The next stop in Ireland was Sligo, or "Yeats Country"

The sites we visited in and around Sligo are listed in pink at left. 

Click on them for more information and pictures.

Our first day of Yeats sightseeing included Yeats Museum in Sligo Town, Tobernalt Holy Well, Lough Gill, Dooney Rock, Innisfree, Parke's Castle and Hazelwood!  Talk about a busy day!  The weather was off and on all day, so some photos are pretty bleary while others are actually quite nice.  My favorite thing of the day was the swans at Hazelwood!  I took like 20 pictures of swans there!

First stop was the Yeats Building in Sligo which is a Yeats museum.  It has a bunch of Yeats info, a Yeats bust, and maps of Yeats sites around town.  The next site was Tobernalt Holy Well which was really neat.  It used to be illegal to have Catholic mass, so Catholics would gather in secret wooded areas such as this and hold mass.  The water at Tobernalt is supposed to cure head pain, back pain and really all body pains.  The area was gorgeous, green with all sorts of ferns and a babbling brook running through the whole site.

  Our next stop was Dooney Rock which is famous due to Yeats' poem, "The Fiddler of Dooney."  Dooney also offers a perfect view of Lough Gill and Cottage/Beezie's Island.  This is a gorgeous area, heavily wooded with ferns and wild garlic all over!

Next stop was Parke's Castle.  Parke's Castle is on the shore of Lough Gill with a view of the small lake isle of Innisfree.  We had a quick tour of the castle and lunch.  The castle was built in the 17th century by Robert Parke on the site of an older tower house. 

We had stopped at various points throughout the day to view Lough Gill and Innisfree.  Our next stop was the best view of Innisfree, which is reflected in Yeats' poem, "The Lake Isle of Innisfree."  Is a very tiny island on Lough Gill.  Below are pictures of Innisfree and of Lough Gill.