Fancy Hats and High Heels for Ireland’s Renowned Horse-Racing Festival

Let’s daydream a bit now for our Geo Quiz.

Forget about work for a while and think vacation.

Imagine a summer trip to a city in western Ireland.

This city’s located on the River Corrib.

Every summer, it hosts a horse racing festival, a tradition that goes back to 1869. Heck that’s a few years before horses first raced in the Kentucky Derby.

So can you name the Irish city?

Eamonn Burke listens to The World on public radio in Western Massachusetts. He recently wrote in to tell us about his upcoming summer vacation plans. He plans to introduce his daughter to a family tradition of attending the Galway Races in Galway, Ireland.

The Galway races get underway the last Monday of July. The festival used to be famous for having the world’s longest pub, the one that served refreshments along the entire length of the grandstand.

That world record has been eclipsed. But Guinness – and hats and high heels – are still very much a part of the Galway Races festival.