Ireland Day 9 - Connemara

It seems like we pack a lot in to one day out here...

I forgot to mention that the previous day was nothing but bright sunshine from morning to night. This day, however, started off pouring rain. We decided then instead of exploring Galway, we would head to the second aquarium of our trip! This one was much larger but not quite as impressive, although the girl who worked at the desk was from Bowmanville spending a year working in Ireland. She offered up a lot of good Dublin advice and we have a lot of notes saved in our phones of places to eat and visit, and areas to avoid.

It wasn't long before we reached Connemara county, but it felt like we landed on a different planet. The geography was totally different than anything we've seen so far; low rolling hills of rock, peat bogs and not much else. There were times when we would drive a half hour before seeing a tree. The area is also covered with lakes and with the morning's rainfall, roaring rivers. This is clearly the fishing capitol of the island, as along the way there were numerous signs for victorian castles-turned-pricey fishing resorts.

The story here is clearly the peat. The rivers run almost black, and along the way could be seen numerous peat 'trenches' where machines literally drive down the bog and pull out bricks of almost pure peat. I couldn't help but think of Irish whiskey, as Jameson does mention it proudly uses "Connemara Peat" to fuel its fires.

The towns on the road around the county looked almost Labrador-esque if that makes any sense. Small white cottages, often with thatched roofs, peppered across a very rocky landscape where only a few shrubs and lichen survives. Unlike the green cliffs to the south, here the land seems to gently flow in the sea and massive tidal zones marked every coastline.

We wound our way around en route to the night's destination and made a stop at Kylemore Abbey which Sarah will attest to being the most beautiful place she's ever seen. The abbey sits in a mountain valley where springs from the peaks run clear rivers and waterfalls all around to the lake below. The photos sadly can not do justice to the feeling of standing in the shadow of the building or walking the long path along the lake to the miniature gothic cathedral.

Amazingly enough, the rain let up as we arrived and by the time we were walking the grounds the sun was shining again. Ireland has a way of telling us where to be, and when it rains we've learned to just press on. It was difficult to leave such a beautiful place but we were still a ways off from Westport and they were closing for the day.

The mountain roads back inland and upwards were challenging to drive as sheep thought the narrow roadways a wonderful place to nap. Once again, around every bend was another beautiful photo opportunity but we've started to use the camera less and less because, once again, if we stopped everything we were taken aback by the landscape we would never get anywhere.

We had plenty of time to 'shop' for proper lodging in Westport, and ended up treating ourself a bit. Being Saturday night, the prices jump, but we used our charms on a nice lady behind the counter at a resort/spa and got a room with full access to facilities for far less than they wanted to charge for a dingy room in the city centre. And worry not; we made full use of the leisure zone!