HOLIDAYS in IRELAND

 Yesterday, Wednesday 12th April our destination today was Knock in County Mayo and the Holy Shrine of Knock where Our Lady appeared in 1879, and is now recognized as an official holy site, like Lourdes or Fatima. We were not aware that, coincidentally, President Biden was schedueled to be here at Knock for a special visit inside the next couple of days, and if we had left this for a day or two we would not have been able to see it as the whole place was closed to the public at large for security reasons.

Jose and Dawn pictured at Knock, with the basilica in the background. This Basilica was built for Pope John Paul when he visited Knock. Pope Francis has also visited here in more recent years.

Dawn and Jose, pictured in front of the Shrine chapel, where the three people who appeared in the apparation are commemorated  in beautiful marble, St Joseph, Mary and John the evangelist can been seen in the background here over Dawn's right shoulder.

This was a really special visit for all of us, and as a bonus we were able to participate in a mass service also.

From Knock we moved on into the Connemara region, and visited the world renowned Ashford castle, one of the worlds finest castles, and a place which has been visited by many of the worlds most famous people including American presidents.

As we moved further into Connemara, we passed through the Maam valley along the shores of the largest lake in Ireland, the Corrib lake. Eventhough the weather was wet and cold, the beauty of this area is still plain to be seen.

The famous movie The Quiet Man was based in the village of Cong, beside Ashford Castle, and the main characters, including John Heuston stayed in the castle ,during the filming of this famous movie. Here we have Dawn and Jose, posing beside the brilliant memorial to John Wayne and Maureen O Hara, the main two characters in that great movie. If you have never seen it, then you should check up Netflix, and enjoy. 

Today was a really lovely, and most enjoyable day for all of us, and i am sure that both Dawn and Jose will have a lot of special tales to tell when they arrive home.

Tomorrow we are off on the next leg of our journey to the awesome Cliffs of Moher.

Make sure you take time to travel along with us.