A Drive through Connemara

We spent the entire day Friday driving through Connemara.  Lonely Planet describes Connemara as "a succession of seaside hamlets...a kaleidoscope of rusty bogs, lonely valleys, and shimmering black lakes" which is a perfectly apt description.  We had no specific plan but to drive a portion of the Connemara loop and stopping to drool over the vistas whenever we pleased.  Hence, this blog post is primarily pictures!

Just outside Galway, a cemetary was perched right on the ocean

Fields, bogs, little towns....lovely

...and the black lakes Lonely Planet promised.

We stopped to stretch our legs in Roundstone, a little seaside town.

From there it was on towards Clifden, the 'capital' of Connemara, for lunch...and more hamlets and every so often, a castle.

Ruins of a castle...just in the middle of someone's farm

You would think it was the tropics from the color of the water here.

These folks built a house to match their ruins.

Sheep and lambs were plentiful.

Right outside Clifden, we drove the Sky Road (like the High Road on the Dunedin peninsula) and were treated to some spectacular views and a bit o' wind.

A house with a view and some sheep on the front lawn...are we in NZ?

It's so windy..I'm pretty sure I could fly.

Brilliant graffiti

We did make an official 'tourist' stop at Kylemore Abbey.  Kylemore Abbey was originally built by Mitchell Henry for his wife Margaret Henry.  Upon her early death, he built a mini-cathedral on the property in her honor and a mausoleum where both are now buried.  After passing through a few owners, the property ended up in the hands of the Irish Benedictine Nuns who ran a school in addition to their abbey which still exists there today.

Kylemore Abbey sitting on right on the lake

The Cathedral

View from the front of Kylemore Abbey

Inside the cathedral

 On our last few kms before we hit home, Todd pulled over so I could get a picture of logs of peat moss drying in a field.  We saw them all over Connemara in fields and stacked outside homes.

A lovely day exploring Connemara!