| Connemara and County Mayo |
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| Connemara is a wild region on the west side of Ireland which is between Galway and Westport. Our first stop was in the village of Cong at Cong Abbey. The area around Cong Abbey was like an enchanted forest. Crossing the stone bridge through the portal was like crossing into a story-book world with fairies and magic spells. |
| The Augustinian abbey has been destroyed and rebuilt several times since its origination in the 12th centruy. This has resulted in a combination of Romanesque and Gothic architecture. The door in the center of the wall in this picture has the pointed Gothic arch and the windows on either side have rounded Romanesque arches. |
| The Monk's Fishing Hut sits on the clear beautiful stream that runs through the lush green forest. The monks trapped fish for the abbey kitchen in this fascinating little structure. |
| We enjoyed some wine, chocolates, and grapes after exploring Cong Abbey. |
| The picturesque little town of Cong was the setting for the old John Wayne movie about Ireland called "The Quiet Man." The house was used in the movie. |
| Very few people were in Cong which made it even more attractive and charming. |
| We left Cong and traveled to the wee village of Leenane where we had a pub lunch of soup and brown bread. The next stop on our Connemara odyssey was a peat bog. The peat was being cut commercially rather than with shovels. This process produced the cylindrical rather than block forms of the peat. |
| Outside of Westport, we stopped for an introduction to the ancient and uniquely Irish sport of hurling. We had a blast trying to make the little leather ball do what we wanted. |
| Our hotel in Westport was the Clew Bay Hotel named after the bay near Westport. We strolled around the neat little town and window shopped. Westport is at the foot of Croagh Patrick which is the small mountain where St. Patrick is said to have driven all of the snakes out of Ireland by ringing a bell. |
| Matt Malloy, the flutist for the traditional Irish musical group the Chieftains, owns a pub in Westport. In the evening several of the group went to hear some of the local musicians. |
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