Westport, Ireland

On our way to Westport we stopped in the village of Cong. It's claim to fame is that the movie The Quiet Man, with John Wayne, was filmed here in the 1950's. Apparently I am the only American who was unaware of this fact as the gushing woman, who mowed me over to take a photo, seemed to feel.

Cong is really very pretty and we got these photos of the old abbey and surrounding grounds.

We also looked at some local real estate--just in case...

Actually, this is Ashford Castle.

Westport itself is one of two planned communities in Ireland. Again, there must have been too much Irish Whiskey flowing at the Planning meeting when they were discussing roads! In this town they have resorted to a system of one-way roads that are not terribly functional with an octagonal roundabout in the middle of town.  Very pretty flowers though! Ireland has a "Tidy Towns" contest which encourages communities to beautify themselves. We've been told there's tremendous peer pressure and lots of houses get new paint jobs as a result.

Croagh Patrick (literally translates to Patrick's Stack) is a mountain where St. Patrick went to fast for 40 days while seeking enlightenment on how to convert the Irish. Today many climb the mountain to the small chapel at the top--a sturdy group of French hikers with sticks marched upward while we were at the statue, part way up, enjoying the astounding views of the surrounding countryside.

They were going to the part that's in the clouds. We did not!

From here we visited the Famine Ship memorial and went to a small cultural center in Louisburgh which had displays about the famine which devastated Ireland in the mid 1800's. According to the material over a million people died of starvation and, a million more emigrated between about 1845 and 1853 when the entire potato crop was decimated by a potato blight. What we didn't realize was that for about 90% of the population the potato was their only food. All of the other food they produced was sold to pay their rents. Also, during the famine more than enough food was produced in Ireland to feed the population, but it was exported. It sounded like government ineptitude and mismanagement was wide-spread. Along with the usual greed and corruption.

Famine ship Memorial. The ghosts floating around represent those that died on-board or shortly after arriving at their destination.

On a cheerier note, we also learned all about Grace O'Malley. She was a 16th century pirate Princess from these parts who outlived two chieftain husbands and met with Elizabeth 1st of England! 

Then we went to lunch at Carrowmore beach!

What would a blog of mine be without a car comment or two! Here's our two-way traffic, 80kph speed limit, road for today!

And, here's an example of the down-to-earth road signs that they have here in Ireland. No expensive barriers, just a reminder of what will happen if you don't pay attention!