County Galway Travel Guide

Introduction

For many travelers to Ireland, Galway is the farthest edge of their journey. Part of the reason they draw the line here is that the county looks so otherworldly -- with its bleak bogs; wind-swept, heather-clad moors; and its extraordinary light -- they think that it must be the end of all that's worth seeing in Ireland (if not the end of the world). It isn't, of course, as County Mayo has picturesque rocky coasts and Donegal a kind of exquisite isolation, but Galway is just far enough from the madding crowds (3-hr. drive from Dublin) without pushing the limits of some people's comfort. If you've come this far, you've seen the land that drew the ancient settlers to Connemara and seduced the early Christian monks with its isolation. In fact, some went even farther -- monastic remains have been found on 17 islands off the Galway coast.

The history of this area -- the southernmost portion of the region known as Connaught -- is as hard as the rocky soil. In the 17th century, after...