Spiddal Pier on Galway Bay
After the quick stop in Spiddal, we continued on toward our major destination: Kylemore Abbey. Our bus driver, Paul, was the same man who had taken us to the Cliffs of Moher in January and he was even better the second time around. He knows literally everything there is to know about Irish history, geography, culture, etc. He also sings and tells jokes and really makes the trip an enjoyable experience rather than boringly droning on like most other drivers tend to do. Paul is a big fan of stopping at places that have breathtaking views and encouraging us to quickly take pictures, or, as he says, "Get your ass off, take your pictures, and get your ass back on. Let's go." Of course, Paul speaks with a lovely Irish brogue and is probably one of the few people I'd move quickly for who had told me to "move my ass." So, a lot of the stops that we made during the trip weren't at anywhere particularly significant. They were just incredibly beautiful.
To die for, right? Some of the scenery didn't even look real, the pictures came out like people had been photoshopped into them or something. The weather was also fabulous, warm enough to go without a coat and plenty of sunshine. Hopefully this means Spring is well on its way!
As we continued toward the abbey, we stopped to view some remnants of the famine that plagued Ireland in the nineteenth century. Prior to the trip, I had a vague idea what had happened; a fungus had caused potatoes to go bad and consequentially, the Irish starved and many deaths were caused. However, Paul gave us a more detailed history, explaining how the population had decreased from over 8 million people to 2.1 million due to emigration and death from starvation. Today, Ireland has a population of around 4 million, still not recovered from the tragedy that occurred over a century ago. During the famine, the government was desperate to aid those impoverished individuals who did not have the means to grow crops besides potatoes or emigrate to a new country. So, public works projects were created to help them have some sort of income. Men built roads and stonewalls, called famine roads or walls, that literally led to nowhere; it was just to give them labor to do. We stopped alongside the road in the village of Rosmuc, where the famine walls still stand, serving no purpose at all.
With all the stops that had been made, we arrived at Kylemore Abbey in Letterfrack. We had two hours to spend there in which we were to eat lunch and see the grounds. The abbey had originally been owned by an English politician who purchased the land to build a holiday home. The man was Mitchell Henry, and he, his wife, and his son are all buried in a mausoleum near the chapel that Henry had erected after his wifes untimely passing. Besides the Neo-Gothic chapel and mausoleum, the grounds also feature the abbey and Victorian gardens. The abbey was originally a castle for the Mitchell family, but it was converted in 1920 and has remained so ever since. It is huge, with over 70 rooms, including 33 bedrooms. Nice "holiday" home, huh? The abbey has served as a boarding school, a day school, and now permanently serves as a Benedictine monastery and must-see destination of Western Ireland.
So, while I would like to say that I ate lunch, saw the gardens, visited the abbey, said a prayer in the church, got creeped out by the mausoleum, and went back to the bus, that would not be entirely true - the day did not go without incident. Now, if for whatever reason someone is reading this that doesn't know me too well, you must be informed that I am not the most graceful person. I trip up stairs, drop a lot of things, and fall at random times. Since I've been in Ireland, I have not had any major moments of being a klutz...until Saturday. While taking pictures by the riverbank, I stepped back for a moment to fix my hair because it was out of control and I wanted to make sure it looked fabulous if the photos were to end up on Facebook, and, let's be serious, they always end up on Facebook. So, I stepped back and felt one leg slip and before I knew it, I was falling backward down the bank. It was about a three foot drop, and luckily, the river wasn't very high so I fell on rocks and dirt. When I landed, I heard the gasps of people who had seen me fall (thankfully, there was not too big of a crowd), and a couple of girls jumped down to see if I was okay. I told them I was fine, and that this is my life, I was not surprised that something like that had happened. I had dirt everywhere and pebbles in my hair, but my camera and bag were safe and dry, so I was alright...worse things could have happened. I felt that I handled it well, I didn't get too embarrassed as I am used having such instances occur on a regular basis. My friend Carly told me that I was even funny, after the fall my first words were "Is this a joke?" Too bad it wasn't...
Anyway, I figured you would all get a laugh out of that. Besides the riverbank disaster, the day went without any other incident and we headed back to Galway after the visit to Kylemore Abbey. All things considered, it was a good day with less sightseeing and more landscape than usual, but the weather was perfect and the pictures were great. The next day, I took a trip to the Aran Islands with Lindsay, my roommate Shannah, and our friend Jitka, but I'll save that for another post.
Love and being klutzy,
Haley
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