"Dazzling Galway" is heaven for tourists

Galway is a tourist’s heaven, a county of spellbinding beauty with the city itself as its beating heart — that’s the glowing testimony offered by new, eighth edition of the Lonely Planet’s Guide to Ireland, which is published this month.The Aran Islands, Inishbofin, Connemara, Roundstone and Oughterard all come in for particular praise from author Fionn Davenport.He described the county as 'western Ireland’s heartland’ but first focuses in on the city itself. “Lined by colourful narrow shop fronts and pubs, this vibrant tangle of cobbled lanes has an intimate, village-like atmosphere and an absolutely phenomenal live-music scene that attracts traditional and contemporary musicians — along with artists,writers, poets and assorted wayfarers — from all over the country and beyond.“Radiating from Galway city are the main arterial links to some of Ireland’s most heartstopping scenery. “Northwest of Galway city, the fabled Connemara region harbours one of the country’s largest and most important Gaeltacht areas. “Woven with hiking and biking trails, the region’s weathered mountains, sheep-grazing pastures, bogs, and remote villages are raggedly stitched together by stone walls, while along Connemara’s coastline white-sand beaches offer invigorating swimming in summer and windswept walks in winter.“South of Galway city there are medieval churches and castles, Norman towers and oyster beds in abundance, and eastwards of the city farming fields roll seamlessly to the country’s bucolic midlands,“ he writes.The guide paints an image of ..........