Tourists tune in to GalwayÕs charms

By Dermot Keys

A novel Medieval Walking Tour of Galway will give tourists a chance to ditch the tour guide and enjoy an informative audio tour of the city at their own pace.

The new Medieval Walking Tour allows visitors to the city to plug in earphones and enjoy an audio tour while taking in the sights in Galway. The tour will take them on a scenic walk through the medieval city streets while giving them a detailed insight into Galway’s colourful history and hidden gems.

The novel new tour was launched by Managing Director of DoTheTour.com, Kieran Herron, at the weekend and the new audio devices are available at a number of locations throughout the city.

“It’s the same thing they have for Edinburgh Castle,” explained Kieran. 

“You often see it for individual sites but not so much for cities. I thought Galway would be perfect for this because it is a medieval city. It’s very compact. It’s not spread out like Dublin. It’s all within a short walking distance.”

The idea for the tour came to him after he missed out on a guided history tour in Castlebar. The thought occurred to him that a recorded walking tour could be enjoyed anytime and he set about designing one for Galway. A relation of Kieran’s was a graduate of Heritage Studies in GMIT and he compiled the information.

Kieran wanted to give the venture a local voice and the tour is narrated by Managing Director of Galway Arts Centre, Páraic Breathnach.

“It opens doors even having his name associated with it,” Kieran noted.

The tour covers the period from the establishment of the town by Anglo Norman settlers in 1230 through to the capture of the city by Cromwellian forces in 1652. It lasts approximately 90 minutes and it is a great way to find out the story behind the “City of the Tribes.”

“It’s an automated walking tour. It can be done at your own pace and in your own time. If there’s a shower of rain or if you want a cup of tea, you can take a break and carry on later. It doesn’t require a minimum number of people to do the tour.

“It starts in Eyre Square and it finishes in Eyre Square. Once they do the tour, they’ll have their bearings in the city.”

It costs just €10 to rent the device for the day and it comes with a map of Galway and a medieval map of the city for reference.

“The device is very simple to use. It is like a remote control with one to nine and 0 on it. When you get your map, there is a route on it numbered one to nine. When you get to one on the map, you hit one on the device. And so on.”

For more, read this week's Galway City Tribune.