Galway, Ireland

Galway, Ireland, originally uploaded by magnum_lady.

So for Andy’s birthday and our 20th anniversary we went to Galway for a couple of days.

My parents were both born in Galway and I spent many holidays there visiting my nan. It’s got really built up in recent years though.

We got a good deal through www.hotels.com and booked into The Salthill Hotel. It’s a lovely place with a great leisure centre and the biggest jacuzzi I’ve ever seen. It’s right on the seafront as well and not too far from the city centre.

We went in Andy’s car (Christine) and she’s called Christine for a reason. I don’t know if any of you have ever seen the Stephen King film of the same name, well that’s who Christine was named after. The car is possessed. We’ve had problems with her before with the radio and windscreen wipers coming on by themselves.
Well this journey the battery light started flashing as we got into Claregalway.
We took her into a Seat maindealer in Galway…..they quoted 91 euro plus VAT just to put her on a machine and tell us what was wrong. In the end they charged us 27 euro and quoted a whopping 570 + VAT for the work that needed doing. The car isn’t worth that so we decided just to carry on and see how we got on.
In the end she did get us home and around Galway (but she died today…..that’s a blog for another day).

So back to Galway. After the trip to the garage we got to Salthill. The traffic really is terrible so I’m glad we don’t live there. We settled into the hotel and then took a walk to the amusements. We went to Seapoint (where my mum and Grandad used to work when it was a dancehall). We also went swimming.

On the day of Andy’s birthday and our anniversary we went into the city to look around the shops. It was pouring with rain so we mainly stayed in the Eyre Square shopping centre. Lucy loved the shops especially New Look which we don’t have here.
In the afternoon we went to the Aquarium in Salthill. It was fairly expensive at 29 euro for the family, but it was interesting and great to see the fish being fed.

In the evening we went to a restaurant called The Galleon, and had a really lovely meal. It was 14.50 for two courses and there was a great selection of food as well.

The next day we came home, with Christine and her flashing battery, which then stayed on constantly and then went off. If anyone has a Seat Ibiza that can shed any light on it please let me know. We think it’s the alternator.