Well Thursday was not a great day weather wise or health wise but it allowed some much needed catch up time. Mike woke with an upset stomach and literally slept all day. I did not much, and all of it was indoors as there was pretty much torrential rain and a very cold wind. 

Steve and Fiona eventually ventured out to the museum and shops and in the evening Steve and I braved the conditions to find the nearest takeaways for something to eat. 

The Korean place that was our destination had closed down so we went to the Indian across the road and selected some random dishes that fortunately turned out to be both tasty and fit for consumption. Mike had surfaced by this stage and had his first food of the day without any ill effects. 

When we woke this morning it was to a much nicer day. Still a bit drizzly, and that soon stopped, but much warmer and very windy. 

Mike and I headed into town at 10.30. When I say headed into town, I mean we walked about 200m in one direction and found ourselves by the marina, Spanish Arch, Museum, movies and main restaurant street. Yes all of those places are within a decent arm’s throw of each other. 

We found a place that said it did all day breakfasts and ordered a salmon omelette (Mike) and a spinach and feta omelette (me) and some hot drinks. The omelettes were excellent, as was the cappuccino, which was hot!  We did some people watching and then wandered along the main pedestrianized shopping street along to Eyre Square. It’s a larger version square than Garden Place but with lots of grass and much nicer. That’s when I spied a shoe shop which happened to have pretty sandals that are also comfortable to walk in. Say no more!

When we rounded the corner from Eyre Square I saw another Galway Distillery. Golly I thought. Fancy having 2 distilleries. Then I saw the buildings next door and realised we had basically walked in a big circle and were back where we started (not actually that big a circle really). 

We walked the 200m back down the street and visited the Museum as knew it had a short film showing the landscape and monuments of the Aran Islands. I had hoped to visit the Aran Islands and see the Cliffs of Moher but it was not to be. Neither the weather nor our health was willing so the film was a good alternative. The museum itself was interesting anyway. 

This afternoon we all went to the movies to see some random Wes Anderson movie called Asteroid City. It was well done but very odd, in a Blazing Saddles sort of way.  The movie theatre is the oddest building. Nothing about it says cinema except the giveaway popcorn smell. Even inside it’s like a random rabbit warren. It had 3 cinemas in it though. All small like the Lido.

We stopped at a nice pub after and Mike and I had a glass of lager while the others had Gin and tonics.

Then we headed a hundred metres down the road to what we thought was an Italian restaurant. We had booked for 6.45pm. It was right next door to the Indian takeaway and was full the night before and had great reviews. 

It turned out to be a cafe and wine bar that only does cheese boards (I didn’t check out the menu or photos on the website properly). You get to choose from different cheese board options and then select the cheese according to type. We both chose the traditional cheese board for 2 and got 4 different cheeses each (ie 8 cheeses in total) from: soft; blue; hard; and sweet. The boards came with dried fruits, crackers, nuts, pate, honey, chutneys, sausage, ham, and berries. Absolutely yum. My favourite was the honey feta that we had chosen. I also had a glass of an Italian Tempranillo which was excellent. The wine list was as extensive as the cheeses and most could be purchased by the glass. Would totally recommend Trieste Cafe and Wine Bar if you are in Galway but don’t expect to be  going to an Italian restaurant 🤪.  We went with the flow and were happy with the outcome.