Yeats and Sligo

Both of us awoke this morning telling stories of waking during the night because we heard or saw someone in the room. It was totally freaky. Wayne said he actually saw someone near the door. I simply heard the door open. Separately both of us thought we were so jet lagged that we were dreaming and fell back asleep. But now sharing our experiences we're thinking......da da da da.  Simon says no one has ever reported ghosts in the house. 

Following breakfast we picked up our Coopershill picnic lunch and headed to Sligo in search of WB Yeats. Sligo is bigger than your average village with about 20,000 people and seaport town situated on the Atlantic coast. Sligo means abundance of shells so named due to the richness of sea life and the many large minions found there. It is also rich in culture and the home and burial site of Yeats. We were fortunate to find a young man in the Yeats House and gallery who showed us drawings by John Yeats and offered us maps and information. We walked a bit in the area past a very stylized statue of Yeats, found the local museum with Irish history and some small works by John Yeats. 

Yeats House in Sligo

Wayne with Yeats

We drove to a point on Lough Gill where we could see the lake Isle of Innisfree and ate our picnic lunch aided by the company of a very friendly black lab. The lake was a beautiful, clear blue. After, we went to Drumcliff, located at the foot of Benbulbin Mountain.  There is the little church where Yeats' grandfather was pastor and Yeats and Georgie are buried. 

Lake Isle of Innisfree behind.

Cast a cold Eye

On Life, on Death.

Horseman, pass by!

Our final destination, Knocknarea, proved too much for the old gps. We tried a couple of routes trying to see the cairn of Queen Maeve of whom Yeats wrote "The Old Age of Queen Maeve". Giving up we headed back to Coopershill for a rest. 

This evening we returned to Sligo for dinner at the Embassey Steak House, a mediocre meal. I had my first Guinness there which I described as, "Guiness! The beer that makes Bud Wiser taste good".  The Embassy is on John F Kennedy Parade which runs along side the River Garavogue. Many other pubs, restaurants and shops are here on this rapidly running river. 

Trying our first Guinness