Killarney and the Ring of Kerry

After our stop in Cashel we proceeded to Killarney. We were about 45 minutes out when we came upon the first wreck we had seen in over a week. They were detouring trafiic down a little side road. The guy just told us to follow everyone. We did and ended up on one of the narrowest roads ever. The brush on teh side of teh road was scratching the car.

 

 

Once we reach Killarney we went straight to the B&B to check-in.We stayed at the Algret House and our hostess Greta was absolutely wonderful! Killarney was  more modern than the other towns we visited.

It was about late afternoon by the time we settled in and we decide to take a short walk to Ross Castle. This is the map Greta gave us. We took the walking trail marked by green footprints in the top right.

The whole area is a National Park.

We saw lots of deer eating dinner along the road. They were huge and very different from the deer in Arkansas.

The is Ross Castle. It sits on the edge of Killarney's lower lake and was built by O'Donoghue Mór in the 15th century. Legend has it that O'Donoghue still exists in a deep slumber under the waters of Lough Leane. On the first morning of May every seven years he rises from the lake on his magnificent white horse and circles the lake. Anyone catching a glimpse of him is said to be assured of good fortune. The large rock at the entrance to the bay is known as O'Donoghue's prison. We just explored the grounds and surrounding area. It was so peaceful being on the lake and since it was later in the evening, we were the only ones there. The people you see in the picture we leaving as we were walking up to the Castle.

 

Huge houses lined one side of the road we walked down.  The other side was a horse track. I loved seeing the beautiful  flower gardens in the yards.

 

This is St. Mary's Catherdral. They had a huge crowd on Sunday morning.

 

After our evening stroll, we ate dinner at a little restaurant in town. We were staying about a 5-10 minute walk from the town centre. I didn't happen to get the restraunt's name.

 

Kev was worried about driving the Ring of Kerry. Everyone said the roads were narrow and lots of tour buses drove them. In Ireland there isn't a shoulder of the road where you can pull over. Most roads are lined with rock walls or bushes. So if you didn't cross paths with a tour bus you have to back up to a place you pull off the road.That being said, we debated over paying $70 and taking a tour bus or just going for it. We decide to go for it. We rented the car for freedom to go where we wanted and when we wanted. The tour buses didn't even pick up until around 9:00, so we left about 6:30 that morning in hope of missing the buses.

The sunset over the upper lake was gorgeous!! I'm glad we set out early. Below is Ladies View, Queen Victoria's ladies-in-waiting visited here on the royal visit in 1861. They were so taken with the view that it was named after them.

We drove through the mountains and National Park until we reached the town of Kenmare. It's a little town right on Kenmare Bay. We stopped at a shop that said hot coffee thinking it was a coffee shop. No, it was a bait shop that sold coffee. I had a delightful chat with the owner about her visiting the states. We stopped quiet a bit to take in the beautiful views.

This is Kenmare Bay.

There were sheep everywhere. At times  you couldn't drive becasue they were in the road. They all had a color dot spray painted on their back. We are guessing this helps them tell whose is whose.

Old ruins. I'm not sure what it once was.

This is Derrynane Beach. When we arrived there wasn't a soul around. We walked along the beach gathering shells and green sea rocks and enjoyed our coffee.

Our next big stop was Portmagee. The name in Irish means 'the ferry', referring to its purpose as a crossing point to the island.

We stopped and had breakfast at teh Bridge Bar. Once again it was a fabulous meal. We drank Irish Coffee and I had bacon and Brie on a toasted croissant. Kev had eggs with fries and beans.

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We checked with our waitress and the ferries were not running this time of year. So we walked around the small fishing town for a few minutes

We detoured off the main road to see the stone forts.

 

Cahergal was built around 600AD.  The current structure has undergone some reconstruction, but it is an impressive site. With walls approx 6 m high and some 3 m thick this dry stone wall fort is one of the best examples of an early medieval stone forts to be found on the ring of Kerry.

 

  

We climbed the stairs built into the walls.

 

The stone fort of Leacanabuaile is on the hillside. It is a fine, partly-reconstructed stone fort on a massive rock foundation, it's stone walls enclosing an almost circular area 70 feet in diameter. It is protected on three sides by steep grassy slopes.

 

The inside contains a square and circular house.

There were two passages that led to the outside. Kev tried to crawl in both.

A picture with the sheep.

The ruins of Ballycarbery Castle.

 Our last stop was Torc Waterfall. We hiked up the mountain to the waterfall. It was after lunch and very busy.

The waterfall was nice. I was hard to get a picture without someone in it, but we waited around for our turn. Then we head further up the mountain just to see where the trail led.

We got a magnificent view of the lakes and the top of the waterfall.

Once we had seen what we wanted to see, we returned to the B&B and packed up our dirty laundry. We had done some research and found a laundrette that was self-serve. We didn't wash everything, just enough to get us through the rest of our stay.

Kev explored the mall the laundrette was in while I stood guard over our clothes. He came back with a coke bottle full of Jameson and a snack. We went back to the B&B to clean up for dinner.

We ate at Cellar One. A swanky modern restaurant in a small alley. The food, service and atmosphere were superb.

The next moring we slept until 7:00 and went down for breakfast. Kev was talking March Madness when two ladies asked where we were from. They were from Sheridan, Arkansas about 30 minutes from Little Rock. Her and her daughter were on a trip together. Another table came in and the were from Chicago. So we enjoyed breakfast and a visit with them.