Am catching up a bit and reporting on Saturday. What a difference a good night's sleep makes! We all felt much better on Saturday morning. After our delicious buffet breakfast, we were on our way to Connemara.
Our first stop was at an Aran wool outlet where we found a variety of woolen goods and other Irish treasures. Next we traveled to the Dan O'Hara Homestead. Dan O'Hara was a tenant farmer during the potato famine and his story if how he and his family had to immigrate during the potato famine is an example of what happened to many families. Dan lost his wife and some of his children on the trip over to the U.S And Dan himself did not have a very good life in America. He tried not very successfully to make a living selling matchsticks and died only a few years after arriving. During out visit we saw what his farm and home would have looked like and learned about life in Ireland in the mid-1800's.
Our visit started off with tea and homemade scones that were delicious! Then we took a tractor pulled enclosed wagon up to see the farm and home. We first got a demo of how the peat is manually cut out of the bogs. It has to dry for 2-3 months before it can used and shrinks considerably since the bogs are 80% water. Peat fires were the way people in Dan O'Hara's time heated their homes. But even now it is still commonly used to supplement modern heat.
We saw the inside of his tiny home, the heart of which was the fire place with the peat fire. Martin, our guide told us stories about Dan O'Hara and families like his during the potato famine. The saddest part was that the landowners who were making money by exporting lots of other crops, did nothing to help their tenants. Martin told wonderful stories and sang is the song about Dan O'Hara. Then we headed back down to board our bus for Kylemore Abbey.
The Kylemore Abbey was originally a castle built by Mitchell Henry for his wife and family. It is nestled on the hillside on Lake Maladrolaun. Tragically Henry's wife died at the age of 45. Henry couldn't bear to have her body buried in the cold ground so he built a mausoleum for her. The home was turned into a Benedictine Nunnery as well as a boarding school for girls. The school was closed in 2010, but the nuns remain at Kylemore.
We had time to see the inside of the Abbey that was furnished with pieces typical of when the Henrys lived there. There was a nice walk along the lake and a few people were able to see the Victorian gardens.
After our visit, we returned to Galway where we had some time to shop or visit a pub before returning to our hotel for dinner.
Will try to post a short report about today(Monday) later today or tomorrow.
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