Began the venture back to West Ireland on Wednesday. I am still struck by the beauty of Ireland. When I told people I was visiting Ireland they said you have never experienced green until you have seen Irish green. I now feel like I can truly say I understand what they mean. Even though I am traveling with my 18 group mates, who I have really come to love, it does not compare to traveling with Scott. I am excited to go back to Galway because I loved it, but I am happy that all my first memories of it are with Scott. Saying goodbye to Scott on Tuesday was actually not nearly as horrible as I thought it was going to be. Maybe it was because I have so much to look forward to, here in Ireland and back at home, but I really think a big part of it was that I am growing more and more comfortable with my time here in Ireland.
On Wednesday we headed to the Strokestown Manor. The road to Strokestown is ensconced on either side by miles of lush green farm lands with milky white sheep and spotted salt and pepper cows. The trees are reaching their peak fall colors of vibrant yellows, aubergine and rust. Sprinkled throughout the country are historic stone castles and churches. Most are in disrepair, but it does not detract in the slightest from their beauty.
Strokestown Manor is a large estate that I am sure was once a grandiose home in its hay day. Now it is forever preserved by its owner Jim Callery who purchased the estate at auction in 1980. The story of the home is actually quite tragic. It is over 270 years old, originally owned by the Mahon family. Then when the potato famine took effect on the Mahon family in 1847 they fell into debt. Mr. Mahon was so distraught over the thought of loosing his family home that he decided to find a suitable, very rich husband for his daughter Olive so the family could remain in the home. So, Olive became Olive Packenham of Strokestown Manor. The house was then passed down through the generations, until recently. The final Mahon’s who owned the home had three children, but decided that the Irish education system would not be proper for them, so when each turned 8 they were shipped to boarding school in England. At school the children grew distant and detached from their home, rarely returning home. When the children grew older they hardly ever came back to the house, so in 1980 when their Mother, who still resided at Strokestown could no longer care for the home or herself, her children put the home and all of its contents up for auction. Jim Callery, really only wanted a few achres of the land, but the house was only to be sold in its entirety, so he bought the entire estate.
The interesting piece of the story is that Jim Callery and his family were long time members of the Strokestown community and when he was in the process of restoring the home he found letters written by his ancestors begging Mr. Mahon to not evict them from their homes during the potato blight. In effect it is as if the house had gone full circle.
Inside the home it still holds all the original pieces from when the Mahon’s lived there. The rooms are very large with grand fireplaces in each. I thought a lot of Papa and Grams when I looked at all the china, although Papa and Grams collection of flow blue puts the Mahon’s to shame. My absolute favorite room and there is no surprise here, was the kitchen. It is a massive room with a viewing balcony where the lady of the house would look down over the help. There is two huge stoves built into the walls with a full rotisserie they could cook an entire pig on. The kitchen was even equipped with the original appliances that were used. Another cool facet, in the 1950s the lady of the house brought in an architect to completely gut the kitchen and equip it with modern appliances. She was tired of having to deal with the extremely dated appliances. The architect took one look at the beautiful kitchen and said absolutely not, so she installed a fake kitchen within the original with four false-walls. When Jim Callery bought the home he was told there was nothing behind those walls, but when he began to restore the house he was in for a big surprise to see that the original kitchen had been perfectly preserved.
The amazing kitchen.
Strokestown Living Room - 1950
Strokestown Living Room - 2009
There were secret tunnels built in under the Manor so the servants were never seen walking in the actual house.
The gardens, very Secret Gardenish.
DAY 2: Crough Patrick & Connemara
Crough Patrick Mountain. There is an annual pilgrimage to the top of the mountain each year to pay penance for your sins and homage to the saint. People who feel they have been especially bad will climb the mountain shoeless. We did it with shoes, thankfully. I don’t even want to imagine what a shoeless hike would be like. At the top there is a shrine to Saint Patrick. The view looking out over the town and water is remarkable. We only climbed to stage two, so I am sure the view only gets more incredible as you go up.
At the base of Crough Patrick is the the Coffin Ship Famine Memorial.
The sails are made of skeletons, representing all the people who died.
The Base of the Mountain - St. Patrick
Crough Patrick Mountain
I know I keep saying everywhere I visit is the most beautiful place, but I really think that Connemara is absolutely the most incredible sight I have ever seen. It appears as you turn the side of mountain and then stretches on for over 30 miles, mixing the land with winding river ways. It was amazingly sunny and warm. The sun would sparkle and glimmer off the water creating perfect mirrored reflections of the mountains and clouds. It is hard to describe how beautiful Connemara is. I love the pictures I took of it, but they honestly do not do it justice. When you stand there looking out over the winding road with curving waterways and mountains rising on either side like great protectors, you realize just how small you are.
Every year there is a famine walk through Connemara to commemorate the millions of lives lost. The mixture of history, beauty and religion that is weaved throughout the land creates a mystifying transportation back to the old world Ireland where people lived off the land to survive. It is absolutely amazing. There really is no words to describe it.
Tucked into the hills of Connemara is Kylemore Abbey, a beautiful mansion built as a summer vacation home. It’s pretty nice, for a summer home.
DAY 3: Galway
Going back to Galway was fun, but I have all my first memories there with Scott and I am happy for that. I learned a little more about the history though. There are two small castles in Galway called ten pound castles because that is how much they were originally thought to cost. The money was given to the builder and owner by the king in order to create sustainability for the town. The two castles are now a restaurant and an AIB bank.
Galway - Market Quay
This is a statue right outside the Spanish Arch commemorating Christo Columbus’ visit to Galway before he sailed to America.
DAY 4: Home
The last day we didn’t do much, pretty much woke up and got on the bus for Dublin. The hotel we stayed out was extremely nice. They provided us with breakfast and dinner everyday. The first night we sat to dinner and looked over the menu we were all amazed. Each night we ate a three course meal, choosing from duck, steak, fish and chips, lamb, seabass, chicken. It was delicious. The first course was also amazing, fish chowder, Cajun prawn salad with smoked salmon, bruschetta. We ate like kings, or more like we stuffed ourselves to the point of nausea. Then each morning we would come down stairs to a full buffet of fresh fruit, pastries, cereals, yogurt and granola. Only to sit down and be served an entire Irish breakfast of bacon, sausage, fried egg, tomato, mushrooms, black and white pudding and toast. It was a lot of eating.
At night we would venture into the town of Westport, which is basically made up of a handful of small shops and about 30 pubs. The most famous is Matt Molloy’s. There were always live music sessions going on and the whole place was filled with locals. I made friends with an Irish family who were more interested in the America than I ever thought possible. They were extremely sweet though and offered to take me surfing, they even had an extra board and wetsuit for me. I met Matt Molloy the second the night I was there he is in the Chieftons, a Grammy winning Irish group. There is one of his Grammy’s sitting on a shelf over the bar. That was pretty cool, but I think the better part was all the pictures of Matt with various artists hanging on the walls. It was definitely the type of pub you want to go to in Ireland. The trip to the West with the group was tons of fun. Now I am looking forward to Northern Ireland in November!
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