Galway, Shrine, Sligo and Cemetries !!

Galway

16th May, 2023

Galway is not a big place and we spent the morning visiting the cathedral, old part of the town, the seashore area, the shopping mall (which had parts of the old stone walls incorporated into the build) and the Spanish gates.

20230516 103059
The Spanish Gate
20230516 105106
A pleasant walk through the main street.
20230516 104945
20230516 104911
20230516 113251
20230516 113226
20230516 114950
part of the old walls and tower incorperated into the new shopping centre
20230516 122842
The Cathedral
20230516 123234
20230516 123023

Knock Shrine

Our spot for the night would be a total contrast from last nights, remember it was in a car park near to the town centre. We had planned to stay next to a lake in the countryside. Along the way we needed a break from driving and saw signs to a shrine that was in the town of Knock [is this where the knock, knock jokes come from??].
It’s been awhile since I have visited a good shrine and we left the motorway to investigate.

20230516 162134
The chapel stands where the apparition took place back in 1879

To explain what the place is about I have copied the following paragraph from Wikipedia.

The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Knock, commonly referred to as Knock Shrine, is a Roman catholic pilgrimage site and national shrine in the village of Knock, County Mayo, Ireland, where locals claimed to have seen an apparition in 1879 of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint Joseph, Saint John the Evangelist, angels and Jesus Christ [the Lamb of God].

20230516 162125
20230516 163149
Here is where you get your holy water , there were more than a dozen all lined up in the garden.
20230516 161936
The main Church
20230516 162532
Very plain interior
20230516 162721
Mozaic of the apparition
20230516 162709
20230516 163250
Plenty of shops on the street to by your bottles to fill up with holy water and religious artifacts.

An interesting place to visit and a reminder of Lourdes that we visited several years ago.

Beautiful overnight spot next to the lake.

Our overnight spot was in total contradiction from last night. A parking spot next to a lake all by ourselves. It was a bit on a slope but thanks to our trusty hydrolic legs we soon leveled out.

20230516 173252
Sloped carpark, the hydrolic legs helped. The front wheels are off the ground
20230516 173306
View from out motorhome. We were all by ourselves in the lake car park.

Carrowmore Megalithic Cemetry

17th May 2023.

On another beautiful Irish day what better place to go, a cemetry. We purchased a ticket for a few euros and explored the site which has many ancient burial mounds. Some were only a few boulders and others massive stuctures.

20230517 102414
20230517 101511
20230517 110713
20230517 111145
20230517 111431
20230517 111452

Sligo

In the morning we passed through the town of Sligo, not a big place and with a carpark close to town we stopped to explore. The highlights were the Abbey which was free entry today, normally 5 Euros and a delicious lunch in a place called the Walker, established in 1781.

20230517 115854
Street mural near the carpark.
20230517 115951
20230517 141706
A great place to have lunch in Sligo

Photos of the Sligo Abbey

20230517 134052
20230517 134134
20230517 134215
20230517 134728
20230517 135127
20230517 135412
20230517 135428
20230517 135506
20230517 140051
20230517 140206

Buskers in the streets of Sligo

20230517 141432
20230517 141452

Creevykeel Court Tomb

On the way to our overnight stop we passed by the Creevykeel Court Tomb. It is just off the road and when we looked at it it was hard to picture the layout so we sent our drone to take a better look.

20230517 150901
20230517 150841
20230517 151014
20230517 152427

Our overnight spot was a quiet carpark in a small bay, and another busy day comes to an end.

20230517 160350
20230518 081344 2

Thank you for reading our blog post. If you are not already subscribed click on the SUBSCRIBE button. If you would like to send us a personal message click the CONTACT US button. If you want to comment on this blog post go the the bottom of the page and leave a message in the comment box. To read more of our blogs and explore our site click on the VISIT OUR HOME PAGE button . Cheers Jenny and Ewout

This Post Has 2 Comments

  1. Michael and Pam

    Galway and Sligo bring back some wonderful memories.

  2. Mark

    it’s great being able to see that stuff in full from the sky! I need to get me a drone for filming!!

Leave a Reply