Connemara & Kylemore Abbey

The sights of Western Ireland this day brought the daily rainbow, but this spot with a wild mountain goat was particularly worthy of a memory. The mountains here are regularly shrouded in a "scarf and hat" as one guide put it. At nearby Kylemore Abby, originally a 15,000 acre private homestead of the Mitchell & Margaret Henry family built in the mid 19th century, the Benedictine sisters have recently closed the private girls school for lack of population and funding. Renovation of the Victorian walled gardens and glass houses are underway, developed well ahead of its time by the progressive and experimental Mr. Henry.