Sunday, August 3

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We arose this Lord's day morning and spent about 30 minutes in worship -- just the two of us. It is unknown just how far the nearest meeting place of the church of Christ lies from where we are (probably well over 150 miles), so with some planning ahead, we were equipped with even the emblems of the Lord's supper (thanks to the Grahams!).

We headed out to County Leitrim's capital city, Carrick-On-Shannon. The beautiful River Shannon meanders through this quaint little town known for its many noted boating activities. From there, it was on to the town of Sligo in County Sligo. This is a fairly large town with plenty to see and do. Irish poet, W.B. Yeats (a favorite son of Sligo), is featured prominently in this town.

From there, we moved on to Carrowmore, an amazing site featuring dozens of megalithic (large stone) tombs. There are thousands of ancient burial sites throughout this section of Ireland, but these are the largest and among the oldest. These tombs are thought to date back as far as 7000 B.C. This pretty well makes it among the oldest cemeteries in the world! Amazing stuff.

From the Carrowmore site, we could see off in the distance a prominent mountain that was capped by a huge megalithic burial mound. We learned this was the supposed burial site of Maeve, Queen of Connaught. This turned out to be quite a workout...see the photo of Kelly laying near death on top of one of the "satellite" tombs surrounding Queen Maeve's burial mound. It was well worth our while, however, since we both agreed this was the most splendid view either of us had ever taken in. A "shout out" (how '90's is that?) to Maeve Thomas back in the States. Maeve, you'll have to scale the great Knocknarea one of these days yourself.

Essentially, we packed about a week's worth of sight-seeing into one day...and we're feeling it tonight.

Big day tomorrow -- exciting stuff ahead. Drop us a note and let us know if you have any questions...if you are completely envious...or if you want us to just shut up and go away.

Is mise le meas.

-- Ryan & Kelly

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Photos

Yeats Statue
Kelly imitating the statue of the great Irish poet, W.B. Yeats in Sligo. Yeats was born in Sligo.

Sligo Abbey
Dating from the 1200's.

Famine Memorial (Sligo)
Erected to honor the memory of the countless number of Irish people who perished or were forced to emigrate during "The Great Hunger" (a.k.a Irish Potato Famine).

Megalithic Tomb (Carrowmore)
Notice the mountain in the distance...this is the mountain we would later ascend to reach Queen Maeve's burial mound.

Queen Maeve's Burial Mound
Atop Knocknarea Mountain, this was one doozy of a hike up to see the burial mound of the mythical Queen Maeve of Connaught.

Tossing Tradition
Kelly keeping the tradition of tossing a stone onto the burial mound of Queen Maeve. This mound was erected approximately 2500 B.C.

Bury Kelly At Knocknarea
The hike to the top just about did Kelly in! She's actually laying on top of an ancient gravesite.

Long Way Down
The view from stop this mountain was simply unforgettable...but there's no way a photo can do it justice.

Ben Bulben
This steep mountain face on the left is known as Ben Bulben. It appeared in many of Yeats' poems.

Comments

[Kelly]

We are totally envious!
Okay, okay, okay....we are really jealous of the fun you seem to be having. Kate liked the picture of Ryan in the rocks and Kelly playing dead. We take it there are no Piggley sightings - although it looks very much like his stomping grounds over there. Keep having fun - we can't wait to read the blog and see the pictures every night!