Connemara and Cong

Today wasn't spent in Galway, it was spent on bus tour through Connemara and Cong.

IT WAS FANTASTIC!

The tour picked us up at 9:45am and was supposed to return at 5:30...We didn't get back until 7pm. We started our tour at Kylmore Abbey. It was beautiful! The house, castle, was built in 1870 by Mitchell Henry. He built it for his wife and our guide said he had more money than sense since he built a house for a woman. In any case the house is now owned by nuns. The nuns are slowly restoring the place, since it was allowed to fall into ruin and they are doing a wonderful job. We got to tour the victorian gardens, and a few rooms in the house, and the gothic church.

We spent a total of two hours at Kylemore Abbey and it seemed like minutes. From there we drove through Connemara and saw a whole lot of sheep...and Connemara marble. The scenery is gorgeous! We saw Lough Nafooey and another lake, narrowly made it across a few bridges and saw The Quiet Man Bridge. For those of you who haven't seen The Quiet Man, go rent it NOW!

From there we drove to Cong and we were given the option of walking to Ashford Castle or walking around the town. I chose the town. It was all you'd expect from an Irish village. I even took a picture of a thatched cottage with an old man walking in front of it.

I walked through Cong Abbey, taking picutres of the high crosses, as you do, and all the while falling in love with this part of Ireland. After waiting for five people who didn't understand the meaning of forty-five minutes, we got on the road again, heading for Ross Errilly Friary. Along the way we see more of the countryside, sheep, and lakes. The friary is gorgeous! We walked all through it, taking more pictures. I'm pretty sure I have 650 left on my memory card. That sould be enough.After the friary, we headed back to Galway.

Everything today was incredibly beautiful and I'm actually sad that I will leave Galway tomorrow. Not horribly sad though!