Kylemore Abby

On our last day on the west coast, we drove up the coast to through some "mountains" up to see Kylemore Abby. It is near Letterfreck and quite pretty. Kylemore castle was built 1867-1871 by Mitchell and Maragret Henry. The grounds have a Victorian walled garden, castle, and Gothic church. It set on a small lake in the mountain side which makes it quite picturesque. It became the home of the Irish Benedictine Nuns since 1920. The gardens are quite nice and it would be lovely to spend a good part of an afternoon there having a picnic enjoying the sun sitting on one of the many benches.

Aran Islands

Since the weather was so wonderful, we decided to go to the Aran Islands. R and I looked through the guide book and talked about what we wanted to see. We also decided that spending the whole day on the island probably would be too much for K. So, we took the ferry in the afternoon and then started hiking. And hiking. And hiking. We managed to see two of the 4 historical sites that we wante to see. We got back by the town 30 minutes before the ferry left to go back to the mainland and did a blitz shopping. Gotta have time for shopping...

Cliffs of Moher

Yep, this means yet more pictures. And there is even one attempt at a self portrait of the three of us. :)

Since we were on the west coast, I decided that R and K should see the Cliffs of Moher. I had seen them before and have posted pictures before but this visit was different because the visitor centre is now finished. I know that doesn't seem like it should make a difference, but it does. It does because they also expanded where you can go, and therefore you can get a better view of the cliffs. Overall, I like that you can now see a bit more of the cliffs.

West Coast

I know I came back from Galway a while ago, but I am still posting pictures. :) These are of the west coast of Ireland. While in Galway, we drove through the Burren to the Cliffs of Moher (I'll post them separately), Connemara, and a bit further north. It is amazing how much the land changes along the coast, especially since Ireland is such a small country. Small, but very varied.