Galway, Ireland - Contacting the Outside World

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Sooner or later, you've got to call or e-mail home, but no worries: Galway is pretty nicely teched-up. However, there are a also few things to watch out for...

Phones
Whenever possible, do not make phone calls during the day! Daytime rates are ridiculously high; once you get off the phone and realize you have no more money, you may also want to check if a particular orifice if bleeding. Wait until after 6 p.m., when rates return to the realm of sanity (weekends are cheap as well). Also, don't use non-Eircom payphones; the payphones you'll see in the Eyre Square Centre, or in many of the hostels (you can't even dial free numbers on them) are crap, annoying, and tend to be expensive.

Call cards are available from newsagents, and are for use in payphones. Simply decide how much money you want to spend for how much time you want.

Various calling cards, such as Century 2000 or Spirit, are available for calls to international destinations. Usually sold for IR�10 or 20.

Internet
There are many net cafes throughout the city. One warning, though: should you come across the coin-operated Esat Internet booths, do not use them. It's not so much the cost, as the crap keyboards make it impossible to type more than a couple of sentences before your time runs out.

Celtel - Eyre Square (across from Tourist Office, in the same building as Kinlay House).
Good computers and fast connections, Internet addictions are easily sated at �1 for 10 minutes, �3 for 30, and a fiver for an hour (students get a 20% discount). Also have phone and copy services.

Funworld - Eyre Square (above Supermac's).
Not a dedicated Internet cafe: behind the row of computers are video games, snooker tables and screaming children, so if your e-mailing requires concentration, go somewhere else. General rates: 10 min, �1; 20 min, �2; an hour, �4. Also offers "happy hour" specials: every day the hour of 7-8 p.m. is �3, and a half hour between 12-3 p.m., M-F, is �2.50.

Hotlines - High Street.
Phones, computers and Internet, with a discount for Barnacles guests. Rates: 10 min, �1; 30 min, �2.50; 1 hour, �4.50; you can, however, "bulk buy" your time, such as advance purchase of 2 hours for �8, or 10 hours for �30. This would not be my first choice of places, though, as computers and access tend to be quirky and slow.

Library - St. Augustine Street.
I think this is supposed to be for library members only, but the librarians usually don't ask. An hour of free Internet, per day, with booking a day in advance - book early, though, as slots fill up quickly. If you are sticking around Galway for a while and have proof of local address, a library card is only IR�5 (�3 for students). The card is good throughout Co. Galway, so you can go to any area library and use the computers (this came in quite handy when I was in Clifden, for example).

Netaccess
Look for a white archway with a sign for The Malt House Restaurant - it's back there. Details for the West of Ireland's first cyber-cafe (Netaccess opened in December 1995) can be found on their website, which also has a cool links page for other cybercafes in Ireland, some Galway-specific links, etc., etc.

As far as small cities go, Galway is pretty multi-faceted: one of the fastest-growing cities in Europe (though the present population is about 60,000), a cultural capitol of Ireland, a seaport, the capitol of County Galway, a student town, etc, etc.

For traveling the west of Ireland, it's a good city to base yourself in, or at least set out from, as places such as the Burren, Connemara, and the Aran Islands are all easily accessed from Galway.

The River Corrib runs through Galway and empties into Galway Bay to the south; the river also separates the city centre from the Claddagh, an old fishing village on the west.

To the northwest of the city centre is the National University of Ireland Galway (NUIG). The city centre itself is compact and pedestrian friendly (most of it is pedestrian access only), and a local bus service is provided to suburbs.

Prices are a bit lower in Galway than in Dublin (you'll pay about IR�2.20 for a pint, instead of at least IR�2.50), and the city itself feels more like a small town that has gained the sophistication, but not the crime and dinge of a larger city. Coffee shops and cafes abound, and in the summertime Galway is the epicenter of many cultural festivals. Many local pubs nightly feature live music, usually traditional Irish.

This is an eclectic place; much of the architecture is Spanish, as from the 13th to the 17th centuries Galway conducted a lot of trade with Spain. Fishermen walk around with professors, and once June arrives salmon swimming upstream can still be seen from many of the city's bridges (such as the Salmon Weir Bridge).

Though more so in the county than in the city, Galway, despite all its European and American influences, is also one of the main Irish-speaking regions in the country.

The most annoying thing about Galway is the weather. Winters are said to be miserable, and during the summer months (as opposed to the 'summer season') expect it to be sunny and hot one day, raining and cold the next. You'll soon get used to wearing shorts with your winter coat, however, and sunglasses with your umbrella.

For help in getting around town, go to Eason's bookshop (O'Connell Street in Dublin, or Shop Street in Galway) and put down IR�3.50 for the Galway Street Atlas, a small, pink, spiral-bound indexed street atlas published by Ordnance Survey Ireland.

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