While in Ireland, we celebrated our 2-year wedding anniversary and decided to drive south to Galway to explore a different region of the country.  Galway is an artsy and bohemian city filled with great food and live music.  Galway is home to the Irish Claddagh rings, Aran sweaters and some of Ireland’s oldest “trad session” (live, traditional Irish music) bars.  We enjoyed several hours at Tig Coili where we listened to traditional Irish music and enjoyed a lovely pint of Galway Hooker…or two!  We also enjoyed a delicious 7-course meal with wine pairing at Aniar, which was definitely a meal we’ll never forget!

While we were in the Galway area, we took a side trip down to Lahinch to try to catch some of a swell that was hitting the southwest coast of Ireland but wasn’t going to make it to the Sligo area.  Upon arriving to the beautiful beach and promenade in Lahinch, we discovered that the swell was up but the wave was very soft, and was completely overrun with longboarders enjoying the clean lines and offshore breeze.  Mike wasn’t too excited about driving 4 hours to surf mushy, crowded waves, so we continued down the coast toward a spot called Spanish Point.  We found the spot, and the surf was definitely up; too much, Mike decided, as the double-overhead, heaving, hollow waves were breaking just outside a very intimidating rock shelf, and there were no other surfers brave enough to try their luck.  We also learned that in order to access the break, you’d need to first cross a field with some ornery bulls – something Mike took as a sign that we should return to the easy, if boring, waves of Lahinch.  In the end Mike got a chance to surf a bit, even though the waves weren’t great.  After a few weeks of no surf he was happy just to splash around in the water for a while.