Ballintubber Abbey, Connemara, Kylemore Abbey, Galway

Well, we rocked and rolled and bumped our way through Connemara today. The driver said it was because the roads are built on a bog, so the roads are like a bumpy, winding roller coaster. A few people felt quite queasy, because the driver tends to be a bit jerky anyway. But we all survived!
We started the day with a foggy morning - not something I see very often these days. I took the optional extra to go to Ballintubber Abbey, "the Church that never died". It survived the many invasions and looting and burnings and their claim to fame is that mass has been said every day in that Church for over 800 years.

Here's a link to learn a little more about Ballintubber Abbey

The Church itself was beautiful. It had been renovated many times but it still maintained the feeling of being very old, yet it had a deeply spiritual feel.

As usual there are many stories attached to the Church. There is so much history in every brick. The guide told the story of the Priest killer who was paid to kill priests, which he did very successfully and was paid handsomely - keeping him in drinking money. Anyway, long story short, he ended being killed and being buried in the local cemetery, and everyone was up in arms. So they dug up the body and threw it in the lake. Anyway, the curate said they couldn't do that, so they recovered the body and buried him the Church yard, but they didn't bury him facing East, as Christians are - to face the rising sun. The buried him facing North -the direction of the devil. Later a tree grew out of his grave, but a big storm came and split the grave in two. the Irish are great storytellers.....

Here's a link to the story of Seán na Sagart - John of the priest

Priest Killer's Tree

The stations of the Cross inside the Church were made by some contemporary artist and were quite lovely.. see below...
Here's a link to see more of the Stations of the Cross


The other interesting thing about this Abbey was that it was a resting place for those who were on the pilgrimage to Croagh Patrick - the mountain of St Patrick. It was a place to stop and have a wash and relax before you attempted climbing the mountain - 22 miles away. Of course, legend tells us that Croagh Patrick was the place where St Patrick drove all the snakes out of Ireland. It's quite a high mountain that apparently takes a good few hours to climb. And the very good pilgrims actually take off their shoes and climb the last part with bare feet... over quite ragged rocks.

Croagh Patrick in the background

Part of the deal about being a pilgrim is you must not complain on the journey. If you fall into a bog, you just say "Thanks be to God" and keep going. And a pilgrimage doesn't work unless something changes in your life. Our guide asked us if we were tourists or pilgrims..... tricky question that. I think it's easier to be a tourist!

Ballintubber Abbey

Next we rocked and rolled our way through Connemara and the mountains. The scenery was quite wild and rugged, but always very beautiful. We passed by quite a few Loughs (or lakes).


Our next stop was Kylemore Abbey, which always reminds me of the episodes of "Two Fat Ladies" with all the nuns tucking into that rich, fattening food that they prepared so well. But it's a beautiful spot, tucked between a mountain and a lovely Lough.



The scenery on this journey has been quite different to the North. It is far more rugged and wild. Our guide tells us that during those times of oppression when the British took over the East coast of Ireland, they pushed the inhabitants towards the west coast because the land there was so inhospitable. The history of Ireland is so filled with oppression and mayhem. And of course there was the great potato blight leading to the faminine, where the British Govt just let nearly 2 million people starve to death. History can be very condemning as well.


Our final stop before Galway was the Connemara Marble factory where we shown all the different types of Marble that are found in this region. Very informative, and of course we had the compulsory gift shop!


As our hotel is about 15 mins out of Galway we were given an hour or so to cruise through the shops in Galway before dinner. The shops were lovely and I really enjoyed just walking around here. I've developed a liking for the local brew.... Smithwicks Ale, so I had to stop at one of the many pubs and have a half pint of Smithwicks.

Galway shopping streets

So, that's about it for today. Once again I have free internet access in my room so I was able to embellish a little more today.

Hope you're all well and enjoying reading this as much as I am writing it. I have to admit I have to discipline myself sometimes, but I've got into the swing of downloading my pics as soon as I hit the hotel room, then writing the blog immediately, otherwise I might put it off. But it's a great record for me later, and I'm sure I will enjoy reading this over when I return and see how lucky I have been to go through such rich experiences. Indeed I am blessed!