Christmas market

Storm 10 · 20-11-2015 11:09pm

speakelton wrote: »

Correct me if I'm wrong but is that pic not from last year? The only reason I'm asking is because I thought they took a load of the tents from eyre Sq to Spanish arch, Quay Street etc... With the intention of protecting the wonderfully cultural Galway grass of eyre Sq.

That said I haven't been in yet so I don't know myself

Has to be a picture from last year as the clock tower is at the Spanish Arch

ben.schlomo · 21-11-2015 12:02am

J o e wrote: »

No macaroons, no corn dogs and FIVE identical grills (small/large hotdogs or burger)...

In better news, the Chimney Cake stand is back, just not open yet.

Also the new beer tent looks awful, very open and packed. The new beer hall down at the Spanish Arch is great though, no steins but a few nice beers on tap.

Chimney Cake was open when i went through.

thesandeman · 21-11-2015 2:43am

That path where the beer tent is will get very crowded. Anyone try that Wood Oven Bread stall? They're doing some sort of a cross between a panini and a pizza. They look ok but I didn't want to stump up €7 to eat standing in the rain just yet.
Didn't get to the Sparch yet. What beers are they doing there? Anything unusual?

Arghus · 21-11-2015 3:50am

Is the market totally set up yet? I walked through it this evening and, well, there didn't seem to be a lot of it.

thesandeman · 21-11-2015 4:38am

Yep. They can't use the grass area this year so they've split it. The other half is down the Spanish Arch. They have a commuter (Santa) train running between the two.
Could be a test run for the GLUAS to see if there are any collisions between the train and the Coke Zero Bikes at Cross Street.

ben.schlomo · 21-11-2015 9:35am

thesandeman wrote: »

That path where the beer tent is will get very crowded. Anyone try that Wood Oven Bread stall? They're doing some sort of a cross between a panini and a pizza. They look ok but I didn't want to stump up €7 to eat standing in the rain just yet.
Didn't get to the Sparch yet. What beers are they doing there? Anything unusual?

Nope just faux craft in Cute Hoor, and then Moretti and Paulaner.

laoch na mona · 21-11-2015 9:45am

Man of aran fudge, chimney cake, pretzels, german bear, mulled wine & hot whiskeys, a few craft stalls. I think its a pretty decent market, I would like to see a few more craft stalls but it's still a good market.

As for the splitting in two I assumed it was an attempt to get people moving around the city and hopefully spending a bit on shop street, and to not have it all on eyre square because the council were pissed off about the grass last time. I think having it spread out like winterfest in waterford is a good Idea

marklazarcovic · 21-11-2015 10:05am

is the pig on a spit down there? yum

laoch na mona · 21-11-2015 10:07am

marklazarcovic wrote: »

is the pig on a spit down there? yum

they are there put it's not on a spit, they have more a standard chipper van trailer this year, it's the same crowd though so still yum

joeKel73 · 21-11-2015 11:22am

ben.schlomo wrote: »

Nope just faux craft in Cute Hoor

Ah didn't realise this was made by the big guys, makes sense now why it was available at the Heineken branded Electric Picnic. I must admit I did enjoy the red ale!

biko · 21-11-2015 12:16pm

Was in beer tent down Spanish Arch yesterday, great craic!

bigpink · 21-11-2015 12:36pm

biko wrote: »

Was in beer tent down Spanish Arch yesterday, great craic!

Do you have to pay in?What was good about it?

biko · 21-11-2015 12:59pm

It's free.
Go down and find out for yourself

ben.schlomo · 21-11-2015 1:49pm

J o e wrote: »

Ah didn't realise this was made by the big guys, makes sense now why it was available at the Heineken branded Electric Picnic. I must admit I did enjoy the red ale!

Made by c&c.

Subcomandante Marcos · 21-11-2015 1:53pm

ben.schlomo wrote: »

Made by c&c.

Cute Hoor is made by Heiniken, it was previously called Rising Road.

ben.schlomo · 21-11-2015 1:55pm

Subcomandante Marcos wrote: »

Cute Hoor is made by Heiniken, it was previously called Rising Road.

Correct,clonmel 1650 is what I was thinking of.

Subcomandante Marcos · 21-11-2015 1:58pm

Both muck in fairness!
:pac:

bigpink · 21-11-2015 2:15pm

Came up from limerick last year for it.
Waste of time i thought very boring
All burger hotdog stalls and tat

gordongekko · 21-11-2015 5:57pm

bigpink wrote: »

Came up from limerick last year for it.
Waste of time i thought very boring
All burger hotdog stalls and tat

Must have felt a lot like you were home in limerick so

Poxyshamrock · 21-11-2015 9:01pm

bigpink wrote: »

Came up from limerick last year for it.
Waste of time i thought very boring
All burger hotdog stalls and tat

Came up from Limerick last year for it as well.
Really enjoyed it. Browsed around the stalls, got a bite to eat and a glass of mulled wine. Went to the shops and Neachtains and then back to the Beer Tent before getting the bus home.

It's what you make of it I suppose.

GalwayGrrrrrl · 21-11-2015 9:03pm

thesandeman wrote:

They have a commuter (Santa) train running between the two.

Does anyone know how much the train costs. I know it's easy to walk between the two sites but my kiddies would love the train

challengemaster · 21-11-2015 9:11pm

Chimney cake is really the only thing worth going for :P

Whereisgalway · 21-11-2015 10:20pm

xfactorfan23 wrote: »

Does anyone know how much the train costs. I know it's easy to walk between the two sites but my kiddies would love the train

It's rip off Galway so don't expect it to be value for money

biko · 21-11-2015 10:24pm

xfactorfan23 wrote: »

Does anyone know how much the train costs. I know it's easy to walk between the two sites but my kiddies would love the train

http://www.galwaytouristtrain.com/time-table-fares/

GalwayGrrrrrl · 21-11-2015 11:15pm

That's the summer timetable- I presume (hope) it's cheaper for the Christmas train!

dloob · 22-11-2015 1:59am

I happened to be in Stuttgart last year when their market was on.
It covered a large area of the city centre.
It seemed to consist of a gluwine stall, a wooden ornament stall, a wurst stall, a generic Christmas tat stall and a burger stall and then somebody went crazy with the copy and paste and covered the whole city centre with the same 5 stalls repeated over and over again.
All in all it left me feeling the Galway experience was pretty authentic, just not repeated quite as many times as the one in Stuttgart.

The Randy Riverbeast · 22-11-2015 2:40am

They could do with more hot dog places in the market. I was nearly unable to see any when I looked in a certain direction.

Anyone know what type of sausage they use in the large ones?

Crumpets · 22-11-2015 11:35am

ben.schlomo wrote: »

Had a walk around both of them there. The Black Forest Bar at the Arch is nice,but there's next to no alcohol in any of the warm drinks we had. To be honest the rest of both locations is fairly sh1te, must be at least ten sausage grills, duplicate tat stalls at both and no French bakery.

J o e wrote: »

No macaroons, no corn dogs and FIVE identical grills (small/large hotdogs or burger)...

There is a French bakery lads! With macaroons. It's past the beer tent at the back of Eyre Square (closest to the train station).

Also, corn dog man posted apologies on his facebook page about not being able to attend.

joeKel73 · 22-11-2015 11:53am

Crumpets wrote: »

There is a French bakery lads! With macaroons.

I thought they were only doing the pizza baguette things, hold my beer...

joeKel73 · 22-11-2015 5:28pm

Crumpets wrote: »

There is a French bakery lads! With macaroons. It's past the beer tent at the back of Eyre Square (closest to the train station).

Crisis averted - found them! That tent was closed Friday when I was in, thought it was storage or something down the back!

thesandeman · 22-11-2015 5:37pm

The Randy Riverbeast wrote: »

They could do with more hot dog places in the market. I was nearly unable to see any when I looked in a certain direction.

Up?

Zzippy · 22-11-2015 6:47pm

jeffk wrote: »

Likely off topic but

Thinking of using q-park for the €8 for 8 hours price.

Is this the best option for location/price?

Probably too late for you, but the train station car park behind the Meyrick hotel is €6 for 24 hours and is the closest to the market in Eyre Square. Can be hard to find a space, but you also have a good chance of meeting someone leaving who might hand you their ticket...

ben.schlomo · 22-11-2015 9:21pm

J o e wrote: »

Crisis averted - found them! That tent was closed Friday when I was in, thought it was storage or something down the back!

Ya was closed when i was there too, smaller selection of stuff this year in the bakery too im told, disappointing.

joeKel73 · 23-11-2015 12:07am

They're still building up their selection. They only had plain macaroons, said they'd have a few different types in the next few days.

Paddyfield · 23-11-2015 12:19am

They're doing something right if comes back every year and it improves every year. It is what it is and it would be a loss to Galway if it ceased trading or moved to another town.

I met friends (from Dublin) in Galway last year who were blown away by it. They embraced the overpriced charcoal cooked burgers (that are semi-cooked separately before being placed in long-dated buns) and the expensive run-of-the-mill beer. They are coming again in a fortnight with their in-laws. Repeat business is good business.

The bottom line is that this is Galway, It's a great brand. Good luck to Waterford and Dublin and anywhere else who is trying to replicate the Christmas market buzz but so long as we don't take it for granted, then the Galway Christmas market will continue to thrive.

They'd love to have our problems to solve in other towns and cities. As soon as we can prevent the grass from being cut up, sort out the gridlock and stop the rain, then we will be alright. And for what it's worth, I don't for a minute believe that the first impressions of a tourist arriving in Eyre Square next January will be tarnished by a brief glimpse of muddy grass. There's more to Galway than that. That's why people keep coming back.

ben.schlomo · 23-11-2015 10:07am

Paddyfield wrote: »

They're doing something right if comes back every year and it improves every year. It is what it is and it would be a loss to Galway if it ceased trading or moved to another town.

I met friends (from Dublin) in Galway last year who were blown away by it. They embraced the overpriced charcoal cooked burgers (that are semi-cooked separately before being placed in long-dated buns) and the expensive run-of-the-mill beer. They are coming again in a fortnight with their in-laws. Repeat business is good business.

The bottom line is that this is Galway, It's a great brand. Good luck to Waterford and Dublin and anywhere else who is trying to replicate the Christmas market buzz but so long as we don't take it for granted, then the Galway Christmas market will continue to thrive.

They'd love to have our problems to solve in other towns and cities. As soon as we can prevent the grass from being cut up, sort out the gridlock and stop the rain, then we will be alright. And for what it's worth, I don't for a minute believe that the first impressions of a tourist arriving in Eyre Square next January will be tarnished by a brief glimpse of muddy grass. There's more to Galway than that. That's why people keep coming back.

The only part of your post that id disagree with, the first year was miles better, the following have been getting steadily poorer in my opinion. It will always appeal to the masses no matter whats in it, but for the rest of us its a missed opportunity.

thesandeman · 23-11-2015 10:26am

Does anybody know if they are doing the Woodquay market one of the weekends as part of it this year? They were originally planning it but I've heard nothing recently.

Mrs OBumble · 23-11-2015 12:46pm

I saw a notice in one of the papers notifying the street closure.

The link to it is coming up in Google. (http://www.galwaycity.ie/news/310/59/Public-Notice-of-Intention-Temporary-Closure-of-Woodquay-Northbound-lane-only-to-facilitate-the-Galway-Artisan-Food-and-Craft-Christmas-Market/publications/?filter=Development%20Contribution%20Scheme)

But when I try to follow it, the plug-in on the website crashes.

biko · 23-11-2015 12:56pm

So far had a big hot dog and a crepe (feta, ham, onions) each cost €5
Nice and pretty ok christmas market value I think.

irish_major · 23-11-2015 1:07pm

Is the windmill house, the mulled wine tent, gone?
Used love that place!

Mrs OBumble · 23-11-2015 1:49pm

irish_major wrote: »

Is the windmill house, the mulled wine tent, gone?
Used love that place!

Not gone.

Just located down at Spanish Arch this year, and with a bigger bar that also served faux craft beer.

Tuesday_Girl · 23-11-2015 4:13pm

Anyone know if the Park n Ride be running again this year? I can only see last years info online

http://www.galwaycity.ie/park-and-ride-2/

MyPeopleDrankTheSoup · 24-11-2015 1:41am

thesandeman wrote: »

Anyone try that Wood Oven Bread stall? They're doing some sort of a cross between a panini and a pizza. They look ok but I didn't want to stump up €7 to eat standing in the rain just yet.
Didn't get to the Sparch yet. What beers are they doing there? Anything unusual?

got one of them Saturday in the Spanish Arch one, it looks the same thing. absolute muck, i had one bite before passing along, two friends agreed crap as well. hot dogs were crap as well.

the pork bap in Eyre Square was nice though. and the beer tent in Spanish Arch was great I thought, nicely decked out and good beer. great buzz around the town all weekend, the normal market near the Protestant church was packed as well. few quiet pints Friday night turned into 3 day bender. pity hotel prices are shocking high though, but I suppose that's supply and demand.

Mrs OBumble · 24-11-2015 9:15am

Tuesday_Girl wrote: »

Anyone know if the Park n Ride be running again this year? I can only see last years info online

http://www.galwaycity.ie/park-and-ride-2/

I haven't seen any announcements yet, am watching for it.

bigpink · 24-11-2015 12:36pm

georgiecasey wrote: »

got one of them Saturday in the Spanish Arch one, it looks the same thing. absolute muck, i had one bite before passing along, two friends agreed crap as well. hot dogs were crap as well.

the pork bap in Eyre Square was nice though. and the beer tent in Spanish Arch was great I thought, nicely decked out and good beer. great buzz around the town all weekend, the normal market near the Protestant church was packed as well. few quiet pints Friday night turned into 3 day bender. pity hotel prices are shocking high though, but I suppose that's supply and demand.

How much was the hotel?

Steve The Barman · 24-11-2015 1:46pm

bigpink wrote: »

How much was the hotel?

$1,000,000

MyPeopleDrankTheSoup · 24-11-2015 9:27pm

bigpink wrote: »

How much was the hotel?

€100 the Friday which was grand but only 5 free hotels on hotels.com the Saturday, one of them being Oranmore Lodge! One Cross street hotel was asking for €350.

Eventually I got the Victoria for €159 which was grand.

Spanish Eyes · 26-11-2015 9:16pm

This all sounds great.

Myself and my sister are going from Dublin on Tuesday to Friday next week, I love Galway. Anyway, didn't know about the Christmas market so that's a big bonus!

We got a bargain in Jurys with Super Valu points, unbelievable, so more money to spread around the rest of the economy in Galway!.

Can someone tell me if there is any street market on during the week, or is it only weekends?

Going out to Connemara too one of the days.

Looking forward to it. Ye lucky things living there.

ben.schlomo · 27-11-2015 12:22am

Spanish Eyes wrote: »

This all sounds great.

Myself and my sister are going from Dublin on Tuesday to Friday next week, I love Galway. Anyway, didn't know about the Christmas market so that's a big bonus!

We got a bargain in Jurys with Super Valu points, unbelievable, so more money to spread around the rest of the economy in Galway!.

Can someone tell me if there is any street market on during the week, or is it only weekends?

Going out to Connemara too one of the days.

Looking forward to it. Ye lucky things living there.

No midweek market, just the Xmas Market.

ProudDUB · 27-11-2015 1:43pm

Is there a week day that is best/worst to visit the market? Was thinking of heading there next Monday or Wednesday, but don't want to get there & find it's the one day a week, that the traders take a half day off or something.

Would prefer to get the Expressway bus there, but don't want to sit in city traffic for ages, both going & coming. Any thoughts on getting the bus versus the train?

Ta.

Christmas market

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