Wandering Westport

Well what a day we had in Westport. After a scrumptious breakfast at our hotel, we were ready to take on a busy day! First on the agenda was Croagh Patrick. Located 10km from town, Croagh Patrick is a 2,500ft tall mountain visible from anywhere in Westport and an important site of pilgrimage here in County Mayo. On the last Sunday in July, known as "Reek Sunday", over 15,000 pilgrims climb it as a means of remembrance of Saint Patrick and his trip to the top where he reputedly fasted on the summit for 40 days and built a church. This church can be seen from the bottom. While many ambitious visitors today were there to follow in St. Patrick's steps all the way to the top, we decided to enjoy the scenery from the base.

Pilgrimage path to Croagh Patrick (on the right)

Saint Patrick

Brendan with a bit of the beautiful scenery in the background 

Everyone who knows Dad knows that he never meets a stranger. As we've made our way through Ireland, he always has a hello, a question or an observation for those he meets. He's been particularly interested in the small business of Ireland. In Cavan, he found out the the shopkeeper was still "milking the cows" (taking money from customers from the music festival) and at Croagh Patrick he was very curious about an old gent who was selling/renting sticks for those making the pilgrimage to the top. From him he learned that he'd been at it for 5 years, lived a mile away and has a license to sell these sticks from the government (a special dispensation perhaps for such good works?). Now we know what Dad could do with his Irish passport. Never hurts to have a little "insurance" does it??

Dad getting the business skinny from the locals

Across the street from Croagh Patrick was the Famine Memorial coffin ship and Murrisk Abbey Cemetery. The cemetery is located around the ruins of Murrisk Abbey, which was founded in 1456 by the Augustinian Friars.

The Famine Memorial

Brendan and JK in front of the Murrisk Abbey

The cemetery behind Murrisk Abbey

And let me tell you, these people must have been pretty small when they built this because I had to duck under every doorway!

Then we stopped at the Westport Harbor to visit the Heritage Center. Here we learned all about the history of the town and were surrounded by hundreds of old artifacts, from coins and cannonballs to shoes and cash registers.

Inside the Heritage Center

Before heading back to town, we checked out the Westport House. This was the home of Lord Altamont the Marquess of Sligo and was built by the Browne family in the 18th Century on the site of an O'Malley castle whose dungeons are still present today.

Quite the crib!

In the dungeon!

Brendan and I followed a trail through the woods (while Debbie and JK rested up a bit) next to the house and stumbled upon a waterfall.

Then we hit the town for beer and a bite to satisfy our tummies and rest our feet. We walked around town a bit and soon decided to head back to the hotel for a bit before hitting the town later for some beer and Irish music.

The Mall

Major John McBride memorial

As we've toured through Ireland, we have collected some interesting factoiods:

• The Irish are very friendly and helpful
• They don't use many "h's"  in their speech (thirty three sounds like tirty tree)
• The have separate plumbing for hot and cold water in their sinks, so warm is never an option
• There are a million kids here and every family tends to have at least 3
• The water pressure here will blow you right out of the shower
• Which is dangerous because the tubs are so deep and the side of the bathtub is so tall that you have to hurdle your leg to get out and stick the landing on the bathmat otherwise your flat on your kiester
• Lots of people in the pubs and strangely no one in church. See bullet 4
• This is a country of smokers! You can't go through a door without a smoker guarding the door

More later...C and Deb