International Tourism in Ireland – Today was our first full day in Ireland. For most of us from the time we first left our houses to the time we arrived at our first hotel, The Jury’s Inn in Galway, it was almost a full 24 hours of traveling. Because of this it was a pretty low key night. We set out in small groups to explore the nearby streets, had some dinner, and then headed to bed for some much needed sleep.

After a good night’s rest we were all ready to go this morning to see our first tourist attraction, Kylemore Abbey. It was about a two hour drive to get there but it was a beautiful drive. The roads went between green mountains and rolling fields filled with adorable little sheep. The Abbey was originally built as a residence in the 1800s but was taken over in 1920 and became a Benedictine Monastery. For many years it was a prestigious girl’s school which closed in 2010 and still houses some of the nuns. To create income the nuns make chocolates and baked goods to sell to the tourists. After exploring the castle and the gothic church we took a trolley over to the Victorian walled gardens to explore them. The gardens were very technologically advanced for their time with glass greenhouses and pipes for plumbing.  As it is spring time here the flowers were all starting to bloom and the gardener was out working. They are absolutely beautiful and someone could spend hours wandering around there.We finished up our visit with a delicious lunch in the café on site and a quick peak around the gift shop. By lunch time there were many other tourists there and everyone was taken by the beauty of the area.

As I write this people are getting ready to go explore Galway some more, do a little shopping, and hopefully find a silent disco to go to. This should be a fun evening!

Laura Arnburg

Tourism Management Student

NSCC Kingstec Campus