The drive to Kylemore Abbey was simply stunning. Below a mountain and perched at the shore, I watched, riveted as the white castle in the distance grew closer.
Kylemore Castle / Abbey was built in 1868 as a private home for the Henry family. In 1920, the Irish Benedictine Nuns purchased the Abbey castle and lands after they were forced to flee Ypres, Belgium during World War I.
The construction of the castle began in 1867, and took the total of one hundred men and four years to complete. The castle covered approximately 40,000 square feet and had over seventy rooms with a principal wall that was two to three feet thick. The facade measures 142 feet in width and is made of granite brought from Dalkey by sea to Letterfrack and from limestone brought from Ballinasloe.
There were 33 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, 4 sitting rooms, a ballroom, billiard room, library, study, school room, smoking room, gun room and various offices and domestic staff residences for the butler, cook, housekeeper and other servants. Other buildings include a Gothic cathedral and family mausoleum containing the bodies of Margaret Henry, Mitchell Henry.
You know me well enough by now to know that I’m not one for spending much time inside when there are grounds to wander and the Estate includes large walled Victorian Gardens.
We took a small break for an exceptionally decadent lunch of sharing a sandwich, chips, desserts, wine and fair amount of goofing off before hiking the grounds toward the gothic Cathedral.
The grounds alone are worth the trip and I could wander them forever.
Gothic Church
In 1874, Mitchell Henry Family holidayed in Egypt – an exotic and popular destination in Victorian times.
Sadly, tragedy struck on the River Nile. Margaret contracted dysentery and died sixteen days later. She was beautiful, 45 years old and a mother of nine. “It is not our mistress we have lost, but our mother” said one tenant as the distraught Mitchell had Margaret’s body embalmed and brought back to Connemara so that she could be laid to rest at her beloved Kylemore. Henry could not bear the thought of having her lie in the cold ground of a foreign country. Mitchell immediately set about building a cathedral-in-miniature in memory of his wife Margaret. The beautiful gothic church is a testament of his love for Margaret.
As if our day wasn’t already gluttonously full with what would take me weeks to fully digest, we pressed onward to board a cruise to tour the Killary Fjord.
Killary Harbor Wishing tree. For centuries, this ancient celtic custom has remained. People have tied ribbons or pieces of cloth to the “rag trees” or wishing trees. These are almost always a Hawthorn tree. It is believed that if you tie a piece of cloth from a garment of someone who is ill, having a problem or a ribbon with a wish, that the illness or problem will disappear and a wish come to pass, as the cloth rots away. I wished that my journey would find me here again. (But, I don’t know how long it takes to rot a ribbon and I’m the impatient kind so I’ll be buying a darn plane ticket)
Touring the Fjord
During the 1.5 hours sailing the 10 mile Fjord, we had drinks, took in the gorgeous views and Clay had cooked mussels, freshly harvested from a mussel farm on the Fjord.
We stood outside at the very front of the boat, drinking in the beauty and cool breeze when Clay leaned out over the rail, arms raised and yelled, (I crap you not) ” I’m King Of The World!” (Titanic movie reference) He’s such a goob. There it is…why I love the man.
Beautiful. Makes me want to travel more than I do!
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As soon as possible….do it! Life is short, experience the world, make it life an adventure, dare to dream! It’s more attainable than you may think.
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How magnificent!! The architecture of the castle and the landscape is stunning!!
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Oh it truly is! Ireland is simply magical in its beauty, history, architecture….
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I need to start figuring out how to make enough money to travel..lol
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We planned in well in advance. We used smart tours. Put a small down payment, and paid a bit every month. It only has to be paid off 2 weeks before departure. 2 weeks, nearly 2000 mile tour around Ireland, includes airfare, tour, all 4-5 star hotels and most meals for $2500 each person. Look them up and start planning in advance. Maybe put your down payment now and make payments for next summer? Late august is a fantastic time to go!
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That’s not a bad price. Time to start thinking and planning
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Yes!!!!
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Great photos, they took me back to my visit. 🙂
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Its wonderful there. I truly wish to go back again and again.
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I loved Connemara and also Bantry Bay in County Cork. 🙂
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From this poinf, we were heading more in that direction. Our guide, Paul Kealy actually lived in Cork.
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The history is amazing and the pictures are breath taking, thank you for sharing! I shall pray for a trip like this 😊🙏🏽
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Do it! Plan it in advance, put a small down payment and payoff over the months or year. $ 2,500 includes: airfare, 2 weeks touring nearly 2000 miles around Ireland and all the places we’ve seen, all 4-5 star hotel accommodations and almost all meals. Just do it! If you dont tale the leap, you never will.
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Wow! That doesn’t sound bad at all! That’s amazing! My mom just went to South Africa and it was about $2,000.
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It was anazing! All the ireland posts I’ve been doing was all part of that 2 week , near 2000 mile tour of ireland. I dream of ot still with longing. Trip of a lifetime!
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Awe! I’m sure! That’s amazing! It’s is absolutely a trip of a lifetime. I can imagine all the beauty that it holds. So happy for you Laura.
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The drive there through the Twelve Bens is spectacular too. I loved the walled garden but some of the trees outside it were amazing. I could have spent absolute hours examining the different barks!
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Oh yes, the outside grounds you could just get lost in…in a good way
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