Connemara: Visiting the God of the Sea

A Connemara Pony

Well, I have been just terrible at keeping up to date on my blog posts, so I thought it was about time to finally update you all! 

About a month ago now, I visited the God of the Sea…no it’s not a person, or a statue...it’s a place.  Connemara, a town in Ireland right on the water, literally means “God of the Sea” in Irish.  ‘Con’ = God and ‘Mara’ = Sea.   

This trip was another one of those long bus trips that they advertise EVERYWHERE here in Galway, so my roommate Caitlin and I just had to go on it.  Not only do you get to go to the beautiful seaside town of Connemara, but you also stop off in the village Cong where the iconic movie “The Quiet Man” starring Irish redhead beauty Maureen O’Hara and USC alum John Wayne was filmed. 

The day started out early with a bus pick-up at 9am by our tour guide Michael O’Malley.  Now this guy wasn’t as awesome as Desmond from our Cliffs of Moher trip, but I mean Desmond is pretty impossible to beat.  Michael was full of jokes though!  One of the first things he said to us was “It’s my first day on the job.  I take the driving test tomorrow, and I have no idea where Connemara is.  So, who’s up for the Cliffs?”  He then proceeded to appoint a Spanish tourist named Carlos as his official guide to Connemara.  We drove around the roundabout 3 times before Carlos’ confused stuttering finally moved Michael to drive down the correct road;  poor Carlos, I don’t think he really knew what was going on, or understood the joke. 

As we drove away from Galway City, the tour began.  Now although it was fun this tour was a bit more rigid than my previous experience with the Galway Tour Company, I must admit.  Michael demanded silence and respect throughout the tour, whereas Desmond just talked and if people whispered, giggled, or slept he didn’t much mind.  Michael’s rigidity didn’t bother me at all, but I know for some it must’ve been irksome.  Anyways, as we drove away from Galway City, Michael began to speak, and I actually learned quite a lot about where I’ve been living for the past couple of months. 

I’ll keep it limited to some bullet points instead of writing a HUGE novel about everything I learned:

• Galway City was founded 800 years ago by the Anglo-Normans as a fortress at the mouth of the River Corrib.
• On the gates to the city were written: “Lord deliver us from the ferocious O’Flahertys,” because the Anglo-Normans wanted to be protected from the Gaelic Irish outside the city gates.
• In Irish Galway is called “Gaillimh” or ‘the place of the foreigners’ because that is where the Anglo-Normans lived.
• Galway recycles 70% of household waste.  → I have personally experienced this because NOWHERE in Galway is it possible to buy groceries and get free plastic or paper bags.  You have to pay extra for bags or bring reusable ones!  Not my favorite part of shopping- I always forget my reusable bags! 

At this point Michael made a couple jokes about Irish driving when we saw some road signs: the bottleneck sign means “keep drinking” in Irish, and the swerving car sign means “how we drive home from the pubs in Galway.”

Ross Errilly Friary

The Ancient Fish Tank

 At this point we made our first stop of the day at Ross Errilly Friary, which was established in 1351.  The place was AWESOME.  We got to walk through the ruins of the monastery that was there for 400 years.  Its motto was “Prayer and Work.”  The coolest part of the monastery was in the kitchen surprisingly enough.  It was a fish tank!  There was a system in which fresh water was pumped through the kitchen from wells to keep fish alive, so that the monks could have fresh fish every night.  Pretty advanced for over 600 years ago!

The next site that was pointed out to us was a large pile of stones at the side of the road.  Now this might seem strange…a pile of stones?  In fact it was quite cool (at least to me since I’m a tad bit of a nerd if you haven’t noticed).  This was a kairn to honor the 5½ thousand warriors who died on this 4,000 BCE battle site.  Warriors used to go to battle with a stone in their pocket.  If they died in battle the stone remained as a tribute to them, and if they lived they brought the stone home with them.  This has really helped historians when determining the death tolls of ancient battles. 

We arrived all in one piece at the Village Cong where I got to see some really cool sites from “The Quiet Man,” like the Pat Cohan Bar and John Wayne’s cottage.  For a classic movie lover like me this was HEAVENLY…all I could think of was how I wished that my dad was there to see it all with me.  My dad and I have always watched classic films together, and although I pitched a bit of a fit my dad forced me to watch “The Quiet Man” I fell in love with the movie!  The Irish countryside was enchanting and the love affair was entirely enthralling to a young girl.  I definitely have to show my dad Cong when he comes to visit!

Now two interesting things happened while we traveled from Cong to Kylemore Abbey in Connemara.  One was that I learned that a tribe of American Indians sent money to the starving Irish people during the 1847 Potato Famine during which 1 million Irish people died.  Keep in mind that this was after the Trail of Tears when the American Indians were forced off of their land into the west, and they had plenty of their own woes!  They were only able to send $170, but even today a charity walk in which a representative from the American Indians comes and walks in full costume honors this generosity.  Very cool!  So the second interesting thing is really more of an anecdote.  So, Michael began to explain the town of Claiddaigh, and the Claddaigh ring.  When he began to explain the ring he asked if anyone knew what it was.  Surprisingly no one else raised their hands except Caitlin and I, so then he asked me to describe it.  I said: it is a crowned heart grasped in two hands.  He then asked if I knew what those signs meant; of course I explained that the heart stands for love, the crown for loyalty, and the hands for friendship.  He then said, oh you must have one!  Then he demanded to know which way it faced and proclaimed for all to hear that because the heart faced outwards, I was single.  Yup, the whole bus kinda looked at me after they found out I was single…awkward!

Kylemore Abbey

Finally after the long bus ride we arrived at the GORGEOUS Kylemore Abbey.  It used to be a school for budding nuns, but it shut down a couple of years ago because of lack of interest.  Can you imagine?  Young girls just don’t seem to want to be nuns anymore…I’m shocked….(don’t mind the sarcasm).  Anyways, the convent itself was GORGEOUS, the Neo-Gothic Church on the property was an exact miniature replica of Norwich Cathedral in England, and there were exquisite walled gardens that were not in bloom yet.  While on the property I saw three nuns, and one was visiting the abbey after having gone to school there!  But the coolest part of the abbey was in the graveyard of the Neo-Gothic church.  In the graveyard was a Finnegan!!!  And right across of the Finnegan’s grave was a Judge.  My roommate Caitlin’s Irish family’s surname was Judge!  Clearly another indication of how we were meant to be roommates and friends.

Anyways, after the tour we bused back to Galway to the sound of “Galway Girl.”  It was a wonderful trip but definitely exhausting!  

 

 

 

Next Up…St. Patrick’s Day in Dublin. 

The Words: One. Giant. Party.