5 July 2024 Discover Creevykeel Court Tomb • Discover
National Museum of Ireland Country Life • Overland to Connemara
Yesterday was
an optional tour to a National Park. As
the weather looked very iffy for walking in the forest, we elected to stay back
at the hotel and just relax for the day.
Dinner was at the hotel and after dinner we were treated to a
demonstration of Celtic dancing. Before the dance, Tom brought out some Budweiser Bill in honor of the 4th of July. The Irish dancing was performed by three girls – 2 sisters aged 20 and 17 and a 5-year old. The 2 older girls have participated in
competitions and the 20-year old auditioned and was selected to perform in
“Riverdance” in Dubia. It is amazing how
quickly they can move their feet. I
would have tripped over my feet and landed unceremoniously on the floor. I can’t put the video in this blog, but I do
have several minutes of them dancing.
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| Tom and Our 4th of July Toast |
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| The Three Irish Dancers |
Today we are
traveling from Donegal to Connemara, one of Ireland’s loveliest regions located
along the rugged Atlantic Ocean coast in western County Galway. Along the way we will see a patchwork of
bogs, lakes and mountains as well as dry stoned walls that line most of the
fields we passed. The name Connemara is
Irish for “Inlets of the Sea.” Amazingly there are some palm trees as 359
million years ago, Ireland was located only 10 degrees above the equator. While Connemara is renowned for its savage beauty
(as Oscar Wilde described it) and wild terrain, including mountains, valleys,
lakes, and streams, it is also the largest area with a strong association with
traditional Irish culture and the Irish language Gaeilge. The regions where the Irish language is the
prevalent language are known as Gaeltachts and are predominately along the
western coast. While most people here
can switch from Gaeilge to English fairly easily, Gaeilge is the everyday
language of about 70,000 people who live and work in this area. Efforts are being made by the government,
schools, and historians to try and preserve this language.
As we drove toward
Clifden, our destination for the next few days, we saw many classic stone walls
and lush green fields with herds of cows and sheep. As this is spring, there were a lot of calves
and lambs nestled close to their mothers.
Our first stop
of the day was the Creevykeel Court Tomb.
Dating back to the Neolithic Period (4000-2500 BCE), this is one of five
megalithic (a large stone used to construct a prehistoric structure or
monument) monuments in this part of the country and one of the best
maintained. A court tomb is a collection
of Megalithic stones formed in either a circle or cluster around a burial
site. There are about 400 of these tombs
in Ireland and another 100 in Scotland.
While there we had the opportunity to walk around it. The tomb covers an area 180’ by 82’. At the entrance to the tomb there is the
Wishing Tree (or Raggedy Tree).
According to Celtric tradition, people tie a piece of fabric into a
loose branch and then make a wish. If
the wish is granted, then they untie the knot and leave the piece of cloth
hanging loosely as thank you for having their wish come true. You can also leave the fabric in remembrance
of a lost loved one or relative. The
tree is usually a Hawthorn tree and is very prevalent around Halloween. Tom gave each of a piece of yarn that he had
purchased from Cyndi Graham, the weaver we had visited. Each of us then tied the yarn to a branch – I
tied mine in remembrance of my Mother and Father.
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| Wishing Tree |
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| Entrance to the Sacred Ritual Area |
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| Creevykeel Court Tomb |
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| Wishing Tree |
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| Creevykeel Court Tomb |
We then
continued our drive, stopping at the Classiebawn Castle viewing point for some
photos. Classiebawn Castle, built on a
hill against the backdrop of Bunbulben Mountain, has a long and interesting
history. Originally the land upon which
the castle was built belong to the Irish O’Connor family, but it was
confiscated by the English Parliament to compensate those who stopped an Irish
rebellion. Lord Palmerston, once the
Prime Minister of the UK, started construction of the building, but died in
1865 before it was completed. It was
completed by his son in 1874. After that
it changed hands many times until 1939 when the Countess Mountbatten of Burma
inherited the castle. She was married to
the 1st Earl of Mountbatten of Burma who was King Phillip’s
uncle. If you watched the TV series “The
Crown,” the castle was featured in series 4.
Lord Mountbatten was assassinated in August 1979 while fishing not far
from Classiebawn Castle. A member of the
IRA had snuck onto the fishing boat the night before and attached a remote-controlled
bomb. According to legend, Mountbatten’s
ghost still roams the halls of the castle, unable to find peace as a result of
his violent and sudden death. Today the
castle is privately owned and you cannot get any closer than our viewing point. While at the castle viewpoint we had our first view of the Wild Atlantic Way coastline. It was stunning and hard to put its rugged beauty into words so I will just let the pictures speak for themselves.
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| Classiebawn Castle |
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| Wild Atlantic Coast |
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| Wild Atlantic Coast |
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| Wild Atlantic Coast |
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| Wild Atlantic Coast |
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Harbor Where Mountbatten Kept His Boat
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The Wild
Atlantic Coastal Drive is one of the most spectacular roads and at 1600 miles,
it is one of the longest coastal drives in the world. And with the blue Atlantic Ocean, towering,
rugged cliffs, and beautiful beaches and bays, it is also one of the more
picturesque drives. The road goes from
Derry in the northwest down to Kinsale in Cork County in the southeastern part
of Ireland.
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| Irelands Shades of Green |
After eating
lunch at a garden center in Castlebar, we traveled a short distance to the
National Museum of Ireland’s Country Life.
This is the permanent home of the National Folklife Collection that
tells the story of the everyday life in rural Ireland, specifically the period
between 1850 and 1950. Exhibits include
how farmers were affected by such events as the Potato Famine, the Land War,
and other oppressive acts from Great Britain.
The museum shows how farmers worked their fields, established homes and
communities, and spent their free time at home.
What was really interesting was the many things they could make out of
their handmade rope to include a horse’s saddle, furniture, hats, and many types
of baskets. They also had an old
Currach, a type of Irish boat, unique to the west coast of Ireland, that
fisherman built by stretching animal skins over a wooden frame.
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| Clothes Worn in the Aran Islands |
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| Shoes Worn in the Aran Islands |
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| Lobster Pots Made From Sticks |
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| Furniture Made From Straw |
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| Cradle Made from Sticks |
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| Horse Collar Made from Homemade Rope |
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| Part of a Thatched Roof |
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| Horse Saddle Made from Homemade Rope |
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| Straw Hats |
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| Currach Boat |
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| Patch of Shamrocks |
After leaving
the museum, we had a rest stop in a small town at the tip of Killary Fjord. This was our first real look at the beauty of
Connemara. The fjord borders County Mayo
and the mountains of Mweelrea and Ben Gorm to the north and county Galway and
the Mumturk Mountains to the south. In
spite of a somewhat overcast day, the views were wonderful.
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| Killary Fjord |
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| Killary Fjord |
Later in the
afternoon we arrived in Clifden where our hotel, the Clifden Station House, is
located near one of the six great national parks in Ireland. After getting settled in our room, our Trip
Leader took us on a short walking tour around the neighborhood where the hotel
is located. That night we went with
several of our traveling companions to Ravi’s Bar noted for its Irish
music. We first had a seafood dinner
with Bill enjoying his oysters on the half-shell. By the time the music started it was about
8:30 and the bar was crowded and very noisy.
We listened to a few songs by two young men, but then decided we had had
enough of the loud voices that seemed to drown out the music.
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