prawns and chicken and Alex had a spicy prawn dish. It was delicious and we were thoroughly warmed by the time we were done.

We spent our last night of the season aboard sleeping as soundly as babes in the cradle despite the lack of rocking while tied up to a concrete dock. After a few more chores in the morning, we packed up all the gear that had to go home and prepared to leave our baby snug in her new cradle.