Galway Market

The market sets up in the narrow lanes around St Nicholas' Collegiate Church every Saturday of the year, with Sunday and bank holiday editions added through the summer. It is a mixed market rather than a purely edible one: vegetable growers and cheesemakers from Connemara and east Galway share the lanes with woodcarvers, jewellers and secondhand book sellers. The food end is the interesting part, with oysters opened to order, smoked mackerel, sourdough, doughnuts and hot food from stalls that have held the same pitch for years. It is small, pressed tight against the church wall, and entirely outdoors, which in Galway means the weather forms part of the experience.

History

The church the stalls lean against is the setting's history. St Nicholas' was founded in 1320 and dedicated to Saint Nicholas of Myra, patron saint of seafarers, in recognition of Galway's standing as a port. In 1484, the same year Galway received its royal charter and its first mayor, the archbishop of Tuam made it a collegiate church, confirmed by a papal bull in 1485; its senior priest took the title of warden, a position found nowhere else in the Irish church. In 1650 the great book of Irish genealogy, the Leabhar na nGenealach, was written here by Dubhaltach Mac Fhirbhisigh (Wikipedia, St. Nicholas' Collegiate Church).

Highlights

• The oyster stall - shellfish from Galway Bay, opened while you wait.
• Connemara growers - vegetables, honey and preserves from the west of the county.
• The church wall - the medieval fabric of St Nicholas' rising behind the stalls.
• The hot food pitches - eaten standing in the lane, whatever the weather.

When to go

Saturday morning is the main market, running from early until mid-afternoon, with extra days in summer. Arrive before eleven if you want to move at all; by noon in July the lanes are shoulder to shoulder. Bring cash for the smaller stalls and a coat regardless of what the forecast claims.

Before you go

There are more craft stalls than food stalls, and the craft end leans distinctly touristy. The lanes are cramped and impossible with a pushchair on a busy Saturday. Everything is exposed to the weather and Galway supplies plenty of it. Prices are market-day prices, and the hot food queues at lunchtime are long and slow.

Nearby

Shop Street and the Latin Quarter run down to the Spanish Arch and the river.