What's with the Spanish connection in Galway City?

Flynn

Hey guys, I just moved to Galway about 3 weeks ago (Spiddal to be exact) for a new job. Have only been out in the city once but have gotten a few days walkin around the city. Really like it, great atmosphere.. can anyone tell me the connection with the Spanish, just out of interest... The Latin Quarter, Spanish Arch.. tapas bars, plus the many many people i hear conversing in Spanish? I love the Spanish culture myself and have been teaching myself the language on and off for the last 4 years and would love to know the connection... is there a large spanish community here? History?

skelliser

Spainish trading ships used to come to galway back in the middle ages.
And the docks back then was were the spainish arch is hence the name.

It has also been suggested the Christoper Columbus came here a few years before he set sail for the americas.

In the last 20 years Galway has become a popular spot for Spainish students to come and stay with host families to learn english.

ben.schlomo

Flynn wrote: »

Hey guys, I just moved to Galway about 3 weeks ago (Spiddal to be exact) for a new job. Have only been out in the city once but have gotten a few days walkin around the city. Really like it, great atmosphere.. can anyone tell me the connection with the Spanish, just out of interest... The Latin Quarter, Spanish Arch.. tapas bars, plus the many many people i hear conversing in Spanish? I love the Spanish culture myself and have been teaching myself the language on and off for the last 4 years and would love to know the connection... is there a large spanish community here? History?

Wrong city there i think!! :rolleyes:

celty

ben.schlomo wrote: »

Wrong city there i think!! :rolleyes:

Ben,

Is Cava not a tapas bar? There might not be a load of them, plural, but there is defo a Spanish vibe in Galway.

When Spain won the World Cup, I believe there were about 300 to 400 of them celebrating at the Spanish Arch two years ago.

There's an underground Latino dance scene and loads of Spanish nationals work in multinationals here, as well as the hundreds of young students who come here to learn English.

I think they're a great addition to the city.

Seaneh

There are two spanish restaurants, in fairness, Cava is as far from a Tapas Bar as Monroes is. The only thing Cava and a spanish tapas bar have in common is Patatas bravas.

Cava is a restaurant that sells spanish dishes in a tapas style.

A real tapas bar, usually works like a suhsi place.
You take a dish from a display and you keep the picks stuck into it, and when you are done, you bring your picks to the counter and they tot up your total.
They are usually just bars that sell food, usually fried stuff like Crouqets and Patatas Bravas, fresh cherizo and then stuff like olives and nuts.

Flynn

Ok thanks for that! As for the tapas bars, i just saw a place walking around, i didn't look in.. think it was called La Lunares or something like that?

Seaneh

Flynn wrote: »

Ok thanks for that! As for the tapas bars, i just saw a place walking around, i didn't look in.. think it was called La Lunares or something like that?

in woodquay? havent tried it yet.

coleria

Spainish connection?

Galway was founded by a spainard,
Legend has it Richard stood where the statue of Liam Mellows is (across from Club k) and declared a perfect location for a city.

More importantly, the first people on this island came from spain/basque region (proven by DNA) onto the west coast,one of the oldest settlements in europe is the caggie fields in Mayo, To this day, Connemarra people wouldn't look out of place in rural spain

ladhrann

The DNA link suggests that there is a connection between the peoples of the western seaboard, not that the first settlers to Ireland came from there.

There is no physical link between Galway and any of the various Kings Richard, the foundation legend of Galway is a rather fanciful one and is about a Princess Galvia, from which the town supposedly derived its name.

The first settlement in Galway was undoubtedly the Claddagh followed by the fortifications built by the de Burgos/Burkes.

The Spanish Arch is a post-medieval/early modern structure and its name may derive from trading links with the Spanish coasts, but we have little evidence beyond the name.

Names such as ''the Latin Quarter'' etc. have no basis in history and are a marketing attempt used by businesses to suggest a connection with the original Latin Quarter in Paris, famed at one point for a bohemian lifestyle.

coleria

By Richard I meant richard de burgo, and the Galvia drowning is argued with Galway orginating from "the stoney river", cladagh was the first settlement, then de burgo,set up the city,

I'm gonna go with de Burgo being spainish, and our narrow spainish village streets, as opposes to the wide streets and squares the rest of the country has,

RTE did a program about the Irish DNA and the west has a strong connection with spain/basque region
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_of_the_Irish

inisboffin

coleria wrote: »

By Richard I meant richard de burgo, and the Galvia drowning is argued with Galway orginating from "the stoney river", cladagh was the first settlement, then de burgo,set up the city,

I'm gonna go with de Burgo being spainish, and our narrow spainish village streets, as opposes to the wide streets and squares the rest of the country has,

RTE did a program about the Irish DNA and the west has a strong connection with spain/basque region
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_of_the_Irish

We're mutts! We're such a small island that any bloodlines particular to a reigion are invariably mixed. Big genetic and anthropological links between the Irish and North African reigion too - read Bob Quinn's "Atlanteans". There's a film too but it's hard to get.
I didn't see the programme you mention, but the wiki article itself that you quoted, goes on to say that the programme ignores 'many other markers', and many of the theories in it were disproved in a 2010 paper!
On a separate note, I've a couple of Basque friends, and they consider themselves quite separate from a Spanish heritage! The whole genetic trail thing is quite complex.

Spanish students have been coming over to learn Irish for ages. They favour Dublin, Cork and Galway for the craic factor!

Galwayps

coleria wrote: »

By Richard I meant richard de burgo, and the Galvia drowning is argued with Galway orginating from "the stoney river", cladagh was the first settlement, then de burgo,set up the city,

I'm gonna go with de Burgo being spainish, and our narrow spainish village streets, as opposes to the wide streets and squares the rest of the country has,

RTE did a program about the Irish DNA and the west has a strong connection with spain/basque region
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_of_the_Irish

Definitely agree with west coast dna link but Richard De Burgo has no Spanish links afaik and the Street layout was common throughout Ireland in towns that were part of Anglo Norman expansion but in contrast to many Irish Cities the layout has survived due to a number of reasons.

Mrs OBumble

Lots of murdered Spanish sailors in Forthill Cemetery. Ref: http://places.galwaylibrary.ie/history/chapter58.html

Somehow people forget to mention this when they're showing Spanish tourists around.

the keen edge

coleria wrote: »

By Richard I meant richard de burgo, and the Galvia drowning is argued with Galway orginating from "the stoney river", cladagh was the first settlement, then de burgo,set up the city,

I'm gonna go with de Burgo being spainish, and our narrow spainish village streets, as opposes to the wide streets and squares the rest of the country has,

RTE did a program about the Irish DNA and the west has a strong connection with spain/basque region
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_of_the_Irish

Ah come on, Richard De Burgh obviously was from Norman lineage, arrived in Galway years after it was founded(if it can even said to be so) and died a couple of hundred years before Spain even existed.

The streets of Galway aren't Spanish are anyways remarkable from any other Irish town, and we probably do indeed have the most well known civil square in the country.

And to reiterate Inisboffins accurate post, the study in that pop science documentary has been largely dismissed.

sword of light

+1 this thread.
The whole story of the Armada in Connaught is fascinating. I remember years ago there used to be a market back the west(where four star pizza is now) and there was a guy there who I can only describe as a Jack Sparrow lookalike, who tried to sell me an old cannon that he pulled from the sea that he said was from a Spanish armada ship.Or so he claimed anyways! It certainly looked the part. This guy, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francisco_de_Cuellar was on the run through North Connaught for a while and wrote an account about it when he eventually made it back to Spain. Also, legend has it that the Connemara pony is in fact a descendant of some of the Spanish horses that came to shore in Carna, and mixed with the local breeds. Not sure about this one though, probably just a myth!