Sligo had to be my favorite place in Ireland to take pictures; the scenery was breath taking. As we left Galway and headed towards Sligo, we drove through Connemara taking breaks to admire everything around us. I really enjoy taking pictures and it was hard to decide what to shoot when everything around is picture-worthy. Everywhere you turned there was opportunity for an amazing photo. One of our first stop through Connemara included a quick lunch at Kylemore Abbey. Founded in 1920 Kylemore Abbey ia a nunnery founded by Benedictine Nuns who fled Belgium in World War 1.
Two of our stop also included memorials dedicated to the victims of the Irish famines. One of the memorials we stopped by was a lone worn grave in the middle of these huge mountains and engraved underneath it read:
TO COMMEMORATE
THE HUNGRY POOR
WHO WALKED HERE IN 1849
AND WALK THE THIRD WORD TODAY
…
I thought that this memorial was very expressive because of its individual placement in such a vast lonely mountainside.
The second memorial that we stopped by was dedicated to the people who died in the famine memorial as well. Although this piece of art was very animated, the ship crawling with human skeletons arched as if they were its sails was a very uncanny sight.
The Yeats building we visiting was very informative proving us with many different types of literature to study including a video, political cartoons, news paper clips, and more. It was a good layout because many of the information was big and we were able to photograph and refer to it later, so instead of trying to copy everything at once I got to sit back and read over everything with a saved photocopy. Right down the street from the Yeats building was a very cool statue of Yeats, and written all over him were lines of his own poetry, I though it was a very creative expression of his work.
Moving along we made our way to different sites of famous Yeats poetry. We started off into the woods on a short hike to Dooney Rock, a place that Yeats refers to in his poem “The Fiddler of Dooney.” While here we were set off to get lost in our thoughts, this was not a hard task to accomplish due to the peacefull environment.
The Fiddler of Dooney
The next Yeats stop was a view of Innisfree where we all recited his poem “The Lake Isle of Innisfree.”
The Lake Isle of Innisfree
Our last Yeats stop for the day was at Hazelwood which is mentioned in more than one of his writings. The lake was fully of swan that would walk right up to you and take the bread right from your hands, and if your not careful even a finger! It was fun visiting all the same locations that Yeats had while he was inspired to write. All of our locations we visited were so peaceful and quite with the most beautiful scenery, it was hard not to just sit down and get lost in your thoughts. The lake seemed to just run all the way off into the distance, meeting with the mountains.
After we were treated to a remarkable home cooked dinner at the McNair residence we were able to catch the sunset at a beach near Rosses Point. Stopping here to enjoy the sunset over the beach, on the drive in we stopped to look at the "Waiting on Shore" monument. The monument depicts a woman holding her arms out to sea, reflecting the anguish of loved ones waiting for a safe return from their significant others. The monument reads:
"Lost at sea, lost at sea
Or in the evening tide
We loved you, we miss you
May God be with you abide"
This was an absolutely amazing sunset to watch as the sky changed light blue, pink, orange, red, and then ending with night blue. At the same time all of this was happening over the ocean and we were able to walk down a lonely beach. That night I had to be dragged back onto the coach because I never wanted to leave that beach. Living on the east coast all my life I was really excited to see the sun set over the ocean, and we got there just at the right time so we were able to enjoy all the shades of sunlight.
Our second Yeats day began with a trip to Glencar falls a place in which Yeats refers to in his poem “The Stolen Child.”
The Stolen Child
Our next stop to the Lissadell house was a very informative and offered a great walking tour of the house. Lissadell House is a large country house, located in County Sligo, Ireland. The house was the childhood home of Irish revolutionary, Constance Gore-Booth and was also the sometime holiday retreat of the William Butler Yeats. In 2003, the house was put up for sale by the then owner, Sir Josslyn Gore-Booth (nephew of Josslyn Gore-Booth). The house also in the interest of the government was eventually sold to a private couple, Edward Walsh and Constance Cassidy. They have since restored the house and gardens and have also extended public access to the house. The tour throughout the house was very interesting, everything seemed to be frozen in time. With a little imagination and some help from our guide, who gave a very informative tour, it was not hard to image the house in it prime.
We then made our way to Drumcliffe for some lunch and a hunt for W.B. Yeats' grave. After a small hunt we the grave of W.B. Yeats located just outside the church. The Drumcliffe cemetery was very beautiful and offered many great photo opportunities. I really enjoyed shooting this location, the old overgrown graveyard with blue skies and mountain ranges in the background made every shot a keeper.
His grave reads:
Cast a cold Eye
On Life, on Death
Horesman, pass by.
W. B. YEATS
June 13th 1865
January 28th 1939
While driving along we stop at Mullaghmore for a quick look at the ocean. It was beautiful, the grass was so thick and soft that you could lay back in it and fall asleep. It was very relaxing to be laying there with crystal blue water running into the smooth carved out cliff side. I had a great time just running down to the water and exploring all the little groves and wildlife populating the area.
Our journey continued as Keith led us to Gleniff cliff, a stunning horseshoe shaped valley with very few residents left living in it. Keith also showed us that Gleniff is also home to a unique 'magic' hill where your car will roll back up hill when you reach the bottom.
Along with his grave we also observed another memorial in the rear by the church parking lot dedicated to Yeats.
Our last day in Sligo was a free day where we were given a couple of activities to choose from. For my first activity I chose to take a horseback riding tour along the beach. This was a fun activity, having no skill on a horse I enjoyed the new experience although we were not allowed to gallop. We were led on a easy trail that took us along the beach and through the tide waters. After I destroyed my thighs sitting on the on a horse all morning I moved on to my second activity that day, climbing Mount Knocknarea. This wasn’t that hard of a climb, only taking about 30mins and it offered an aerial view of Sligo and its surroundings. I had a good time hiking up the mountain and once at the top when I looked down there were a whole bunch of little messages spelled out using rocks.
