Ireland Travel Diary: Visiting Cong

As part of our trip, we spent a lot of our time visiting with my mom’s brothers and sisters that still live in Ireland. On one day, my Aunt Kathleen and Uncle Jimmy picked us up and brought us out to Ashford Castle and they also took us out to visit Cong.

Visiting Cong was a spur of the moment decision. On the grounds of Ashford Castle is a thatched roof cottage that may have been used for the filming on the John Wayne movie The Quiet Man. Also known as my dad’s favourite movie.

He literally watches it every time it is on TV. Even though he has seen it a billion times. And owns the DVD. If it’s on he TV will watch it. He must have it memorized by now.

It turns out my Uncle is also a fan of the movie and since we were nearby he took us to Cong the setting of the movie.

Have you ever seen the Quiet Man? I’m sure I’ve seen it before but not for ages. Despite the fact that they re-air it on the classic movie channels every holiday season.

Visiting Cong

This day trip was really for the benefit of my dad. Though I have to admit I enjoyed it too. The movie doesn’t have the same connection for me that it does my dad but it was nice getting to do this trip with him.

When visiting Cong there isn’t much to see from the movie. There are a couple of establishments that have names of characters from the movie.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The biggest draw to visiting Cong? It would have to be the statue.

In the square there is a statue of John Wayne carrying Maureen O’Hara that was made to commemorate the movie. Of course I had to get shots of both my parents next to it!!

In Cong you can also see The Cong Abbey. There is not shortage of old Abbeys, Castles and Churches in Ireland!!

Our day trip wasn’t just about visiting Cong and Ashford Castle. My uncle took us on a long drive through most of the countryside. It was such a nice way to get to see parts of Ireland that I might have never seen otherwise.

My Uncle was really great. He knew that I was interested in photography and that my purpose for a lot of my sightseeing was to get some good photos. He’s travelled a lot through this part of Ireland for work so he made sure to take me to some hidden gems.

Visiting Cong and seeing the Quiet Man statue was a nice little treat for my family. It was unexpected and a place that we might not have gone to see if my dad and Uncle hadn’t started talking about the movie. It’s really nice when things like this happen.

Being mindful when travelling means that you are more in the moment. You can be more spontaneous and make decisions based on what is happening in the moment. In this case it resulted in visiting Cong and taking a drive through the country side.