The Castle, Again...

A new day of walking downtown with muscles growing out of my tongue instead of my legs. Why? Simply because there is no place left in there!
Anyway, started the journey with taking the short cut that I've been told about recently. It doesn't make the road shorter really but it is quieter and cars seldom pass in that way, and it is narrow and ordered by green cover and fields. It has nice views. Actually this is my second time on this short cut and I've decided to take my camera with me along the way today to take some scenes. Eventually, there were some unexpected guests that kept staring at me...

My New Friend!

There are other stuff I took a snap at along the way of course, but didn't prepare any so far. I think I've touched something on this way that makes my hand itchy, or maybe some insect did it for me. The back of my left hand is itchy and got some red spots as I'm typing this.

Anyway, the first thing to do as I got to the town center was to get the batteries that I need for my flash head. Hopefully, I'll be working again in the lounge and also the dinining room (for a panorama), probably tomorrow, as I am in no mood to walk!

I headed then to the castle. I've been told there is a gifts shop there. There was in fact. I didn't find many stuff in it. The gifts shop in Galway in Oughterard town was full of many stuff to buy. If I remember correctly it was a property of Keogh family there. Peter Keogh, if memory serves me well. However, I got some silver rings of claddagh and some with celtic knots, and a blouse. I really need to organize my stuff and decide what gifts goes to whom. I don't think I've settled down with gifts for all my close people, yet. After the gifts however, I headed back again to the castle, got the ticket and hurled in directly to the graveyard at the back of the castle.

In the graveyard, where mixed graves lie; old and new relatively, I've seen graves of old people, and young people, and even infants and babies. Made me really think how lucky I am that God let me reach my 30. I don't know what happened or how it happened, but I did feel a gush of tears coming, and if it was not for the tourists that don't cease to come and pass by, I would have probably teared down, and the reason is unknown. Maybe simply, it was just sad to see 18 years old people lie there, covered.

Typical Celtic Cross as a grvestone.

Now to the technical side of the story. I've been preparing "some" images only with my so-called "cheap" HDR substitution, as you can see above with the celtic cross. Tomorrow, hopefully, with my flash in new batteries, I will try to make the crystals in the ceiling and the wall reflect some light beams and give some interesting shining patterns, if possible. The process is not easy at all because there is a great play of angles in role here. For now, I think I'm done with the castle for now. I don't think I will be back to it again for more pictures. I think I will try to read the tourists guide to see if there are other places to go to other than Cahir. I've checked some information about Clonmel, but eventually, there was not much about it and seems not much is there to be seen! I will check again later. For now, I need to rest my legs...

Cong, Co. Mayo.

Today, after breakfast, I traveled along within a taxi to another county: Mayo. I headed (with the taxi of course) in a long journey that almost took one hour of driving to a village called Cong, on the north of the Loch Coirib. This long way was supposedly to be shortened (with lesser expenses) by a ferry, but since the ferry stops at the end of the September with the end of tourism season, I had to take the hard way. Not only that, but a ferry would take you into the lake to an island in the Corrib, named Inchagoill, where a grave stone of St. Patrick nephew is supposedly to be there with a church that dates back to the 5th century, and also a 12th century's Romanesque church. However, today I went to Cong, and tomorrow, if the weather was nice I shall be heading to Inchagoill by boat.

There are three main sites to see in Cong, but I saw only two of them since I didn't really care much about the third! They are: 1. Ashford Castle which has been turned into a luxurious hotel, 2. St. Feichin Monastery which dates back to the 6th century, 3. A museum, which was the house where a movie was shot, named "The Quiet Man."

1. In Ashford castle, tourism was much still alive and people were going in and out, either for picnics or to play golf in the wide green fields around the castle. I took many shots around the place and I had a long walk in the forest behind the hotel (the castle). We were thinking that the monastery is somewhere around the castle but we got it wrong. Anyway, I really loved the trees there, and some of them were giants and obviously hundreds if not at least one thousand years old. On the way out of the place, we asked a valet about the monastery, and he guided us to it. It is in the village itself and not near the hotel.

2. We got back to the village and found the monastery. Frankly, I don't know if it is St. Feichin monastery, but it was Cong Abbey, or "Ministreach Chonga." It was a national monument as the signs in the place denoted and from the design and the hard rocks it was obvious that it was a medieval building. The graves were every where and I was trying hard not to stop on them. The dead deserve their respect. The graves were marked by a grave stones sometimes but lot of times they were marked by a Celtic crosses. The abbey had a second floor which was exposed like a roof, and I tried to take a panoramic shot up there. The building was magnificent, and after the castle of Aughnanure, this is the second time I see a real medieval building with religious significance. The castle itself was not completely medieval as it was obvious that it had been renovated to be in shape of the hotel that it is seen today. The abbey was unique with its ruins. Upon my way out, I snapped the gate of the abbey as well;

3. On the way back from Cong, I had a nap in the taxi, as the long drive to Cong actually made my stomach a bit disturbed. On the way though, I couldn't help to stop my camera from snapping but this I had to make fast shots with no HDR intention (3 shots with different exposures and blah blah blah). There were many spectacular views for Connemara hills and the Corrib lake with the road being up and down all the way, but I had few shots that were good enough, specially with the problem with the light source and the speed of the shutter;

Tomorrow, Hopefully, I'll be heading to Inchagoill, and only 4 days left to get back to Dublin, and on the 5th day then, I shall fly away back home!