This morning we set off from Westport into the wilds of Connemara, a region of western Ireland strewn liberally with mountains, lakes, waterfalls, and dramatic coastline. Our ultimate destination is Galway, but we’re taking the scenic route to get there. Prior to getting in the car, we had to fortify ourselves with a visit to the town’s tea house, which the girls had been eyeing the day before. It proved to be an excellent breakfast spot and a wonderful bakery (so that some members of the party purchased breakfast desserts for themselves).
Our first stop was Kylemore Abbey, a beautifully maintained manor house sitting on the edge of a lake in the most stunning setting imaginable. In addition to the house itself, there’s a 6-acre walled Victorian garden and lovely grounds surrounding it. We started our visit at the paddock, to meet the resident Connemara ponies during feeding time. (This may have been Nadia’s favorite part of the day.) Interestingly, the gardens were about 1.5 kilometers from the house, but it was a very pleasant walk through woodlands and along the lake. The ponies did not disappoint, and the gardens were amazing — a mixture of very manicured English garden, woodland walks featuring more natural landscapes like ferns, and kitchen gardens that grow produce for the complex.
The house itself was almost a mini-museum, covering the history of the place from its construction through to the present day. It began its life as an aristocratic home, but eventually transitioned to being a Benedictine abbey. Nuns still live here today. It also served as a school until remarkably recently — the doors closed in 2010. We were all trying to imagine what it would be like getting to live here. On our way out we had some snacks at the excellent cafeteria. (We’ve found that all the tourist attractions here actually seem to have good quality restaurants, unlike what you’d find at home.)
Our next stop was only 15 minute away — a welcome respite for Nadia, who has been getting motion sickness amidst all the winding narrow lanes. Connemara National Park isn’t on the scale that you’d see for a US national park — there’s just one parking lot and a few trails — but it gets no complaints from us. We hiked a 6.5 km loop up a mountain that we’d been able to see towering above the Abbey (they all it “Diamond Hill” here but having climbed it, I definitely feel that it is a mountain). The hike was a challenging one — the last couple kilometers, in particular, were extremely vertical — but the views throughout were amazing. There’s not a lot of forest here, so we were able to see the spectacular scenery throughout our ascent. When we eventually reached the top (after several false summits), we had 360 degree views around the landscape, from the rolling hills in one direction to the rugged coastline in the other. Those of us who are regular hikers immediately moved it into our top 5 lists.
It only remained for us to make our way down to Galway. I’d read about taking the “Sky Road” for its beautiful scenery, so we set off in that direction — which likely proved to be a mistake. The scenery was indeed striking, but the narrow two-way road required us to stressfully squeak by other cars with centimeters to spare, and occasionally back up down the lane in order to find a slightly wider area. Bob got stuck driving this leg and was in no mood to appreciate the scenery; nor was Nadia, with her motion sickness. Fortunately we soon emerged back on the main road.
We made one last stop at the seaside village of An Spidéal for dinner, close to Galway. I’d read about this as a worthwhile spot to visit, but we didn’t find a whole lot there. Zoe would have happily gone for another swim at the beach, but with the general mood we decided to stick with just dinner.
It was a good thing too, as our arrival in Galway was a bit stressful. We’re staying at a lovely apartment right on Galway Bay in the little town of Salthill. We had some struggles with finding the parking area (counterpoint: when we eventually did find it, it proved to be both very convenient and free), with locating the building (for some reason we were only provided with the street name, not a number — fortunately the photo of the outside saved us), and with getting into the apartment (with no instructions provided on where the key would be). But eventually we overcame these hurdles and settled in to appreciate our expansive ocean views.
