Mist on the Connemara

One of the most beautiful drives we've taken so far is through County Mayo. This area, known as the Connemara, is sparsely populated and ruggedly beautiful. The day was misty and most of the time the mountain tops were shrouded with clouds, adding to the eeriness. County Mayo was also one of the hardest hit counties during the Great Famine. Memorials along the way are reminders of this sad era.


Close up of the bronze coffin ship depicting skeletons as rigging on the ship.


The "coffin ship" near Westport.


This cross along the roadside is a memorial to the famine walk taken by 600 starving Irish. They walked 12 miles hoping to get food from their landlord, who turned them down. 200 died on the walk back to Louisburgh. Desmond Tutu made the walk in 1988 shortly before the end of apartheid.


Kylemore Abbey, next to a beautiful lake, is now a private boarding school for girls.


We stopped at this National Heritage Site, a well fortified tower castle.