Once we had settled in our place (a somewhat sketchy little abode called "White House Hostel") we went out to explore the town. We were having a bit of a hard time finding things to do because a lot of places were closed for the weekend. We had never encountered this before because we usually go to cities that stay open, as opposed to Sligo, a very very small city.
We were directed to the Yeats Building, but the guy at the desk said no one was in because it was a Saturday. We trekked over to the Tourist Information building to find that it, too, was closed on the weekends. With nothing to do, we stumbled into a coffee place and defrosted over coffee, tea, and hot chocolate. We ended up rescheduling our taxi tour (which we had cancelled earlier due to some confusion at the hostel) and went back to the Yeats building to meet our guide.
Our guide, Aubrey, showed us around the finer points of Sligo. He is a Scotsman, hailing from a small town North of Glasgow. He moved to Sligo eleven years ago and now owns a modest taxi cab and touring company, Zero Cabs.
The first place we stopped with Aubrey was Yeats's grave at Drumcliffe. The cemetery there is so beautiful and Fall was in full swing. The colors on the trees were vibrant and lovely to look at.
We drove around Sligo for a while longer, stopping at Lissadell Castle and this mountain waterfall. When we booked our tour, we were unaware that the tours are traditionally three hours, and we did not have a full three hours to spare, having reserved a 3:00 riding time at a stable in Grange. Aubrey was exceedingly helpful, however, taking us to as many places as we had time for, driving us to the stables and waiting there to take us back. We were pressed for time, but we still wanted to get a picture of the waterfall, so we all sprinted up a hill (all three of us slipping around in our rainboots, I'm sure it was comical to see) and snapped a few photos before sprinting back down to the cab.
This picture is not from the tour, but as it's Yeats, I thought it fit in with these photos best. This statue stood about a block from our hostel, in case anyone did not know they were entering Yeats territory. He only has one arm in the statue.
Later: horseback riding and the end of our Zero Cabs tour!
1 comment:
Wow Kristin reading your blog and looking at your photos I seriously keep experiencing deja vu. When my mom and I went to Ireland, we too stopped at the Yeats cemetary and have that exact same picture you have of it. It was pretty modest though, among the rest of the graves, considering it was Yeats. Also, that waterfall we went too as well. It was kind of further off the beaten track than we had first thought. But it was well worth it. It is just amazing.
-Ally Paul
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