Banoffee = Banana + Toffee

Today was a simple perfect day. It was our last day with a car so we decided to drive in a direction we hadn’t yet been: east and then south around Galway Bay. The car was due back midafternoon so we actually only made one stop in our drive and that was in Kinvara. We saw a sign just before town that we don’t see every day. It said “Drive Carefully—Castle Ahead” so we drove carefully and visited Dunguaire Castle, named for Guaire, the King of Connaught who died in 662 A.D. ^th century, the castle welcomed notable Irish literary figures to come and associate and share their work. In that tradition, the castle continues to host medieval banquets in the evening and at those banquets anachronistic Irish poetry is read. Alas, we would have to return the car before such a banquet could be attended.

The castle was not built until 1520 and is not a military castle, but a tower house or fortified residence that remained in use as a residence until the mid-1960s. In the early 20

We continued down the road, intending to drive on a bit, but the village of Kinvara was just around the bend. While it seems every town here is charming, this one had a certain atmosphere and a Friday’s farmer’s market so we stopped. The first tent at the top of Main Street sold gooseberries and Wexford strawberries. Moving on from there were tents with kelp-based bath salts, homemade lanolin soaps, kale, pea pods as long as my forearm, teas and sweets. We decided quickly we would forgo driving further and settle in. There was a trio of musicians playing—the Fair Weather Band, the singer of which mentioned that this was the single best day of the year so their name didn’t have the same ironic appeal it usually does. We choose a Sri Lankan tent from which to get lunch and while the woman was making our curry and pancakes, Chris asked a man where he had gotten his beer. There was a bit of a laugh and the man told him he had gotten it from the pub. Here, you can walk right out of the pub with your beer and drink it wherever else; please return the glass. Chris went in for a shandy—an idea to which bottled American beers do not do proper justice. In Ireland, a shandy is a beer with lemon soda poured right in. I don’t know how popular they are in the winter, but on a day like today it is totally refreshing. 

Returning to Galway was a pleasant drive, although on the way back we had to find the Enterprise office which, now that we’ve done it, I have no idea how Chris found it the first time when he was there by himself earlier this week. It’s in an industrial park and you can’t see it from the frontage road and it’s in a location that makes you believe you’re not in the right place the entire time until you pull up in front of it. We negotiated a fair-ish refund for the troubles we had with our rental and the whacky day Chris spent at the mechanic and Colin and Padraig brought us back to the Spanish Arch in the Latin Quarter. Along the way, they regaled us with their stories about being pizza delivery guys in a city with no street signs, making us feel better about how difficult it was for us initially to find our apartment. The Irish language is confusing and, according to Chris who took two weeks’ worth of classes in it, difficult to learn because there are no pronunciation rules. Padraig explained that his name is pronounced Porrig and the Irish think it’s funny that Padraig Harrington is called “Patrick” in international golf coverage. We asked them if there was a minimum wage in Ireland and there is. At one point recently, it was lowered, but had to be raised again for the politicians to be re-elected. 

There was a pottery fair in the plaza along the quay when we got back to our neighborhood which was fun to window shop our way through. When we headed out this evening for dinner, we had a destination in mind. Last night, we passed a tiny three-booth restaurant named The Pie Maker and we wanted to return there for a meal. It was one of the better meals we’ve had here. Perhaps obviously, they make pies. Chris had a pie with chorizo, mozzarella and pesto and I had one with chicken and mushroom and both were delicious. They came with salad with tomato and beets and it was a treat to have something other than carrots and cabbage. They also have sweet pies and we had a banoffee pie for dessert which was terrific. Again, everyone should go to The Pie Maker.  After dinner, we walked in and out of shops and then along the quay, where it seemed all of Ireland had come to drink their beers and ciders in the sunshine. I’m sure it’s always a busy spot on a Friday evening, but something about this weather is calling everyone out of doors (we’ve seen a lot of badly sunburnt red heads in the last few days) and something about this place makes it seem like everyone is relaxed and having fun. I like it here.