When this is all over, look for us in Connemara
Perhaps when we recover our true life, the one that carries the word freedom as a flag, what the body asks of us is to intoxicate ourselves with beauty. get drunk on immense landscapes with which to get excited. Running, jumping, laughing and breathing air so pure that it swells our lungs to the limit. And to do so, we set course for the west coast of Ireland, there where they extend and face some of the most evocative landscapes of the country; We set course for Connemara.
Once you take the road, the beauty of the landscapes will surprise you at every turn
POINT
To launch ourselves to discover the overwhelming beauty of this region, the ideal would be to have as base camp the lively city of Galway, gateway to and from one of Ireland's most authentic lands.
Inspecting it as it deserves will mean that we take that brave little step and encourage ourselves to rent a car with which to move at our ease. For the less daring, yes, there will always be the most recommended excursions that the company Lallytours , a veteran in this guided tours, offers daily. Once on the road, there will be no going back.
And there won't be because just a few kilometers from Galway itself, the landscape, green meadows first, of big mountains after, will start to catch us without control.
Concentrate this old earth Rural Ireland at its finest: the most deeply rooted culture, already disappeared from many other areas of the country, remains strong here thanks to the fact that history and its people have fought to achieve it. And it is that Connemara is a Gaeltacht region. Namely, Gaelic remains their first language.
The flutes and violins of traditional irish music, songs that tell of legends and fables of ancient Ireland passed down orally for centuries. Meanwhile, we will gently turn the steering wheel, curve by curve, through the winding roads that are lost between mountains. The wonderful thing about this road trip will be being able to stop whenever the body asks us to.
The Blackface will be part of your trip
And it will happen. Many more times than we can imagine. We will look for a space on the shoulder to park for a few minutes and go out to face postcards that, being so perfect, seem to have been drawn especially for us.
The peat bogs, from which tons of charcoal are obtained each year, will make an appearance. The rounded shapes of mountains will sometimes become steep crags. On occasion, even the white of snow will paint its summits. Oscar Wilde already said: "Connemara is wildly beautiful" . And how right he was.
When we want to realize it, we will have reached one of those mythical stops in the region. Because Connemara, too, has much related to the cinema: such emblematic films have been shot here as The Quiet Man by John Wayne. Precisely when advancing along the N59, shortly before reaching Lake Bofin, it will appear on our left. the famous stone bridge where one of the scenes in the film takes place. The picture is well worth a few minutes.
FJORD IN VIEW
Although the landscapes will capture all our attention, there is no doubt that other nice friends will steal the spotlight from time to time. They will be the mythical Blackface, those Irish sheep with white fur and black heads that swarm the mountains and valleys of the country and whose fur is spray-colored by farmers —pink, blue, green…— to differentiate them from the neighbor's.
The waters of Killary Fjord are used for mussel farming
we will reach the small village of Leenane to let ourselves be conquered, once again, by its surroundings. Just two intersecting streets, a handful of houses and a pub, Gaynor's, where you can stop for a typical Irish Coffee to warm up. Across the narrow road killary fjord wait.
There will be no choice but get closer to the feet of its crystal clear waters to see the mountains and the sky reflected as if it were a mirror. It will be incredible to think that, thousands of years ago, the entire area was covered in ice to the point that it would have been possible to walk on it all the way to Norway.
A legend tells that it was the devil himself who, dragging San Roque by a chain, created the fjord that today meanders between mountains and that it stretches from Leenane, and for 16 kilometers, to the unruly Atlantic. Just a few meters away are the beautiful aasleag waterfalls, a walk more than justified.
The N59 splits in two at this point: we will decide to continue along the road that turns towards the coast. Bordering the Killary we will see how its waters are used today to mussel farming, one of the star products of the region.
In this family mussel farm you can learn about the process of cultivating these molluscs by visiting a raft
And to learn everything on the subject, nothing like visiting Simon, who has been living precisely from this job since 1989. In his family farm of blue shell mussels —Killary Fjord Shellfish— not only can know the cultivation process of these molluscs visiting a raft, you can also taste the product, freshly caught from the depths of the Killary, in the best of company.
Moving forward on our journey, the time will come to reach one of the great treasures of this inhospitable land: Connemara National Park, that with the Atlantic on one side and the mythical mountains of Twelve Bens on the other, augurs great surprises.
A GIFT, A CASTLE
When we think that Ireland cannot offer us more beautiful experiences, we will see. The Kylemore Abbey It will appear on the other side of Lake Pollacappul as if it were a mirage. And then we will want time to stop; stay there forever contemplating its majestic beauty.
To understand the magic of Kylemore Abbey you have to know the sad history that surrounds it. It was 1852 when MitchellHenry, a prosperous businessman, came to the town of kylemore with his wife, Margaret, on her honeymoon. She, as expected, fell in love with the area and he, neither short nor lazy,** finished building her, ten years later and at the foot of the lake, the most beautiful castle anyone could imagine.**
Kylemore Abbey
There they would spend seasons with his children, although the tragedy would reach them in 1875: Margaret returned from a trip to Egypt with a high fever and days later she died. Henry was so despondent after losing her that he decided to pay her one last tribute: a beautiful miniature neo-Gothic cathedral next to which the remains of both rest today. The testament of her love for her.
After passing through several hands, the castle and its grounds became the home, since 1920, of a group of Benedictine nuns fled from Belgium during World War I. They created a school for girls in it, attended by everything from Indian princesses to characters such as the actress Anjelica Huston. In 2010, due to the low influx of students, the school closed its doors.
We must spend a minimum of two hours walking around the Victorian Garden where some of Connemara's famous ponies graze —There are those who say that they could have been brought here from Scandinavia by Viking invaders, while others defend that they are descendants of Andalusian horses that survived the shipwreck of the galleons of the Invincible Armada sunk off the coast of Connemara—; a tour the splendid interior halls of the castle and walk along the lake to the wonderful church and lavish mausoleum.
With luck, you can see how the Benedictine sisters make some of the chocolates or ceramics that are sold in the craft shop And they make up a large part of their livelihood.
THE PEOPLE DANCE
Coincidentally she is one of the castle guides, young Emma O'Sullivan, another one of the surprises that Connemara treasures. A former student at the school, Emma has dedicated a large part of her life to bring back the traditional irish dance, called in gaelic Sean-nos dance , which has only been preserved in this region of Ireland and which differs from Riverdance in being much more relaxed: the dancers dance with their whole body, in a small space and without choreography, just letting themselves be carried away by the music.
With many awards behind her and performances and shows performed in half the world, Emma is proud to be one of the few people who keep alive, even today, part of the traditions of her land: dances for which there are no academies or classes and that have been passed down from generation to generation throughout their history.
It was her grandmother who taught her, who in turn learned from her great-grandfather, and you just have to listen to the passion with which she talks about the nuances of this art, which in its origins It was practiced at parties in houses in rural areas, for understand the importance of roots in this little piece of Ireland.
Clifden, the capital of Connemara
LET'S SPEAK CLEAR: LET'S SPEAK WELSH
But the beauty of Connemara will hold its own for the rest of the tour: it will come as no surprise that great poets and artists have found inspiration here throughout history. We contemplate how the bravery of the Atlantic explodes against the coast when we venture to visit the famous Sky Road, 12 kilometers along the coast which can be done by car, on foot or by bicycle.
so we will reach Clifden, the capital of Connemara, one of those towns with a soul that maintains the essence of the past thanks to its Victorian-style houses. Although a walk through its lively streets will be worthwhile, it will be even more so to make a stop at one of its mythical pubs, the Keogh's Ballyconneelly , for eat a delicious salmon or an authentic fish & chips. Everything, always, accompanied by the pint of Guinness de rigueur.
And if Connemara is famous for keeping its Gaelic roots very present, the fact becomes even more evident when heading towards the south of the peninsula, where small towns like An Spidéal where I miss hearing someone speak English.
Road signs, commercial billboards, restaurant menus… Everything, absolutely everything, will be incomprehensible to us. But don't be afraid: It is part of the grace of the place.
Although to grace, the wonderful views: facing the waters of Galway Bay, and with the picture in the distance -at least on clear days- of the cliffs of Moher, we will contemplate its extensive beaches of white sand and the enormous rocks forgotten in front of the sea. In neighboring towns, a pattern is repeated: that of their old houses with thatched roofs. Further proof that traditions, in Connemara, are part of life.
Perhaps on our way back to Galway the sunset will catch us. Or maybe we decide to spend the night in one of the iconic towns in the region. Be that as it may, what will be clear is that, after enjoy nature and freedom in all its splendor, We will fall exhausted with happiness.
**The west coast of Ireland will definitely have caught up with us. **
We will enjoy nature and freedom in all its splendor