The Heart of Ireland

Travel vlog #31 | Co Roscommon, Ireland | Filmed December 2021 to January 2022

After Spain, we flew to Ireland to spend the holidays with Avic's brother, his Irish wife, and her family. Even though we're not directly family, we've always been treated like family there and we always love spending time with them in this beautiful country.

Most of our Irish Family, including Avic's brother, lives in their hometown of Elphin in County Roscommon. Located in the western province of Connacht, Roscommon has a long and rich history that includes Irish Kings and Queens, an ancient festival that became Halloween, a church founded by St. Patrick, and a great castle and estate.

While we've been to Ireland many times, there's always something new to explore and learn!

References
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republi...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elphin,...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross_o...
https://www.rathcroghan.ie/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rathcro...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connacht
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Medb
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/tr...
https://cavesofireland.com/home/caves...
https://www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2020/10...
https://www.history.com/topics/holida...
https://www.history.com/topics/hallow...
https://www.kilronancastle.ie/history/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kilrona...
Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry, Volume 2
https://books.google.com.tr/books?id=...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_Ac...)

Image Attributions:
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https://maps.princeton.edu/catalog/st...
By Ceoil - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...
By Andreas F. Borchert, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...
By Dixou - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...
By Tinynanorobots - CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...

Music Attributions:
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The Rocky Road to Dublin - Instrumental
   • The Rocky Road to Dublin - Instrumental  
Uilleann Pipes & Guitar. Calum Stewart & Heikki Bourgault
   • Uilleann Pipes & Guitar.  Calum Stewart & ...  
Samahain Song
   • Samhain Song  
Saara Sutinen-Samhain song
   • Saara Sutinen-Samhain song  
Cooley's - Maid Behind the Bar - Two Irish Reels - RAPALJE Celtic Folk Music
   • Cooley's - Maid Behind the Bar - Two Irish...  

About Us:
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We are Matt and Avic; Matt grew up in Virginia, USA, and Avic in Quezon City, Philippines. Since we started dating back in the 1990s, travel has been a major part of our relationship.

By May of 2021, both of our sons were out on their own and we were fully vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus. We decided to quit our jobs, sell our house, get rid of most of our stuff (store the rest), and set out on a Nomadic Life.

“Explore Tayo” means “let’s explore” in Taglish (blended Tagalog-English.) “Tayo” is the inclusive “we” vs the exclusive “kami." This isn’t just OUR journey, we want to include everyone who watches our videos or visits our site so we hope you will hit "like" and "subscribe" and come along for the ride!

  / exploretayo  
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00:00 Intro
00:30 Elphin
03:15 Celtic Roscommon
04:42 Oweynagat
07:00 Our Life in Elphin
07:43 Carrick on Shannon
08:27 Kilronan Castle