Galway, I love you so

Ah, Galway. A love-at-first-visit kind of city. A plethora of vivid colours diluted in the merciless rain, the cosiest coffee shops, the fine charm of medieval allure, bohemian art galleries, stimulating cultural and literary events, the distinct smell of the Atlantic refreshing your lungs and welcoming river Corrib to join its oceanic grandeur. The Latin Quarter looks like a cooler, better, cleaner version of Temple Bar - pretty lanes, quaintly picturesque alleyways that aren't soaked in urine and some of the cosiest pubs I've ever visited. Also, the East Coast breeze is a joke compared to the West Atlantic gusts of wind blowing ruthlessly.

These photos were taken on a quiet Sunday. Lonesome buskers, a beautifully empty Kirwan's Lane, patches of sunshine following our steps from The Claddagh to Salmon Weir bridge, History present in every building and every corner, an atmosphere that can only be found and experienced in those soaked streets, the smell of sea and sand in Salthill and a food scene that took me by surprise (my intestines could say the same...!) - less than 3 hours away from Dublin there's certainly one of the coolest, most charming cities in Europe with so much to offer, despite its small size, that one keeps coming back for more.