Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
reclaimed land is popular with the local kids for Irish football and hurling. From there, the
promenade leads to the resort town of Salthill.
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Eyre Square
On a sunny day, grassy Eyre Square is a popular hangout. In the Middle Ages, it was a
field just outside the town wall. The square is named for the mayor who gave the land
to the city in 1710. While still called Eyre Square, it now contains John F. Kennedy
Park—established in memory of the Irish-American president's visit in 1963 when he
filled this space with adoring Irish for one of his speeches, a few months before he was
assassinated. Though Kennedy is celebrated as America's first Irish-Catholic president,
several US presidents were descended from Protestant Ulster stock (even Barack Obama
is part Irish, with roots in County Offaly). Take a look at the JFK bust near the kids' play
area, which commemorates his visit.
Walk to the rust-colored “Hooker Sculpture,” built in 1984 to celebrate the 500th an-
niversary of the incorporation of the city. The sails represent Galway's square-rigged fish-
ing ships (“hookers”) and the vessels that made Galway a trading center so long ago.
The Browne Doorway, from a 1627 fortified townhouse, is a reminder of the 14 family
tribes that once ruled the town (see Lynch's Castle, listed earlier, to get a feel for an intact
townhouse). Each had a town castle—much like the towers that characterize the towns of
Tuscany, with their feuding noble families. So little survives of medieval Galway that the
town makes a huge deal of any remaining window or crest. Check out the 14 colorful flags
lining the western edge of the square, each one with a different original Norman founding
tribe name.
The Eyre Square Shopping Centre—a busy, modern shopping mall (see the arcaded
entry from the square)—leads to a piece of the old town wall that includes two reconstruc-
ted towers (and an antique market).
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Cathedral of St. Nicholas
Opened byAmerican Cardinal Cushing in1965,this isoneofthe last great stone churches
built in Europe.
