Feeling a bit better and on a liquid diet I got back on track with some sights. It being the weekend my mother (and our host) didn’t have class so we were able to drive all together to some places. We headed northeast of Galway (Connemara is more northwest) out of county Galway into county Mayo.
Cong – Coffin Ship – Croagh Patrick
Cong Village
The main claim to fame for Cong is the 1952 John Ford film starring John Wayne, The Quiet Man, was filmed there. We hadn’t seen the film but that’s OK. There’s plenty to see in the town. We have now seen the film upon returning to the US and…. well… not my first choice in films. I’m not a big John Wayne fan, but do like his 1962 film Hatari! The Quiet Man seemed to me to present the stereotypical Irish characters and wasn’t too kind to the female lead Maureen O’Hara.
Anyway, with my mother’s awesome digital camera we have many good pictures of this trip. We started in the main part of Cong Village. Cong Abbey, or what is left of it, is right in the middle of the town. It had its origins in the 7th century but as been destroyed and rebuilt 3 times since then. The entrance is still mostly there [1] [2]. Just inside the entrance is a graveyard area.
You can see the town buildings in the background. That video starts with a view into a small room off the graveyard. This video below shows the view from inside that room, looking down to a courtyard and at your feet is a lone grave. Parts of the Abbey have been rebuilt (15th and 19th century) so you’re seeing a mix of old and not so old. As you walk through the Abbey you have to walk over graves, such as this one of Patrick Mcganveren who died at age 30 on 7 January 1837. It’s a little strange walking over these old graves but there’s no other way to walk!
Beyond the abbey is a path to the Monk’s Fishing Housing where monks would drop nets through a hole in the floor to catch fish. A line attached to a bell in the Abbey would alert them to a catch. On the way was neat tangle of tree roots. So many of the old stonework had beautiful details like this head on the bridge near the fishing house and these details at the entrance to the Abbey.
We saw a few Quiet Man locations, again before we knew anything about the movie. Seeing the movie after visiting Cong was fun to point out locations we had walked.
Next was to Ashford Castle. It’s an active hotel so we couldn’t see inside without being a guest. But for 5 Euro you can mill about the grounds. It was also setting for a few scenes in the ol’ Quiet Man. The entrance to the castle itself is grand. But the long drive up to the castle, through the golf course, is also neat.
Here’s a few views [1][2][3][4]. The castle gardens had some impressive flowers. Check out this rhododendron video — see the scale when I walk into the frame. Notice the hat is a permanent fixture in all of my shots now. The entrance/exit to the walled gardens again featured some amazing details [1][2][3].
National Famine Memorial : The Coffin Ship
This memorial is relatively new, from 1997. It’s very moving. A coffin ship was the name given to a ship bound for America during the potato famine that had terrible living conditions combined with crowded sick refugees that became a floating coffin for many on board. From a distance the ship looks very quiet, but closer examination shows the emotion conveyed in this steel sculpture.
Coagh Patrick
Just across the road is the mountain where it is said St Patrick banished the snakes from Ireland. Funny, I didn’t see any snakes during our trip.
Still feeling a little under the weather from my sunburn we headed back towards to Galway. We stopped and took some photos of the lakes, or loughs, along the way [1][2][3][4][5][6]. I’m not sure which lough this is, probably Lough Carra.
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