The West Coast

 Another day - we drove from Enniskillen to Lough Erne for a cruise to Devenish Island. Here stand the ruins of a monastery founded by St Molaise in the 6th century, a perfectly preserved round tower standing 82 ft high dominates the sky. Then onward to Sligo and the town of Drumcliffe. At the parish church here lies the grave of W.B. Yeats, and the headstone reads “Cast a cold eye on Life, on Death horseman pass by”. Then a 2 hour drive with rain bucketing down to Galway. Had Galway Bay mussels for entree tonight.

This morning we visited Celtic Crystal, a small family business creating hand crafted piece, and watched a demonstration by a craftsman. Then on to Connemara, the beautiful mountains and valleys via Inagh Valley. Our destination was Kylemore Abbey. Built by Mitchell Henry in the late 1800’s, it was sold to Benedictine nuns in 1920. There is a magnificent walled garden as well as a neo gothic church. It is now a major tourist attraction. We had the famed apple pie and custard and spent two and half hours wandering the estate, saw Connemara Ponies.

Then to Killary Fjord, where during World War II both German U-boats and British took shelter (Ireland remained neutral during the War). Back in Galway, after dinner we went into the city area to seek out some Irish music in a pub. It was lively and lots of fun.