Day 7: Cong, Leenaun, & Letterfrack

Full transparency here, this itinerary for today was not on our agenda at all. It was Neil from The Riverdale House Bed-and-Breakfast in Athlone that told us we needed to explore these villages near Connemara. He wrote down what was special about each village and created a route for us to follow. So kind of him and we are so thankful that we took him up on it.

We left our hotel around 9:30 and headed for Cong, which is known for The Quiet Man movie that starred John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara. We spent the most time in this village and I chased down a mobile children’s library! The lovely ladies let me inside and talked to me for quite a bit about how they travel around to schools all over County Mayo and County Galway.

We explored the Cong Wood and Cong Abbey and then got back in the car and headed to Leenaun. It was an overcast day with light rain at times but that was fine by me since I ended up with a sunburn after the beautiful day yesterday. 

From Leenaun we continued west along the coast to Letterfrack and had Seafood Chowder at Veldon’s Seafarer. Another hidden gem.

Driving was really not bad at all, even the more narrow roads. The best news is- we didn’t get scared off to not get back in the car tomorrow!

There really are sheep everywhere and they really walk in the road with you…every so often you get lucky with a pull off near something to snap a photo- for us, this was sheep, and Kylemore Abbey.

Once back in Galway, we went back down to the city center to explore the Galway City Library for a bit since it was recommended from the ladies in the mobile library. It was fantastic!










































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