The Famine and Abbey

Doolough Valley was our first stop of the day. This was the area where many people died during the famine. The reason they died here was in trying to cross the mountains to get to places with food and work. There were three reasons why the famine occurred. First, nature causing a failure in potato crops. Second, the high dependence on potatoes for food. Third, the British Empire had a conservative government that believed in the free market and was willing to let the famine to run its course. In their opinion there were too many people. The population went from 8 million to 4 million. Sounded pretty horrific.
Just up the road were the falls on Erriff River. Pretty little place.
We finished the day at Kylemore Abbey. This Abbey is occupied by the St. Benedictine Nuns. It used to be a boarding school run by the nuns, which had a very good reputation. Because of an economic downturn the school had to be closed. No one could afford it. The mind themed it into a very successful tourist attraction and are now expanding by building a new residence for the nuns with a retreat centre. Nuns are so resourceful. We were kind of castled out and just wanted to walk around outside so we choose not to go in.Read more