Second Hand Bookshops in Galway

If you are fond of books you simply must visit Ireland. Ireland had produced countless writers and poets and because of this, there are a lot of bookshops. Galway is a good place to start at. No matter what you are looking for, you will find it in one of the bookstores in Galway. The two biggest bookshops for new books are Dubray Books and Easons, both situated in the city centre (Shop Street). There you will find all kind of popular and recent books. But I prefer the second-hand bookshops.

Charlie Byrne’s is one such second-hand bookshop, situated in the heart of the city (Middle Street). As soon as you enter the door, you will forget all your troubles. Time slows down when you see the amazing amount of books; you smell them and feel the warm atmosphere. They stock over 100,000 books ranging from popular fiction to local and national history and they have recent published titles by local authors. Every Saturday at 11am is ‘story time’, where someone will read a story, which is especially fun for younger children. Once in awhile there will be a special event for a book release. 

Another, even bigger shop is Kenny’s Bookshop & Art gallery, situated just outside the city centre (Liosbaun Retail Park, Tuam Road). This is a huge shop with over half a million new and second-hand books in stock. If you are a real bookworm, you can spend a whole day in this shop. Besides the regular books, they also stock rare and antiquarian books. And if you need a break from the books, you can take a look in the art gallery, where they exhibit contemporary Irish art. 

If you want to stay abreast of what is being published in Ireland, you must join the bookclub. They will select a package of books of your interest and they will send it to you (oversea is not a problem). You can choose your own timeframe and budget and they will select the books for you.

There are not enough words to explain how great you will feel if you enter one of these shops. So go and find out yourself!

·         Charlie Byrne’s bookshop: www.charliebyrne.com

·         Kenny’s bookshop & Art gallery: www.kennys.ie

Petra Van Ham

The Connemara National park

 

I am a Brazilian exchange student currently living in Ireland. I instantly fell in love with the Irish Landscape from the first time I saw it. When I was asked to write an article about part of the country that I found particularly beautiful, I chose the Connemara National Park. 

Apart from a large amount of lovely sheep farms in the surrounding area, you can also see ponies and many cows. Once at the park itself you can enjoy 2,957 hectares of breath-taking views of the scenic mountains, as well as expanses of bogs, heaths, grasslands and woodlands. 

 In 2010 a biodiversity ‘Race Against Time’ was held over 24 hours on the 21st – 22nd of May at six wildlife sites across the country – Connemara National Park and Coole Park, both from Co. Galway; Fota Wildlife Park, Co. Cork; Glenveagh National Park, Co. Donegal; Newbridge Demesne, Co. Dublin; and Wicklow Mountains National Park - to see which site could record the most species. 

This unique event was organised by the National Biodiversity Data Centre to celebrate the International Year of Biodiversity. A total of 542 species were recorded at Connemara National Park over a 24-hour period and the Park was crowned the BioBlitz 2010 Champion.

 

 If you are interested in discovering this wonderful place one of the options for toursits is to travel with Hidden Connemara Walking Tours. Some say it’s a “hidden hiking treasure”. The tour departs from Galway Coach Station on Foster Street at 10am and the return is at 6pm. For lunch, a good idea is to pack a picnic to match with the wonderful natural ambiance, but there’s also a 30 minute break on the shop/café in the visitor centre at 1pm. The tour consists of two walks of around 2 hours each and it costs €20 for students or seniors. The tickets can be purchased on the main Tourist Office on Foster Street or Galway Tour Office on High Street (091566566).

   For more information, visit the website of the National Park and the website for Hidden Connemara Tour:  www.connemaranationalpark.ie/  and www.hiddenconnemara.com/ .

Luiza Aguiar Gondim