Straight ahead is the Castle.
On the right is the short road to the boat launch and pier.
On the left is the steep road up to the church.
We went left. The hill is just as steep as the main road but not as long thank goodness.
At the top of the road we were impressed by the long set of stairs to the church yard and I saw my favorite celtic cross in Ireland.
The sun was warm and the air was fresh and we were catching our breath after the stairs. The cross had all the detail that I had seen in pictures.
It was marvelous. I don't know how old it was but I think it must have been quite old. In Ireland the graveyards are very close to their churches so we looked at some of the stones before we walked around to the front of the church
and found that there was parking at the top of the hill by a different access road.
We had been wondering if everybody walked to church because the way we had come there was no parking and that road and those stairs would have been hard on the older folks in town. Maybe it was their weekly workout, going to church.
The front door of the church was impressive with a great old arch and gorgeous doors.
Inside there was an oar and a plaque about the Lusitania.
It seems that 27 victims of that terrible incident were brought to Castletownshend. It makes history seem so much more personal when you see the impact of events in peoples lives.
There were several gorgeous stained glass windows set in the thick walls. The church must have been from the same time that the castle was built which would make it around 1750.
A very intricate mosaic tile floor with snakes and golden crosses greeted us as we entered the church proper.
A very large and impressive pipe organ filled in the loft. It seems that every town church has a giant pipe organ.
It was beautiful. I would have loved to hear it play.
I'm sure that it would have sounded as good as it looked.
We took lots of photos and poked around for probably an hour just admiring all of the beautiful things inside.
The sun coming through the windows really showed them to their best.
It really was a nice church. 
On the way out we noticed a brass plaque on the inside door which was very apt.
I should make a book of all the doors in Ireland that I have taken pictures of with this as the first page.
It would be fun.
We went back down the hill in the sunshine and went to Maryanne's for dinner around 7-ish. I had chips, salad, a 1/2 pint of Murphy's and a fantastic sticky toffee pudding.
Maureen had fresh prawn stir-fry in mild spices, a 1/2 pint of Murphy's and got her warm chocolate brownie to go.
Our favorite waitress, teresa was there,
but it was much busier as there was a party of about 30 to 40 people so they also had a few more waiters to help out. We were glad we got there early. I did a picture of us sitting at our table by the end of the bar but someone jiggled my arm so the picture came out all wibbly.
Really. It was not the Murphy's.
We saw the dutch lady from the rose cottage that afternoon and she told us that the lady whose plates that I had bought because she had not come back for them, had returned later and was very sad that they were gone. I was not sad as I had the plates. they were made by a local potter Peter. After dinner we wandered back down to the castle.
Anne's father was having his birthday so there was lots of coming and going of family members till around 10 pm.
I wrote in my/our journal and watched a little news.
Maureen added -all I need to add is - what a fabulous find!! the castle, the beach, the boats, Maryanne's!!
After that I don't know what happened as I went to sleep, happy and content in my comfy bed in my castle in Ireland.
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