On day 3 we decided to be aggressive.... b.. b.. aggressive.We drove down to Blarney and then to Cork, trying to have enough time to make it back up to Killarney and then further north to the Dingle Peninsula.
Blarney Castle was very quite when we arrived that morning. We climbed up the turrets and made it to the top part where we were alone (expect for the stone helpers)
Nice not to have to wait for lines of people kissing the stone. I handed the camera to Mike and went first, being head-over hung down to kiss the Blarney Stone. I got up and Mike took his turn while I took his picture. We started to walk away and he said to me "Kel, I didn't have time to take your picture." AH! I can't come all the way to Ireland and not have a picture kissing the stone!!!! So we walked back and asked if I could do it again.
"Why sure! what ever will make you happy", the guy says to me. So I got my picture and kissed the stone twice! :)
Afterwards we walked around the wooded areas and saw a really beautiful clearing that you could totally understand why the culture is based on fairies and other wood spirits. Sunlight beat in and a little mist came up from the green green plants.
There were waterfalls and lots of areas to explore.... but we had to get moving onto Cork!
The reason I wanted to go to Cork was to visit the Old English Market. A large historical market with local produce and vendors.
We got some sausages....
Saw the different cuts of meat.....
And had some of the best Oragnge covered chocolate peices I have ever had... yum!
After we sped up to Dingle. Seeing lots of more sheep along the way (they are everywhere! Grandpa you were totally right!)
(Oh and that sheep in the lower left corner is staring at me so hard because there is a dog barking at me in the background. All the sheep turned and ran away from me right after this)
More beautiful landscapes next to the sea.
And the iconic green squares of pastureland.
So much to to see :)
We went out for some more traditional pub food and returned to the same bar to hear a live band playing. The bartender even drew a shamrock in Mike's Guiness as he poured it.... you'll have to tilt your computer screen to see it ;-)
We woke up bright and early the second day to explore more of Killarney National Park. We got a quick breakfast at the hotel and set off towards Moll’s Gap (Kenmare in the south, I’ll use the above map to try and give you an idea)
The lake has a beatuiful view and the sun was just starting to get really bright.
We didn’t go into Muckross House, but it has really nice gardens and surrounding areas.
We walked south along Muckross Lake to the Torc Waterfall and up the Mountain a bit.
By then my feet were getting really sore as I hadn’t expected this to be a hike, so we took a carriage back to the Friary. There were only 3 horses working that day, but our driver said in the summer there are more than 30 that just run the Muckross roads (not including downtown Killarney)
Continuing our drive up the main road towards the Kenmare exit we stopped at Ladies’ View and another viewpoint.
I finally saw some sheep upclose!
And then it just got rediculous. Up until this point we really hadn’t seen too many sheep pastures close to the roads. So I didn’t understand why people were warning me about having to watch out for the fluffy animals. Then we got into the mountains. There are sheep everywhere. Literally just walking up the roads. We were told they were ‘street smart’ so they would get out of the way. But still unnerving.
Gorgeous views in the hills (can you spot Mike in this pic?)
In Kenmare we got some Fish and Chips and a Fish Pie. Both were very yummy and filling. Afterwards we walked around a bit. There weren’t many shops open so we decided to take the bar tenders advice and try to drive down into the Black Valley and through the Gap of Dunloe, since we didn’t have 5 hours to drive the Ring of Kerry.
We got some bad directions and missed the turn twice (also due to the fact there were no signs) Finally, we made it into the valley. This drive was the most fun, single dirt road with tons of twists, so you had to go slow and if you met anyone you basically played chicken to see who would pull over first to allow the other car to pass. I don’t know how tour buses did it. Thankfully we only met 3 or 4 cars.
More loose sheep going up and over the hills and cute thatched roof houses. The view from the top of the Gap of Dunloe was so amazing. These pictures don’t do it justice.
Last year Mike and I travelled to 
On Feb 26th, a Saturday, we left Minneapolis to land in Dublin (via Atlanta). The flight went fine, albeit I had a kid directly behind me who kicked my seat a lot and I didn’t get any sleep. We landed in Dublin on Sunday morning, local time 6am. The plan was to rent a car and drive 3 hrs south/west to Killarney where we would be staying for 3 days.
I was a little worried about driving on the left hand side of the road…. and I heard sheep were a big problem. The teeny tiny rental car we got was stuffed with our suitcases and we started the drive. I made the first right hand turn fine and navigated the roundabouts (Europe’s way of controlling traffic instead of stop lights) The motorway down was fine. We really didn’t see too many sheep and were beginning to think we had just been fooled. Then our GPS system took us on a stop to Cashel.
“I see an Old Thing!” we cried as we rounded a smaller road and saw the abbey in the distance.
The 
We stopped for brunch at a restaurant called Ryan’s Daughter. They had a wonderful Irish Breakfast, with sausage, beans, eggs, ham, toast, and black and white puddings! Wow, are those puddings good! If you ever have the chance to have them, do. Don’t ask what’s in it. If you don’t like it, then it doesn’t matter what’s it’s made of and if you do like it, then it doesn’t either :)
On the remainder of the trip to Killarney the roads started getting smaller. Only two lanes and on either side there was a rock wall right to the side of the two foot shoulder. I was getting pretty jet lagged at this point, so I honestly don’t remember much except that we were going fast, Mike was a little scared and I didn’t hit anything.
The town of Killarney is much bigger than I had pictured. Lots of tall squished looking buildings. We had originally booked at the Arbutus Hotel, but due to a death in the family, we were re-booked to the Killarney Royal Hotel. It was very nice, the staff helpful and a great location.
Driving in we saw a big rain cloud passing our destination. We parked the car with a light drizzle drifting down. By the time we checked the parking the clouds had past and bright sun came out. In the car park we got stuck a bit because some angry local couldn’t get the parking meter to work. He started pounding on it and yelling to get his change back out. One of the funniest things ever.
The town sits next to 
There are tons of beautiful streams, fields, lakes, and trails in the area. All accessible from the down town area.
We walked out towards Ross Castle and passed some deer which were looking a little haggard from the winter. I seriously thought this one guy (with the single horn) was going to charge me.
We made it out of the woods just fine and saw the castle. Very pretty with the setting sun.
Walking back, the green mossy woods were still and silent. Later that night we got some pub food and of course, beers. Pictures to follow later…. Still getting through the 400ish photos on the 3 cameras we had :)
