Day Six- Trip to Connemara, Kylemore Abbey, Cong, and more!

I woke up this morning around 7am. We got ready and got our butts out of the hostel by about 8:15am. While I was waiting for the other girls to finish getting ready, I saw a really cheap pay phone and I had a 1 Euro coin, so I popped it in and hoped that Will would pick up his phone. He did! I got to talk to him for 10 minutes. It was so nice to hear his voice…it was the best start to the day : )

We went and got coffee and a scone for breakfast and then caught our bus. It was a really neat tour. It was in a nice coach bus with speakers so our tour guide taught us all about the places we went. Here are some pictures from where we went:

Peet Bogs- these are the bogs that can preserve bodies, clothes, food almost perfectly if wrapped and sealed airtight. We are going to see some of the bodies found in bogs later this week. The bogs are also a form of fuel called Turf for the Irish. They use it to heat their homes.



Ross Errilly Friary- this friary was built in 1351 and they shot a scene from “Quiet Man” with John Wayne out here. When the tour guide told us about the scene, I got to be the Maureen O’Hara stand in…it was funny and slightly embarrassing!

Fairy fort- Fairy forts are supposedly where fairies/leprechauns are said to hang out. The Celtic lore was really interesting. I want to get a book to learn more!

Stone Circle- Ireland was originally inhabited by a group of Pagans who built these stone circles for their ceremonies.



We stopped in Cong for a little stretch break and to see one of the oldest crosses in Ireland. It was a very quaint town with half-doors and flowers everywhere.



Lough Nafooey- this was one of the most beautiful sights I’ve ever seen. It was absolutely breathtaking! Ireland is incredibly beautiful…I want to come back here next summer and go backpacking and exploring more in the countryside. It was really nice to get off the beaten path.



Kylemore Abbey- this abbey was originally built as a castle for a woman who visited the area and thought it was a pretty landscape. She asked her rich husband to build her a house. He ended up building her this amazing castle. After she died, the husband later sold it to the Duke of Manchester who gave it to his daughter as a wedding present. When the family went into debt from gambling, they lost the castle to the American banks. They then sold the castle to the nuns in 1914 and it was turned into an abbey. In 1920 it became a boarding school for young ladies in Ireland and Europe, but due to lack of interest, the school will shut down in 2012.

Some other sights of our Connemara trip:
-Connemara ponies
-Connemara marble quarry
-Twelve Bens (“Twelve peaks”)
-Killary Fjord

Our adventures out to Connemara, Kylemore, and around lasted from about 10am-6:00pm. It was a long day, but we got to see a lot of the beautiful Irish countryside. We got back into Galway and caught our bus back to Dublin at 7:30pm. I slept for most of the way home. We got back into Dublin at 11:00pm. We made the trek back to campus and then ate some food, went to the computer lab for a little while to chat with friends. It is about 2am and I am wiped out…tomorrow is Book of Kells, Trinity tour, and homework! (and an outing to Temple Bar at night of course)