Galway
Kylemore Castle
We had a two night stop over in Galway having arrived late afternoon on the first night. So we went out the next day to the Connemarra District and went to look at Kylemore Abbey.
Kylemore Abbey was a little over an hour away from our accommodation and the weather was unfortunately rainy. We braved the weather anyway and very much enjoyed visiting the Abbey/Castle. You can find out more information on the Abbey here.
The roads were predominately good and mostly a decent sized two lane road. Some were a bit narrow in places and it you take the route to the Abbey that takes you onto R344 – that part of the road is narrower so you do need to take your time and watch for cars in the other direction etc. The road thats goes more long the coast and through Clifden is wider, but again has narrow bits in places.
We recommend the Abbey as a place to visit. It would be stunning to visit on a day that is sunny so that you could take in the gardens as well, but we opted out of that as it was still raining. The Castle/Abbey and Neo-Gothic Church are worth the time to go through and read the story of the Henry family. There is also a mausoleum with the graves of Mitchell and Margaret Henry. The Church was built by Mitchell in memory of Margaret after her death and was under renovation when we attended but you could still enter the church and look inside. There is also a “wishing stone” or “iron stone” on the property. The Legend is that the stone was thrown from the top of the hill from one enemy to another. You can mke a wish here if you want to.
Galway itself is very much a college town and we didn’t venture into the town itself. However, Galway is known to be difficult to drive around and to find parking, so if you do go into the centre, do your research first. The traffic is particularly bad in the mornings and afternoons at work starting and ending times, and even though we weren’t staying in town, getting back to our accommodation from Kylemore Abbey at 4 in the afternoon took us a long time – in fact at one point google had us at 25 mins to complete our 3.5km remaining journey!
Poulnabrone Dolmen
Poulnabrone Dolmen is a Portel Stone – this is a megalithic monument where the dead were buried. The Portal Stone consists of two side stones, a table top top stone and cap stones that cap the entrances. Poulnabrone Dolmen is easy to get to and is free to enter – at this stage – and is well visited. The Limestone landscape is spectacular as you can see where the limestone boulders have been eroded by water – and you walk on these boulders as you navigate round the portal stone. They are surprising flat but there is crevices that you need ;to be aware of and jump or step over.
We enjoyed visiting this site and it trying is an icon of things from the past. If you would like more information on it click here.
