Beautiful Ireland!

We went on our first Ireland walk today in Galway County. Beth and I are standing by Killary Fjord, the only fjord in Ireland. We walked over the grounds of the Kylemore Abbey before setting out on a 7 mile hike around the south side of the fjord. It was beautiful pasture land with free-roaming black-faced Connemara sheep,  ruins of old houses and dry stone fences. Fishing for salmon and sea trout and raising mussels are all very important to the economy today. The trail we walked is called the famine trail. So many people were starving during the potato famine but Queen Victoria would not allow food to be given away. It had to be earned. The men who were healthy enough to work made a stone embankment so that a path could be created across the sides of the mountain. At the end of the day they were given a bowl of watery soup for their pay. No money was given to them.