Exploring Galway's WestEnd

It is amazing how living 10 minutes out of Galway still I hardly find the time to just go there and enjoy the city. 

Just to walk around, sit down and have a coffee somewhere, go for a bite....Not just do this, do that and all very fast...fast ...fast... always trying to beat the traffic, never just there to enjoy.

Well,  we managed to finally get a break from everything and went to Galway for a few hours and just walked and walked and walked all over the city simply to find out what's new to see what has changed over the past months and years (yes, it has been that long!!)   

Taylor's Bar & Beer Garden

I have to say we had a fabulous time and I took tonnes of photos and I was happy at last. Don't take me wrong, I love living in the middle of nowhere, I love nature and the elements and being able to feel them all the time but I was born a city girl and more often than not I do miss the feel of it, the buzz, the myriad of colours and constant flow of people never pausing, never resting always in a hurry... 

We started quite early in the day and the city was just waking up. Shop street was still almost empty, businesses were getting ready for the day, the market was just setting up.  

Giovanni's

Roisin Dubh

IT FIX     Oscars     John Keoughs

John Keoughs

Oscars 

Once out of the market we decided to dive into Galway's Westend where so many of the big restaurant names are. One of the reasons is we wanted to check what they offer how they look like, what is new and exciting on the menu. My partner is a true French born and trained restaurateur, this business is in his blood, that is what he is meant to do, he basically grew up in a restaurant and this has always been our game. He can walk into a place and in a few minutes he can tell you what is wrong and what can be improved, what mistakes are being made. Mind you, you don't always want to hear critique about a place when you are out to have fun but when it comes naturally how can you stop it? He never tells me to stop taking photos so I don't say anything either....  

  

The Face

I was amazed how most of the restaurants were side by side, door to door. And they were so many!! Summer evenings must be magical in this area, there were lights hanging overhead, flags flattering in the breeze...

The Blue Note

The moment I saw the name THE SECRET GARDEN I knew where we are having our coffees. My daughter has often spoken with great enthusiasm about this place and I just had to visit. I am a coffee lover and I grade places by their coffees, if I am not happy with the coffee most likely I wont be back. I have to admit we had the most delightful cappuccinos here and we drank them in the secret garden at the back it was really lovely. I was also impressed by the amount of teas they had available. Absolutely amazing!! They had made real effort to  make this place cosy, charming and unique and they have certainly succeeded. Loved it. 

The Secret Garden 

   

After our little pitch stop we walked Sea road to see the rest of the places and for me to take more shots. This is definitely a wonderful area to visit. Day or night. 

Massimo 

I love Galway's Westend and I must get back here in the evening to really feel the excitement and that spell that makes people come back to Galway over and over again.

   

  

Mona Lisa 

Ernie's

Kai Restaurant 

Galway's West End

The rest of my images from Galway's West end will follow next week. Cheerio.
Why not have a walk along Spanish Arch?

        

My Deepest Secret

Let me start with that. I walk a lot. About 10 km every day. I go to places at very early times of the day when there is no one around. Sometimes I see things that I am positive no one else does. I know that because I am the only one there every day, There is never anyone around to see what I see!

I have this gift, I can freeze a moment or a scene in my mind, as if I am looking at a photo already made before it is taken, I can see it the way it will be. I only have to press the shutter and voila.
That moment is captured in the camera forever. Well, sometimes it doesn't work out as it should have simply due to technical difficulties or my equipment limitations but most of the time I get what I want.

Doing this is what excites my mind the most, this is what photography is for me: capturing reality, catching the best light and the best colours to make the perfect moment in time and projecting it on paper or on the screens of your computers and phones. Simply Beautiful!!

Being able to share moments that others are not able to see this is what I love to do. I want to show you or remind you of all those amazing fleeting moments that sometimes disappear in a matter of seconds but are so amazingly stunning they deserve to be seen. Most of the time life just drifts us along and we have no time to look around so I want to remind everyone about the simple everyday things that I find around the corner or along the road, just out in the village or out in the woods next door. I never travel far. All my photography is local from the Galway area, this is why I call my latest project Connemara Stories.

My eyes are always distracted by fantastic scenes when I walk and if I am in a hurry believe me it is very difficult to get to my destination on time.


Let's say I get distracted easily.

Like from a bunch of cows for example (it's not my fault they even came to see me!!!) or an amazing Connemara pony just standing there looking at me peacefully and being so extraordinarily photogenic or simply a perfectly composed landscape that has to be taken because it sings to my soul and I just have to pause and take that shot!!

And well that's it really. I simply need to take photos to keep my mind clear and free, to have my soul happy and I need to be able to create something or I will slowly wither and die inside bit by bit..

In the meantime I really wish to spread the word, I wish to reveal the magnificence of the lands that people travel across oceans to visit, unveil the secrets of the wonderful villages, woods and hidden lanes and hope more new photographs will find their place into my Connemara Stories.  

Connemara pony grazing in the grasss

Entrance to Connemara National Park from direction of Recess

My Deepest Secret by Annie Japaud

Moycullen, The Lovely Village We Live In

Just yesterday I think someone posted on Facebook in Moycullen News group how they were walking along the promenade and how lovely it was, full of smiles and colour. This walk must have been so inspiring and so fulfilling that this person had to post a note in the group to express their appreciation of the lovely village we live in!!

Isn't it fabulous? I love reading such burst of candor - coming straight from the heart! Because to be honest, I feel the same way, going to work every morning, walking the countryside roads and secret lanes along the summer grass fields and bogs then along the promenade.

I see the same inspiring beauty all around me. Could it be this weather that is so invigorating and energizing? Making us see the world through a happy prism of colourful light reflected off everyone and everything? 
Whatever it is, we are happy it is happening, it is keeping everyone smiling and looking positive for the future. What else could we want?

GOOD MORNING WORLD

  

 

   

   

 

   

   

Emily Jean Atelier

White Gables Restaurant

   

   

 Here is another collection from Moycullen