IRELAND’S CONNEMARA REGION
After narrowly avoiding the destruction of Hurricane Ophelia back in 2017, my best friend and I excitedly arrived at the Connemara National Park in Ireland’s western County Galway.

“Connemara” refers to the Connemara National Park as much as it does the entire region, which is largely a Gaeltacht. In Gaeltacht districts, the residents mostly speak Irish, and the local dialect here is called Connacht Irish.

We had rented a room in Dublin a few days prior from a strange old woman in a house that was convincingly haunted by her trickster ex-husband.  She stumbled in three sheets to the wind long after we had already gone to bed one night and insisted we get up and chat with her.

We were not able to understand much of her intoxicated slurring except that “the people of Connemara, they’re weird.” She went on to explain that the Connemara region is the most traditional, back country part of Ireland and the people remain set apart from the rest of society. She claims they just look different and that she can spot them a mile away.

I began to understand her after comparisons to the Hasidic, Amish, and other communities in the US that are known for distinct manners of speech, dress, transportation, religious beliefs, and other aspects of life.

Ultimately, we did not encounter anyone in Connemara that seemed “weird” by her definition, and I was a bit disappointed because I have developed a certain appreciation for those types.

CONNEMARA NATIONAL PARK
The park itself was only a few moments’ drive from the Letterfrack Lodge where we had spent the previous night. It was opened to the public in 1980 and boasts nearly 5,000 acres.

Popular activities include hiking, hill walking, biking on designated trails, camping, picnicking, and following the Tree Trail and Poetry Trail for a bit of culture and history. Part of the Twelve Bens mountain range, especially the highest peak in County Galway called Benbaun, are a major feature of the park.

Driving through Connemara is like being inside a virtual reality game.

Every few miles the scene would change; from black volcanic mountains with great billows of fog and steam puffing out of the tops to broad desert sand dunes with pyramid-like peaks in the distance; from lush green meadowland brimmed with sheep to iridescent pavement veering off seemingly straight into the ocean.

We kept stopping to look around in amazement and I kick myself for not taking more photos, but we were just taking it all in.

The best part was being able to casually hang my arm out the window of the car and graze the backs of cute little sheep standing in the road.

I have never visited a landscape so surreal in all of my life. This song was on repeat in my head because it suits the vibe perfectly:

We noticed some excavation sites for the region’s famous green marble that has been largely commercialized by The Connemara Marble company.

Connemara Kitchen is another ubiquitous local brand for everything whiskey-flavoured, from caramels and toffee to fudge, licorice, and more. Treat yourself to some of these items while in the area.

There are many villages along the Connemara Loop plus numerous monolith structures, abbey ruins, bogs, tombs, and other mystical places of intrigue.

I found this video on Youtube that does not belong to me, but really shows the diverse landscape:

KYLEMORE ABBEY
For us, the main attraction in Connemara was the Kylemore Abbey.

Wealthy British doctor turned politician, Mitchel Henry, built the Kylemore Castle in the heart of Connemara in the late 1800s, and for that time it was mindbogglingly futuristic.

Henry had married the love of his life, Margaret, and they had several children.

Shortly after the castle was finished, the family went on a vacation to Egypt where Margaret caught dysentery and passed away suddenly. Henry built a mausoleum for her and the two remain buried together there today.

A few years after Margaret passed, Henry built a neo-gothic church in her honour.  It appears as though his intention was for the two of them to be buried below it but their bodies never left the mausoleum.

We learned that Henry was not merely a rich doctor who turned to politics to advance himself. Despite being British born, he claimed solely Irish blood and devoted his career to improving the lives of the Irish poor.

He purchased this land when it was miles and miles of bog wasteland and invested in developing the property and sponsoring developments by others living in Connemara.

Henry also provided jobs, lodging, education, and food from the gardens for his neighbours who were hardly recovering from famines.

Returning to the Abbey, we took the lower path along the water instead of the main one directly in front of it.

The Abbey contains some 60 rooms, over half of which are bedrooms, as well as a library, smoking room, drawing room, and others but serves as a museum.

We admired the lovely marbled mantels and crown molding in the first few rooms, but it became too hot and stuffy inside so we moved on.

In 1920, a group of Belgian nuns purchased the property long after Henry had gone back to England. The nuns had fled Belgium after their abbey was bombed in World War I, and this new land suited them perfectly.

Since 2010, the school has been closed but the nuns have new programs in the works.

A 5-10 minute walk to the church will take you alongside the Kylemore Lake with views of the Connemara Mountains, accompanied by waterfalls, wood-carved seating, and manicured shrubbery.

At Kylemore’s entry gate, there is a trolley station that comes around every ten minutes, and the trolley will take you directly to the Victorian Walled Gardens.

The gardens that sustained the community in the 1800s are just as vibrant and lively today.

Spanning around six acres, the garden is divided by a creek just west of center, with a lime kiln, glasshouses, propagation houses, tool sheds, and other features.

After leaving the four main walls and taking a long shaded walk through the forest, it leads back around to the garden entrance.

We ordered quiche, rocket salad, cinnamon beets, and lattes for lunch at the café on the hill just outside the garden. The trolley stops for about an hour mid-day so it was excellent timing.

Once the trolley took us back to the main entrance, we spent about an hour in the massive artisan gift shop, with a large amount of goods created by the nuns and local artists.

We joked that we had been sedated with something in the rocket salad after feeling drowsy, happy, and relaxed, but it was just the serenity of Kylemore Abbey.

In the area for a while? Follow me to the Burren National Park, Doolin, and the Cliffs of Moher!

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