January 19th- Galway

Inside of Ballintubber Abbey

Ballintubber Abbey

Knock Shrine

My cousin Fionnuala and I

At the Front Door Bar.

    On our way from Westport to Galway we stopped at Ballintubber Abbey.  The church and cemetary has been around for nearly 800 years.  From Ballintubber Abbey to Croagh Patrick is an ancient pilgrimage path that is still used today.  Once a year people will walk 22 miles to Crough Patrick and then hike the mountain!  After, we got back on the bus and headed to Knock Shrine.  Knock Shrine is a major Catholic pilgrimage site in the village of Knock, where it is claimed there was an apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in 1879.

      Finally we arrived in Galway.  This town is awesome, tons of college students all over the place and the atmosphere is like no other town in Ireland.  If I could move to any town in Ireland it would definitely be Galway.  I met my cousin Fionnuala and her boyfriend for dinner downtown Galway where we enjoyed great Italian food and wine.  After dinner we went to a pub called The Front Door.  We got there early enough to get some seats where we enjoyed music, drinks and catching up with one another.  It felt good when Fionnuala said I must have some Irish in me by the way I was keeping up at the pub.  After a great night I headed back to the hotel to sleep like a baby. Goodnight