Actually the first two days were mostly traveling. Day three the real fun began. Up for breakfast at 7am and on the coach at 8:30. (There were optional tours, this was one of them and well worth the extra bucks)!
We began our day with a boat ride on the Lough Corrib, Irelands premier fishing lake. We visited the former gothic mansion of Mitchell Henry, now Kylemore Abbey and home to the Benedictine nuns. They still have students but have opened the Abbey to tourist for financial reasons. The Victorian Gardens were to die for.
We enjoyed the Connemara region of Galway. Galway was my very favorite of the 14 days!! Once home to over 2 million Irish, it still retains its regional heritage as we discovered enjoying the lakes, mountains and bog lands. The ruins still remain and what really amazed me is the land remains with the family and they have returned to claim their land and built new homes right next to the ruins.
On our return we traveled the Inagh Valley to the coast where we visited the deserted village of Clough Na Mara and really discovered a sense of hardship the Irish experienced in the 18th & 19th centuries. I have never seen so many rocks and miles of miles of low rock walls. We were told that they would eat up to 14#s of potatoes a day as that is all they had and when the blight hit the ones that survived left.
More tomorrow!!!
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