Galway Galway Galway (; , ) is a city in the West of Ireland, in the province of Connacht. Galway lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay, surrounded by County Galway, and is the sixth most populous city in Ireland, with a population at the 2016 Census of 79,934. Galway will be the European Capital of Culture in 2020, alongside Rijeka, Croatia. The city's name comes from the Irish name "Gaillimhe", which formed the western boundary of the earliest settlement, "Dún Gaillimhe" "Fort Gaillimh". (Mythical and alternative derivations of the name are given in History of Galway).
Galway hooker festival of Cruinniú na mBád is held each year, when boats race across Galway Bay from Connemara to Kinvara on the Galway/Clare county boundary. The hooker refers to four classes of boats. All are named in Irish. The "Bád Mór" (big boats) ranges in length from 10.5 to 13.5 metres (35 to 44 feet). The smaller "Leathbhád" (half boat) is about 10 metres (28 feet) in length. Both the Bád Mór and Leathbhád were decked forward of the mast. These boats were used to carry turf to be used as fuel across Galway Bay from Connemara and County Mayo to