Ireland/Scotland, Day 4: Connemara and Belfast

My old boss sent me a Christmas card that included a picture of her and her husband in front of this beautiful castle (or so I assumed) in Ireland. I was drooling but I never asked her where it was located. When we were walking the the hallways of Glenlo Abbey to breakfast (which was spectacular, by the way), I saw it - Kylemore Abbey! 

Turns out it was about an hour out of our way, but we actually had planned very little on this day. Our main purpose was to drive to Belfast, drop off the rental car, have dinner, and get a taxi to Ballycastle for the ferry to Scotland the next day. So...Dave said yes and we went to the abbey!

Kylemore Abbey

Turns out it is a former residence turned Benedictine Abbey and school, and now it's just open to the public, although I think the Benedictines still run it. Driving through Connemara National Park was also a stunner - this is the main thing I'd love to spend more time doing when we return to Ireland. It was amazing to drive through and look at.

Killary Harbor / Fjord

After Kylemore, we drove up Belfast through many more counties, sometimes avoiding the local sheepies...

Locals in the road

In addition to the wildflowers, that was another thing I loved about visiting in the spring - the lambs! They were so cute and little, scampering around with each other and cuddling their moms.

We arrived in Belfast a bit early, so we visited a highly rated pub, the Sunflower Public House, and walked around the neighborhood to take in some stunning murals.

Murals in Belfast

I could definitely see spending more time in Belfast also. The dinner we had at Noble was very tasty indeed, and I'd highly recommend it.

After that, as I mentioned, was dropping off the rental car, taking a taxi to Ballycastle, and trying to get some sleep before taking the ferry to Scotland! 

We definitely breezed through Ireland, and I'm sure anyone reading these posts would be able to tell that it was both exhilarating and exhausting to go through so fast, missing a lot of local flavor. We had wanted to spend another day at least, but the ferry only goes on certain days, and we wanted to spend more time in Scotland. At any rate, one of the goals of the trip (which it might not be yours) was to drive around and look at as much stuff as possible. We accomplished that!