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  • Writer's pictureSusan T. Evans

Walk a mile in my shoes.

Walking while on vacation is something we do. We find it relaxing and we view it as the best way to take everything in. When you walk a city, you truly experience its vibe. We walked everywhere during our first week in Ireland; it was our vacation before the William & Mary students arrived for study abroad. My Ireland vacation photo album chronicles our time walking Dublin, Kilkenny, Newgrange and Hill of Tara.

I've always wanted to live in a place where I could walk everywhere. Now, we are. Galway is a walkable university town.

After arriving in Galway on Sunday, June 23, the walking intensified because we are staying on the campus of National University of Ireland, Galway (NUIG). The campus, host to 17,000+ students during the academic year, is large and we're walking through it to get anywhere. Larry and I are not on a university meal plan, so walking is required to eat (and if you've looked at our Galway photo album, you know we don't miss many meals ;)


For just over two weeks, and for the nearly two weeks that remain, I expect to walk at least two and a half hours a day. I'm loving that; truth be told, we've had very, very little rain since we arrived. (I might not enjoy walking in the rain so much.) For great coffee, we walk 15 minutes. For fantastic sandwiches to carry on excursions with students, 15 minutes. For reasonably-priced groceries, we do a 30-minute walk with backpacks. For the action of Galway - the city centre, the Latin Quarter, the dock - we allow 30 minutes. We do have to walk back from all these places; you do the math and you'll see how we quickly get to the minimum two and a half hours of daily walking. Speaking of walking for groceries, the small refrigerator in our bungalow leads to more pedestrian activity!


Even better, the walking is enjoyable because of the natural and architectural beauty of the campus and the city of Galway. The River Corrib winds through campus and we follow it (and its offshoots) when we walk.

NUIG takes full advantage of the river - the River Corrib Greenway Path is often our route.

More detail about the Greenway Path on NUIG.edu, "From the path you can see Galway’s history in stone. In the south campus, look out for three limestone piers jutting out from the water – all that remains of the original Victorian railway from Galway to Clifden. Further north, you can enjoy stunning views across the river to Menlo castle, while on the campus side you will find the curious remains of the Martin Tea House folly. It was built in the early 19th Century, when the campus grounds were home to the Martin family – one of the original ‘tribes’ of Galway.")


To date, our most walking day was last Saturday during our excursion to the Aran Islands. We walked a total of 12 miles - except we walked it in kilometers ;) We walked 9 miles on the island of Inishmore and another 3 miles to get pizza when we returned to Galway.

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