Bogs, castles, and a lot of rhododendrons and sheep!

 I was raining when we go up this morning, but that was OK, because it gave us the opportunity to enjoy our first true Irish breakfast in our lovely inn.

  We even ordered one with fresh mackerel (instead of the traditional blood pudding and sausages), because we saw the fisherman bring the fish from the boat yesterday evening, and fish that fresh should be enjoyed - even for breakfast.  It was delicious!

 By the time we were done, the rain had stopped, and although the day remained grey, it was nice enough to enjoy everything we had planned.  The tide was very low when we left, completely changing the view in front of the hotel.

We started with Connemara National Park welcome center, and took short walks around:  this does not do justice to the vast park.  To do that, we would have to stay a week, pack a tent and really go hiking.  Which does sound lovely.....  but not this time.

Still, we did take in some glorious sights, enjoyed foals frolicking in meadows, and admired a wide array of almost tropical flowers and mosses in the bog. (see end of blog for flowers).

 We then went on to Kylemore Abbey, one of the most famous castles in Ireland (and now an abbey, run by Benedictine nuns).  It was build relatively recently for something so decadent - 1874.  A rich dude, who really liked his wife and 9 children  (REALLY liked the wife apparently) bought the land and had the castle built because she like Connemara.

 It ended rather sadly when she died early while traveling in Egypt.  So he built a mini gothic cathedral on the property in her memory and a lovely mausoleum.










 The entire property is just beautiful, but I particularly enjoyed the walled Victorian gardens,

  including a vegetable patch to drool over....

Also, the rhododendrons, covering entire hills, where magnificent (but apparently a bit of a problem: there can be too much of a good thing and the are in the process of cutting down a lot of them). I was surprised by  how busy the Abbey was, on a random Thursday in May- in fact, I have been surprised by the amount of tourists everywhere:  there are significantly more German and French people then Irish people around here (and a not insignificant number of Americans too).  It must get completely crazy in the high season- particularly on these narrow roads...

Speaking of which, we continued north, to the little town of Westport, and the Westport House - another extravagant castle built relatively recently on a pretty pond.  The property is now a county park, and many local people are there walking their dogs, and enjoying the sights.
What made the trip to Westport really worth it though was the drive back on the scenic route (that follows the ocean and then cuts across the hills to the Killary Fjord (the only true fjord in Ireland).
That road is even narrower than the one we took on the way up, which is honestly hard to believe.  On most of the road, the speed limit is 100km/hr - which is just UNBELIEVABLE!  Joe and I figured that it can only be either:
1)  a joke
2) a challenge
3) a way to get rid of the surplus of tourists
I don't think we ever went faster then 75km/hr and only for very small stretches of road.  It's not just narrow, it has all kind of other features that make it.... let's call it interesting....

 The most obvious one is of course that you have to drive on the wrong side...  but then, there are the tour buses that careen straight at you on roads just wide enough for them, the bicyclists that you have to pass, the sheep that wander on the road and seem particularly fond of blind curves - and of course, the blind curves themselves.

 If this is a game (maybe it is?), Joe suggested he should get extra points for narrow bridges with walls on each side, and blind curves right before and after.  And also for not having killed the many adorable lambs that wandered on our path......

 But, as I said, the scenery was just magnificent, the little lambs adorable (and tasty looking....), and we made it back!

Another nice dinner in town (at Michael's sea food, whose fish pie indeed was great), and we are packing up and heading to the Aran islands tomorrow.


More pictures of flowers, sheep and a nice bird too.......