DaY 12 - Athenry to Westport



I should have mentioned yesterday that Athenry is famous for the song, “Fields of Athenry”, which is a folk ballad about a man sent off to prison in Australia for stealing food to feed his family during the Famine. Very sad, melancholy, tune. Have a listen to any of the various versions you can find online.

Athenry Castle was open this morning, so we spent some time touring the castle. It has been well restored and each floor had exhibits about life in the castle. We also saw more of the extensive town walls that still exist.







Our next stop was the ruins of Ross Errilly Priory. It was a Franciscan Priory built in 1351 and expanded in 1498. The monks were expelled 7 times from the monestary, but always seemed to return. Quite dedicated they were. The Priory was sprawling. So many rooms and corridors, it was easy to get lost in. We all thought this was an amazing find. 










We then headed north and west and the flat land became more hilly as we went near the Connamara National Park. The weather up to this point was a mixture of rain, cloudy skies, a bit of sun here and there, some more rain, and WIND. Lots of wind was the only constant. The changing weather made the mountain and lake views interesting. Hopefully our pictures will do the views justice, although none truly can. 


Herb roasted chicken salad made a great lunch 


Many lakes and rivers are over their boundaries


Can you cling to a hillside and still eat?

They seemed unconcerned about cars driving by. 

We also stopped by Lough Doolough where there is a famine marker. During the famine, about 600 starving Irish went through Doolough Valley twice as they were shuttled back and forth between authorities trying to get help. Many died during the travels.  Just one of the many sad stories about this period of Irish history that shows the inhumanity we are capable of exhibiting. One would hope we have learned from history, but sadly that does not seem to be the case. 





Our next stop was another Portal Tomb called Sraith Bui. It was literally at the intersection of two roads. The cap on the tomb had a small cross etched into it, indicating it was most likely used as an Altar during English rule when Catholics were not allowed to meet. 




Our final stop was another famine memorial, a quite moving famine ship sculpture that makes one ponder the famine event and not only the effect on those at that time, but on the history of Ireland.





Tomorrow we continue up the coast.  More scenic beauty and ruins.


We decided to have Tapas for dinner and it was a unique experience. One man running the small place with no real kitchen. Just food in fridges and a toaster oven, or something similar. We ended up with plenty to eat and it was all quite good. 



A fancy grilled cheese with various spreads on top

Garlic mushrooms with mushroom crisps







Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ireland Day 0 - Travel Day

Image
  A happy ending to a long night and day.  We are off on another adventure......   Our trip to Ireland started out much like our Alberta Canada trip ended.     Canceled flight and a mad scramble to find new flights. About 4pm Sunday we were notified our Aer Lingus flight direct to Dublin had been canceled for "Operational Reasons".    Not sure what that means other than no plane as we had scheduled.    They booked us on a flight the next night (Monday), but that would have caused us to miss a day of planned and paid for touring. Randy spent lots of time on hold and on calls, and lots more time surfing to check other options. His hard work led us to a flight through Heathrow to Dublin that still left Sunday night. The Heathrow flight went off without a hitch, however our connection to Dublin was delayed for over 3 hours, related to the cyber issues Europe has been experiencing the last couple of days. These affected flight systems, so people w...
Read more

Ireland 2025 - Follow Along If You Wish

Image
  Headed to Emerald Isle - Join Us! Hello Friends! We are headed back to Ireland so Heather is busy trying to get the blog page up and running. We first went to Ireland in 2023 with our travel buddies, Brad & Cindy. This time we will be traveling with our sisters Heidi (Heather's sister) and Rebecca (Randy's sister). We have all traveled together once before when we went to Spain in 2023. It worked out well, so when they both retired this year and thought a trip to Ireland might be fun, Randy put one together. This trip includes some things we enjoyed the first time, as well some places and things we didn't have time for...like vikings and dolmens. The map isn't exactly accurate, but Randy says it gives you the basic idea. Main places we plan to visit include: Dublin, Kilkenny/Waterford, Rock of Cashel/Killarney, Ring of Kerry/Killarney, Ring of Dingle, Cliffs of Moher, Galway, Inishmore, Donegal, Derry, Giant's Causeway, Ballycastle/Belfast, and Newgrange. Rand...
Read more

Day 1: Dublin

Image
On board the famine ship.  The weather was perfect today.     Sunny and no clouds.     We started out with breakfast at a local cafe.     No offense to Starbucks, but I don't recall my mochas looking quite like this.     (Taste was great also). We then headed off for a tour of Trinity College and the Book of Kells which is housed in a museum at Trinity. Trinity is the oldest college in Ireland, founded by Elizabeth I in 1592.    For approximately 325 years it was a Protestant only institution.   In the early 20th century that ban was lifted only to be replaced by the Catholics banning any of their members from attending. The Catholic ban was only lifted in the 1960s. The campus now has a student population that matches Irish society as a whole. Our tour was student led. Sadhbh (pronounced Sive and     rhymes with five)showed various buildings, most of which are 19th century and later.     No original 16th ce...
Read more