What is the best day trip from Athlone?
Clonmacnoise, about 30 minutes south, and one of the great early Christian sites of Ireland. St Ciarán founded the monastery around 548 on the Shannon, and what survives is a riverside city of small churches, two round towers and carved stones, including the Cross of the Scriptures and hundreds of early grave slabs. Go in the morning before the groups arrive, take the site slowly, and be back in Athlone for lunch, with the castle for the afternoon. Galway tempts as the alternative at 65 minutes by motorway, and it is a fine trip, but Clonmacnoise is the one that belongs to Athlone: the same river, the older story.
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