GRIOTS REPUBLIC - An Urban Black Travel Mag - March 2016

19
Cliffs Mohr of Moher Cliffs
bonds of land, love, and family.
Sharing a drink with someone from Ireland is
no ritual to be taken lightly. The people are
frequently quick to offer a free pint, provided you
get your round, too. It’s unspoken, naturally, but
offers the person sitting next to you a glimpse of
your character. Being mutually responsible for
merriment, you are also as responsible for the
bond shared.
Public houses- like Sally’s or the Coach Inn in
Omagh- are ostensibly just that: houses for the
public to congregate. Any football matches-
Gaelic games, Premier League, and the likedraw
a crowd. Naturally, younger crowds come in
for late-night merriment on weekends. As such,
it can be difficult to distinguish what makes for
an “authentic” pub experience. In many places
like Galway- Ireland’s gem on the west coast- the
distinction is often made by the writing on the
wall, or at least above the door. More traditional
Irish pubs, resplendent with Irish music and the
sporadic a capella version of some rebel song
or another can be found in pubs whose name is
written in Gaelic.
Tig Coili is one such pub. An earlier arrival assures
you of a cozy seat, while the audience
for live Irish music makes it a strictly
standing-room-only affair at night. Being
Irish in all things, musicians here are more
likely than not to be seated at the same
small table as patrons, making themselves
distinguishable only by the tin whistle
or bodhran (hand drum); think of these
experiences as a less formal open mic
night, with a non-existent divide between
performer and audience. Others, like Tigh
Neactain, offer an ambience more suited
for conversation.
While the best of conversation can happen
in a pub, cities like Galway are rather
renowned for their celebration of the finer
things in life, as well: literature and food
festivals in the spring, the famous Galway
Hooker Festival in May (the boats; a Google
search is SFW), food and arts festivals in
July, and the world-famous Oyster Festival
in September (worth the hype). The arts,
in particular, are becoming more and more
prominent in Ireland. Celebrating a deluge
of Irish writers and poets is nothing new,
of course. However, the two-week arts