We hired a VW golf and headed to Galway. It was nearly 3 hours drive to Cong and little village 40km above Galway on the map. The roads are similar to ours and it was mostly freeway until the last 50km where we the roads were narrow and we drove through little country towns. The houses are brick with flat tiles and high pitched roofs, round sun rooms with glass roofs and the gardens are mostly very neat and tidy. Lots of stone walls and fences in the paddocks with sheep and cattle. Cong had beautiful little stream flowing around the little country town of boutique shops. It has a population of 145. While it may be a small, almost a typical village in County Mayo, Cong is known around the world by fans of the 1952 classic 'The Quiet Man'. With the movie filmed in the village and the nearby Ashford Castle. You are not allowed to visit the Castle unless you are staying there now. We stopped at the local pub and had a seafood chowder and club sandwich. Then drove to Galway. Galway has a population of around 80,000.
Galway is a city on Ireland’s west coast, sits where the River Corrib meets the Atlantic Ocean. We stayed in the centre of town close to the shops and pubs. Town was busy with locals and tourists.
We visited JFK memorial park, it was renamed by the town after John F Kennedy visited here in 1963. The only US president to ever visit during his term of office.
The next day (Saturday) we drove through the beautiful country side. The little towns lined with green grass, very large cattle (they appear larger than ours) and castles, some you can visit and some in ruins. The rocky hills must cater for all the rock walls fences that mark the boundaries of the paddocks and farms. We make a steep accent and climb the hills with spectacular views to the cliffs of moher, they are sea cliffs that are 14km long. There were lots of people and buses here, more than what we thought. Reminded me a bit like our great ocean road in Australia. The shops and visitor information centre was carved out of stone partially buried into the hill. The puffin birds come in here in March. We the headed on to our next destination of Tralee where we were staying for the night. Tralee has a population of 23,000. Tralee is a town in County Kerry, in southwestern Ireland. We arrived after a 4 hour road trip. We visited a local pub, one of Bianca’s recommendations, which was great, thanks Bianca.It started to rain and we decided to eat in house tonight as hour accommodation had a great bar and food menu.
Panther and Vicki
2022-06-05
Wow, those Cliffs of Moher!
Jan
2022-06-06
Hello Beautiful countryside photos, looks a bit chilly. Nice and warm in the pubs enjoy.