
Photo: Robert Bone, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
They host four events a year: Summer Festival is a week in late July and early Aug, then they have two days early Sept, a day early Oct and three days late Oct. These are jumps races, which include "chases", similar rules but without jumps.
Ballybrit Race Track, also known as Galway Racecourse, is a horse race course in County Galway, Ireland. It is located in the townland of Ballybrit, in the environs of Castlegar, just north of the N6 Bóthar na dTreabh, c.6 km northeast of Galway city.
© OpenStreetMap contributors
Corrib Princess is a 157-seat river boat that sails from Woodhead Quay, east bank of the river just above the weir, for 90-min cruises up the Corrib into the lough.
The THT features plays, music, dance, comedy and of course panto. They run three venues: the main auditorium has only 400 seats, so it's cosy and suits many performances but is a bit small for grand occasions. Studio Space also in the square has 52 seats. Black Box, 500 m north on Dyke Road, has 600 seats and is more suitable for a rock concert.
The national Irish language theatre. It has produced some of Ireland's most celebrated actors.
Called a museum but mostly a marketing exercise. The Claddagh Ring is a style of mani in fede finger ring: two hands join to clasp a heart. It's been a design for wedding or engagement rings since medieval times but became a Galway tradition from 1700, when the jewellers worked near an Claddagh, the city shore. It became popular from the late 20th century, and legends were embellished around it as ingeniously as its designs. This museum hews to the "Joyce" legend, after the man captured by Algerian corsairs and learning the design in captivity; he returned to Galway where of course his sweetheart had remained true... aah, bless. The heart is often surmounted by a crown, or isn't, depending on your allegiances in that matter.
A collegiate church doesn't have a resident priest, but members of a seminary (here, a College of Vicars) take turns. St Nicholas is the largest medieval church still in everyday use in Ireland. It was founded in 1320 and enlarged over the following two centuries. It's dedicated to St Nicholas of Myra (circa 300 AD), the patron saint of seafarers who later became Santa Claus. There are large tombs of the Lynch family, and a plaque at the Lynch memorial window claims to be the spot where 15th-century mayor James hanged his own son Walter: for killing a Spanish visitor, so goes the tale, but what was that really all about? In 2002 St Nick's conducted the first blessing of a same-sex partnership in an Irish church, but the Bishop prohibited any such unbiblical goings-on in future. The church is Anglican Protestant (which it obviously wasn't when Christopher Columbus attended mass here), but has occasionally been used by RC, Romanian, Russian Orthodox and Mar Thoma Syrian congregations. When in Rome, as they say....
Cathedral of Our Lady Assumed into Heaven and Saint Nicholas
Roman Catholic cathedral built 1958-1965 on the site of an old prison; it's an imposing limestone building in a mixture of retro-classical styles, which some detest. The dome, pillars and round arches are Renaissance, while a Romanesque portico dominates the main façade. The organ was re-conditioned in 2007, and recitals show off the acoustics. Regular mass, with one Sunday mass in Irish.