- Wet and Wild!
- Snap happy on Achill Island
- More of Mayo
- Final fling in Ireland
We have arrived safely back in France – via Barcelona. But before we get to our time in Spain – which was amazing – I still have another Irish adventure to tell you about! Our last day out in Ireland was a stunner! We headed south-west – just crossing into County Galway – to visit Kylemore Abbey. Wow!! What a drive! Our trip took us through some really mountainous countryside, much more than we had anticipated. And as you’ve probably gathered by past posts – we love mountains!! We continuously stopped to take photos – River Erriff, Killary Harbour near the village of Leenaun, Lough Kylemore, before finally arriving at the abbey itself. Interesting history. Mitchell Henry built the abbey as a home for his wife Margaret in 1867 – it was a love thing! It was sold to the Duke of Manchester in 1903 who lost it playing cards, and ended up as a Benedictine monastery in 1920. It sits on 13,000 acres of gardens and forests. Included is a magnificent 5 acre Victorian walled garden with wonderful walkways, a house for the head gardener, a less substantial cottage for the workers, and numerous outbuildings and glasshouses. Interesting to see the different levels of accommodation at Kylemore – opulent to very basic. There is also a gothic Chapel on the property – a miniature of Norwich Cathedral. A choir from New Hampshire, USA, was singing there that afternoon so we went along. It was very inspirational – a real treat. After visiting the abbey we looped north on quite an isolated back road, winding our way along some stark but very beautiful valleys – lots of hiking trails up into the mountains – before arriving at the coastal town of Louisburgh. We stopped at a pub for afternoon tea and spent a great hour talking to Nile – an Irish local. Such a nice guy – we really enjoyed his company.
The next day we drove to Dublin – rained all the way. Our flight to Barcelona left early the next morning. We had a stressful hour trying to find our hotel, finally gave up and returned our hire car and took the hotel shuttle from the airport. It was miles away from where we had been looking! Lack of directions on our paperwork. Note to self – check out location of hotel on google maps before departure!!
Lots of love
Di and Reg
This entry was posted in Europe, Ireland
Wow what a treat! Just loving the photos! The Abbey looks like something out of a fairytale.
Know the feeling of not having adequate directions. We got lost in in Germany trying to find my niece’s home among the small villages. Arrrgh!
Love
Lorraine & John
Yes, definitely Arrrgh!! Thank goodness Reg remains relatively calm – I tend to loose it!!