Hotel Westport

<br><br>Today was a bit cloudy and slightly cool as we packed up. Kevin and his wife Maura served us a filling breakfast of bacon and eggs before we said good-by and left to fight the Galway traffic. Surprisingly, our exit went pretty smoothly, and we drove northward to the village of Knock.<br><br>In Knock, in 1879, the Virgin Mary appeared to fifteen villagers . With her were St. Joseph and St. John the Evangelist. Mary wore a gold crown with a red rose in the center front ...

... bare feet and let me tell you it is not a smooth walk. Hundreds of people even go so far as to walk 21 miles from Ballintubber Abbey where St. Patrick baptized the people all the way to the mountain and then climb it... IN ONE DAY....crazy. One of my roommates says that she and her dad climb the mountain at least 2 times a year and she has seen old woman upwards of 80 climbing the mountain in just their bare feet...<br><br>Me and my group ...

2nd on our list was Turlough Park,<br><br>This was a place where we got to see how landlords lived in the 19th century while taxing their people into poverty. This one was a bit different than most English landlords because this house belonged to the Fitzgerald family who were Irish. They were removed by the english from their home in wexford Ireland where they held 70,000 acres of great land and moved to ...

1st stop Ballintubber Abbey...<br> <br> This Abbey has been around for a while to say the least....It is here that St. Patrick baptized the people of the area in 441 A.D.. There is a bit of lore to how it came to be<br> in the modern state it is now. It was said that the clergy of the church took in the prince of Turloch because he was fleeing the vengeance of Turloch's queen who wanted her own son to sit the throne. The clergy of the ...

... pudding this morning..Sister Leigh said it tasted like dog, I thought it tasted like a biscuit that had been laying next to a sausage...Sister Carolyn thought it was a cross between a snausage and a bisuit....maybe Dad wasn't so far off that dog thing...<br><br>I am having a great time...looking up even more that I have my clothes...<br><br>sister carolyn here...all good...everyone still getting along...funny people on bus the first day two ladies late and we ...

... 70 and so sweet. She started to pull the first pint and Jim stopped her to ask if she took credit cards or US dollars. She said "oh no dear, we do not." When we said we had not changed money yet she said, "Just have one now and bring the money back later." Now, who in the US would say that? We of course did not take her up on the offer. We got directions to a market, purchased some supplies and stopped at a place that ...

My bag has been packed. And re-packed. And unpacked. And squished.<br>I've informed the hotel of my late arrival.<br>I've got (some) foreign cash.<br>My electrical batteries are charged.<br>My print outs are in a waterproof folder in a waterproof bag.<br><br><br>Agh!<br>

... the famous Irish peat bogs, but never thought I would get to ride along them, it was so much fun.<br>Our guide took us to the pub for a pint when we had safelty packed away the horses, and my boyfriend said he had the best pint of Guiness since arriving.<br>We loved Ireland, but especially this area. I am planning to take a week long trip back to the Go Trekking centre next year with my 3 girlfriends. <br>Watch out Ireland, Here we come!<br> <br><br> <br>

... of one was perfectly suited for the momentum I had built up descending the prior. The sun filtered down through the clouds and soon the emptiness of the bogs opened into populated coutryside. A short ride later I caught my first glimpse of Clifden. A stately town above the coutryside with several streets bisecting its middle. I stopped at the Two Dog Cafe off the main square to relax and enjoy a tea and a slice of almond-orange cake. Refreshed I hoped on my bike to cycle ...

... attempt to find a park to eat our lunch, this time in Galway, we continued on northwards through the Connemarra Mountains. Of all the Irish landscapes we had taken in on this road-trip, the coastline of County Mayo was to me at once the most dramatic and pathetic. In parts the countryside solely comprised of fields of grey rocks, each one fenced by dry walls built from same kind of rock, running right down from the ...