Field Trip - West of Ireland

Last Wednesday, our group departed Dublin and headed west. Along the way, we stopped at the Strokestown House, Museum, and Gardens - a complex dedicated to showing how the 19th century rich landowners lived and the famine's effect on the native Irish tenant farmers. We also stopped at the National Museum of Country Life near Castlebar, county Mayo. As the name implies, this museum displays how peasants lived from 1850-1950.

At long last, we arrived in Westport and checked in to the Mill Times Hotel, a very nice rustic-feeling place. After walking around the town and doing a little shopping, it was time for dinner. Allow me to give you a taste of what was on the menu:

Appetizers:

Soup de jour

Deep fried mushrooms with petite salad and a garlic & herb mayonnaise

Chicken Caesar salad

Main Courses:

Pan fried breast of chicken on a bed of stir fried vegetables with a garlic dressing

Stuffed leg of mayo lamb with pureed vegetables and a red wine & rosemary jus

Traditional deep fried fish & chips with salad and tartar sauce

Desserts:

Selection of ice creams with a brandy butterscotch sauce

sticky toffee pudding with creme anglaise

creme brulee with freshly whipped cream

are you hungry yet?

Breakfast on Thursday morning (and every morning) was a combination of a continental buffet and hot foods to order. We left the hotel at 9:45 to do some hiking and see some famine monuments and memorials. Our first stop was in the small town of Murrisk, near the Croagh Patrick mountain. St. Patrick supposedly built a chapel on top of Croagh Patrick in the fifth century. Every year in July, thousands of people gather at the base to make a pilgrimage to the top. Some of them climb barefoot.

Murrisk is also home to the National Famine Monument, a metal sculpture of an emigration boat, or 'coffin ship'. You can see why.

Later, we headed to Connemara National Park for some scenic hiking through a wide-open, hilly, grassy plains-like area and a chance to play on a playground for kids under 12. We were told to hike along the short loop path, about a 20 minute walk, but somehow we ended up on a longer loop. The beautiful views of the coastline made it worth it.

Then it was back to the hotel for some dinner. Please allow me to show you our menu:

Appetizers:

Soup de jour

Fresh water shrimp salad with marie rose sauce & seasonal leaves

Herterich's pan-fried bavarian sausage with savory mash & red wine jus

Main Courses:

Roast stuffed turkey & ham with a rich roast gravy & potato croquette

Poached supreme of salmon with stir fried vegetables & a white wine cream reduction

Pan fried pork cutlet on wholegrain mustard mash & a thyme & rosemary jus lie

Desserts:

Warm apple pie with lightly whipped cream

poached pears covered in a mulled wine syrup

sticky toffee pudding with fruit coulis

After dinner, we went to see a live traditional band - Captain Mackey's Goatskin and Stringband - over at Matt Molloy's pub. Any fans of the Chieftains should recognize that name. We met briefly and shook hands later in the night.

After breakfast on Friday, we headed to Hennigans Heritage Centre, a museum of sorts in a rural area of County Mayo. The Centre is made up of a house and farm on which the Hennigan family has lived for nearly 200 years. We were met there by Tom Hennigan, a man who grew up in the house and lived there until 1970. The 22 of us gathered in a small room of his 2-room house and listened to Tom tell stories of his family's history. A wonderful storyteller, Tom can give you an account of every artifact in the house, and can remember everything you say in an interview. In the words of one of our directors, Tom is keeping it real.

After grabbing some lunch, we went on a bus tour of the Atlantic coastline, then headed back to the hotel for dinner. This is the last dinner, I promise.

Appetizers:

Cream of vegetable soup

Atlantic seafood chowder

Deep fried brie with petite salad, orange reduction and mixed berry compote

Farmyard chicken and field mushroom vol au vent

Main Courses:

Blackened salmon fillet with ratatouille of vegetables and sweet chilli mayonnaise

Pan-fried supreme of chicken on stir-fry of vegetables, wholegrain mustard and wild mushroom cream sauce

Roast rump of mayo lamb with puree of vegetables, potato rosti and rosemary and garlic jus

Desserts:

Selection of ice creams with butterscotch sauce

strawberry cheesecake with whipped cream

poached pears with vanilla ice cream

sticky toffee pudding with whipped cream

After eating our last breakfast Saturday morning, we hopped on the bus for the last time and drove back to Dublin.