Day 4 - Connemara (Galway)

Today was a spectacular day!  Breakfast was eggs and very good brown bread toast and our man Kevin picked us up at 10:00 to whisk us off to the area of Connemara.  The drive really looked like what you expect Ireland to look like – green and rocky and craggy with lots of water and stone walls and sheep.  It looked rainy but it the visibility was alright so it was okay sightseeing weather.  It’s an adventure riding around in a fairly large van as the roads are very narrow and there are usually walls or high shrubs which come right up to the road.  I’m surprised everyone doesn’t sideswipe everyone else but Kevin never seemed worried.  We made a stop at the town of Clifton where we had a cuppa and a pastry and did some looking into shops but were soon back on the road.  Here are some pictures of a place where we pulled off along the sky road including the usual picture of a cow and a rock!

In this film you can get a glimpse of our man Kevin Murphy.

Our major stop was at a place called Kylemore.  I won't bother telling the story.  I'm sure you can find it on the google but it's a good romantic one.  This mansion/castle/house is on one of the most beautiful dramatic settings I've ever seen.  I'm sure it's stunning in the sunlight but the clouds and mist made it seem very medieval.  

A short walk up the hill was this beautiful chapel and, not pictured, a mausoleum.

This is a picture of the sun since we got to see it for a short time.

Up the other hill (a short bus ride) is this magnificent formal garden.  It's hard to represent the fact that it goes down into a sort of gulch and then up hill.  I think only Butchart Gardens in Victoria BC are more impressive that I've seen.

Here is our intrepid gang showing a bit of whimsy waiting for the bus to take us back down the hill.  

We stopped for lunch in a town, the name of which I don't remember, where the movie "The Field" was made.  The bar where it was filmed didn't sell food but the pub next door did.  It was delicious.  The town was at the end of Ireland's only fjord which was filled with mussel farms so of course lunch was seafood chowder (the best of the 5 we've had so far), some raw oysters (extraordinary), a big pot of mussels, fish and chips and brown bread. I took this picture because we suddenly had blue skies which stayed with us the rest of the day.  

Though we had a late lunch we had managed a reservation at a very good seafood restaurant back in Galway so though we weren't nearly hungry we had a spectacular dinner.  I'll post the pictures tomorrow.  It was a great day.  Tomorrow we see the Cliffs of Moher and move on to Kilkenny (I think).  I can't wait.