Friday, May 25 – Wednesday, May 30 2012
Because our flight was
delayed we weren’t able to visit the Rock
of Cashel as originally planned, so instead we made our first stop to the
town of Kilkenny. We’re glad both because it broke up our
multi-hour drive to the west coast and it turned out to be one of our favorite
little towns in Ireland even after just a short stop.
We started our visit at
Kilkenny Castle, a unique one primarily because
it’s missing one of its four outer walls.
We watched a quick video on the history of this castle and learned that
it lost its wall by the hands of Oliver Cromwell’s army. Perhaps more impressive were the castle
grounds that stretched further than our camera could see and provided a great
place for locals to hang out.
Next we walked down the main
strip, stepped into a souvenir shop with a friendly owner who told us all about
the best spots in town, and then made our way to the (recommended) Kyteler's Inn pub, the oldest pub in town
(established in 1324). The food and
atmosphere were both great. 
On our way out of town we
swung by St. Canice’s Cathedral, a
pleasant 13th century church that looked even better in the setting
sunlight.
After Kilkenny we continued
our drive to Kenmare, our home base to start the Ring of Kerry drive the next day.
We stayed in a pub/B&B so we didn’t need to go far for a Guinness,
Ireland’s national beer. Before bed we
wanted to check out a ‘stone circle’ that we'd heard about, which is a collection of rocks thought to
be from the Bronze Age (2,200 – 500 BC) assembled for ritual/ceremonial
purposes. It was pretty dark out but we
still managed to snap this photo using our handy travel tripod and a bright flash.
Saturday was devoted to the
Ring of Kerry. We had heard great things
from friends and family but didn’t know what to expect so we were excited to
get started. We discovered throughout
the day that Kerry (one of the largest peninsulas in Ireland) had a mix of both
natural beauty and glimpses back to the significant history of this area.
We started things off with
the Staigue Ring Fort. Ireland has several of these ancient ring
forts built sometime between 500 B.C. and 300 A.D. Their purpose was likely a defensive haven for
wealthy people to store their livestock and protect their families. It was incredible to see them in such good
shape and marvel at how each stone came together so perfectly.
Quick side note – when we
arrived at the ring fort there was one other car parked there and it happened
to be the same awesome colored Ford Fiesta as ours. Small world!
(Or, lack of options at the rental agencies. :) )
We had another "first" while in
Ireland – our first hitchhiker… ever. When
we returned from the ring fort there was a sweaty Irish gentleman (to his
credit, it was pretty warm out) dressed in a worn-out suit—and because of the
lack of options (the other blue Fiesta had already left) we were his only shot
for a ride. :) With mixed feelings we
said yes and invited him in. In his thick accent (he seriously sounded like
a leprechaun—an auctioneer leprechaun at that) he claimed he was a sheep farmer
(which explained the B.O., but didn't explain the suit) and that he needed a ride 5 minutes back to the main
road. We tried to fill the time with
farmer topics – why do the sheep have a certain color of paint on them? How’s the growing season? Are there many cows in the area? Etc.
He was happy to answer all of our questions and by the time we reached
the main road we were convinced he was indeed a local farmer and not some
transient making his way around Kerry. ;) We reached the road, shook his hand, and he
was on his way.
We continued west around the
ring and ran smack dab into Hawaii.
Well, not really… but we were stunned with the similarities. Just check out the photos below and use your
imagination. :)
This was just the beginning
of the natural beauty on the peninsula.
Over the next several miles we were blown away with the following views…
Renting a car (vs. going on
a tour bus) allowed us to branch out to the more remote Skellig Ring, where the tour buses don’t travel. It turned out to be one of the highlights of the day. First we stumbled on an old church and graveyard (which we learned were the remains of a 15th century monastery), followed by some castle tower ruins on this great sandy beach (come to find
out later it was McCarthy Tower, which
was built in the 16th century to defend Ballinskelligs Beach from pirates).
We were shocked at how accessible the castle ruins were all across
Ireland. While short on historical significance,
they were literally deserted and we were free to explore them as we pleased (there
wasn’t even a safety warning sign like you would see in the U.S.). It was certainly an unbridled
experience.
We continued our scenic
drive, overlooking some of the most fantastic coastlines and hillsides we’ve
ever seen.
And if that wasn’t enough,
we decided to visit the self-proclaimed, “Best View in County Kerry”. Our guidebook said it was worth the fee so we
decided to visit. We weren’t
disappointed.
We also saw re-creations of
the popular Clochán, otherwise known
as “beehive huts”, built for residential purposes around the Middle Ages. These were scattered in various places across
southwest Ireland.
We continued on and found
another set of awesome ring forts – no hitchhikers this time though. :) These forts were set up a little differently
than the first one we saw so it gave us a well-rounded glimpse at the different
ways these were constructed.
In the same area as the
forts we stumbled on Ballycarberry Castle
– more 16th century castle ruins that were completely open for
visitors to climb on as they wish. This
one was larger and more complex than the previous one and was a lot of fun to
poke around in.
We continued our drive and
while we technically left the Ring of Kerry, the scenery didn’t stop. As we started to enter the Dingle Peninsula, we came across Inch Beach, which we were able to drive our
car out on. Ms. Garmin was very confused
at that point… we told her to relax and enjoy the view but she would have
nothing of the sort. :)
We finally came across a
castle that was actually off limits – Minard
Castle. See that big crack down the
middle of it? Apparently it’s
“structurally unsound”. Booo.
We reached the town of Dingle that evening, quickly checked
into our hotel, and set off for a little exercise after being cramped up in the
car all day. Our hotel told us about the
hike up to Eask Tower and that we
could do it and still make it back in time for dinner. We reached the starting point of the hike and
paid two euros as a trespassing fee to the sheep farmers who own the land. There were a ton of sheep on this hike, just listen to the video below to get an
idea.
The views from the top near
the tower were magnificent and the sunset made them even more dramatic. We could have stayed up there all evening but
much like Scotland, Ireland stops serving dinner by 9pm in most establishments…so
down we went.
Dingle is known for having
some of the best Irish folk music in the world.
After a delicious meal we settled in at a pub and enjoyed listening to a duo play for
about an hour. We enjoyed them so much
that we picked up a couple CDs to listen to on the rest of our road trip.
On Sunday we tackled the
rest of the Dingle Peninsula. The day
was a little more overcast than the previous, but it didn’t matter much. We heard equally great things about Dingle
Peninsula and after such a positive experience with Kerry we knew we were in
for a treat. To compare and contrast the
two a little bit, Kerry seemed to edge out Dingle on natural beauty (barely)
and Dingle had slightly more culture/history to it.
The first cultural sighting
was these stones, called gallaun,
which are thought to be either gravestones or boundaries between tribes. It’s crazy to think that they originated (in their current position) from
around 4000 B.C.
Next we saw this currach boat, which was used for fishing
and transporting. It’s kind of funny how
they would transport sheep – they would tie the legs together and place them
upside-down so that they wouldn’t tear a hole in the bottom of the boat, which
is made of animal skins stretched over a wooden frame.
Next was Dunbeg Fort, which has been slowly crumbling
into the ocean for over 1,000 years.
We crossed the street and
visited some abandoned cottages, survived from the great potato famine—although
many of the people who lived in the cottages did not survive. If you’ve never learned about the famine,
we’ll give you a quick summary. Potatoes
were a massively important crop for the Irish back in the 19th
century – over 1/3 of their population was solely reliant on the potato for
their survival. When blight struck the
crop, approximately 1 million people died and a million more emigrated from
Ireland (many to the U.S.), causing a 25% drop in population. The population in this area still hasn’t
recovered. This open-air museum gave an
in-person look at one cottage whose family experienced the same fate (all of the
6 children died and were buried on the property).
An added bonus to this
historical site was an informal petting zoo.
We felt like kids having fun petting, feeding and making friends with the
animals.
We saw another group of
beehive huts – these were authentic (not re-creations like the ones we saw
the day before).
Did we mention that the
roads were narrow? We’re glad we were
going with the bus traffic that
day.
The stone rock fences looked
like spider webs on the rolling green hills.
We saw this beach off to the
left and gave our feet a quick bath in the cold water.
We stopped at the Great Blasket Centre for a glimpse at
life on the close-but-remote Blasket Islands. These islands supported a population of as
many as 160 people until the government moved them to the mainland in
1953 for safety reasons (the island was nearly 100% dependent on the mainland for supplies and in times of bad weather the island would be cut off from much-needed resources). We learned about the difficult
conditions these people lived in, which lead them to be studied by
anthropologists and become a sort of cultural anomaly. A handful of the residents even became famous
through writing books about their experiences.
Unfortunately we didn’t have time to visit the island itself, which
would have been pretty unique.
Afterward we saw probably the
most impressive stone structure of our trip – the Gallarus Oratory. This ancient
Christian church was thought to be built as early as the 6th century
and although they didn’t use any sort of mortar, it’s survived to this day and
is, surprisingly, waterproof. We had the
chance to try this out when it started to rain shortly after we arrived.
Here’s another church ruins
– Kilmalkedar, built in the 12th
century. It was a Catholic church that
went into disrepair during the reformation.
It also had this handy wedding stone – just touch your thumbs through
the hole in the stone and say some vows!
It was close to our 5th anniversary when we were there – why
not reseal the deal? :)
As we were finishing the
loop we saw one final ring fort…
…and then we were back into
Dingle. It was a great day experiencing
more of the scenic beauty in Ireland and learning even more about their
history.
After a quick souvenir stop
in Dingle we were on our way over Conor Pass
toward our next hotel. At the summit we were
rewarded one more time with amazing Dingle Peninsula views.
Our hotel in Tralee wasn’t a
hotel at all, but a castle! Ballyseede Castle had it all – a fancy
interior/exterior, friendly staff, a haunting story, a couple friendly dogs and
of course some delicious food and drink (don’t worry, we’ll expand on all of these
topics like we know you want us to…). :) 
We checked into our room and
started off with a nice dinner in the ‘library pub’ (we're guessing what used to be a library is now a pub :) ). Of course the Guinness was fresh and the food
was tasty. Hanging out in the bar with
us was Einstein the dog, who was
obsessed with small stones—four of them to be exact. He would sit anxiously at your feet staring
at his stones until you kicked or threw them.
Then he would retrieve each of them in his mouth (he made sure to get
all four, even if they were dispersed far apart) and then dropped them back at
your feet. It was quite endearing.
After dinner one of the
hosts gave everyone a tour of the estate – check out the pictures below. The history of this place is pretty dry, but
still fun to get a walkthrough of the estate.
After the tour we were told about
the castle’s ghost, Hilda, who was the last in the original family line to reside at the castle before she died in 1965 (we don't know how she died). They supposedly had photographic evidence of
it, too, although when we looked we couldn’t really see anything distinct. Actually the photo that was most convincing
proved to be somewhat of a farce in our opinion – they showed a picture of the
front of the castle where Hilda’s face supposedly showed up in the window and
an “R.I.P.” inscription appeared below her.
It seemed semi-convincible at first glance until we took a picture the
next day of the very same window – and you can kind of see the “R.I.P.” in the
photo to the right (under the window).
Maybe they just need to clean their algae off! ;)
We spent the rest of the
evening enjoying the property grounds.
We also played around with Mr.
Higgins, the other castle dog who was a giant
Irish wolfhound.
Monday morning we said our
goodbyes and headed north to our next stop – the Cliffs of Moher. In order to
get there we first took the Tarbert-Killimer
ferry crossing to save us some time and experience something different. These aren’t your large Seattle ferries –
think more basic and barebones. It was still a fun little ride.
We reached the Cliffs of
Moher, definitely another highly anticipated site. Ranging from 400-700 feet high, these things
are huge – just check out the size of
humans (walking on top) compared to the cliff in the picture below. They have a visitor’s center where you can
learn more about the cliffs and about the wildlife that dwells among them. But the real experience is outside…
The cliffs stretch for a few
miles in each direction. We started up near the center where there were nice viewing platforms
and plenty of railing which didn't allow anyone to get too close to the edge. We were a little surprised by this because we
had heard people could walk right up to the edge of the cliffs.
It wasn’t until we moseyed our way to the south end of the visitor’s area when we understood – there is an official area and an unofficial area, which is technically off-limits. As you can see, it’s nicely separated by this stone wall which not only tells you not to enter, but there is a memorial stone for all those that have lost their lives here falling off the cliffs (although there is no official count). This warning didn’t thwart many people from venturing on and we, too, joined the crowd.
It wasn’t until we moseyed our way to the south end of the visitor’s area when we understood – there is an official area and an unofficial area, which is technically off-limits. As you can see, it’s nicely separated by this stone wall which not only tells you not to enter, but there is a memorial stone for all those that have lost their lives here falling off the cliffs (although there is no official count). This warning didn’t thwart many people from venturing on and we, too, joined the crowd.
The walk was a little
unnerving at first – at times on the path we were just a few feet from certain
doom. But as with everything, the more
time you spend doing something the more comfortable you get (although we didn’t
want to get too comfortable – haha). The craziest part is how close people got –
literally standing or sitting at the edge of their lives. We read that most falling accidents occur
when an unexpected gust of wind comes through.
Lucky for us it was extremely calm that day or we probably wouldn’t have
even gone past the barrier. 
In the distance we could see
what looked like a tower and before we knew it, we had hiked all the way out there—about
3 miles away. It was a rewarding hike
because of the setting, perfect weather, and of course the extraordinary
views.
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At the end we finally
mustered up the courage to sit on the edge of the 700-foot cliff…
…just kidding – there was a
false cliff about 10 feet high, but it’s the perfect optical illusion, isn't it? :)
We hiked the 3 miles back across
the cliffs and then continued north toward Galway. On the way we were stopped by a herd of cows,
and yet another picturesque castle.
If we had more time we
probably would have spent at least a night in Galway but we were drawn toward
an old B&B about 30 minutes out of town which got great reviews for, among
other things, a great hotel staff. We
found out that the staff consisted of just a husband and wife – Henry and Elaine – who have owned and operated the B&B since the 80’s. 
We arrived in the late
afternoon and after a small dinner and Guinness (of course), Henry told us
about a small walk we could do up to the local dam to watch the sunset – one of
their favorites. We still have the
hand-written directions, which included instructions to walk past Stephen’s
house (more on him later), past the “Beware of Bull” sign (there is no bull),
and walk till we hit the dam. :) We were
rewarded with an amazing sunset in a peaceful location… until the “midges” came
by. In our last post we noted how we
were fortunate enough to miss out on the Scottish midges, which are essentially
gnats that bite. They descended quickly
upon us and cut our peaceful evening a little short. 
We were “warned” before our hike
that we might run into Stephen and that he might even take the hike up with us
to the dam. As we were heading back to
the B&B we spotted him and said hi.
Little did we know that this would be our evening entertainment as we
spent the next couple of hours chatting it up with Stephen, learning all about his horses,
grandkids who are boxers, and life in Ireland.
He even invited us in for tea and cake!
We found out that his beloved wife passed away 10 years ago and since
then he has become a bit of a lonely widower who finds his joy in his horses,
grandkids and unexpected visitors. It
was indeed an unexpected surprise for us, and no warnings necessary (although
we understood by the end of the night why Henry “warned” us – if you had other
plans, consider them out the window after running into Stephen). :)
It was dark by the time we
walked home and while we were a little bummed we missed out on spending more
time at our B&B, it was a night to remember nonetheless. We've found that such enriching
and intimate experiences can happen if every now and then you venture
out of the larger cities and off the beaten path.
The next morning we were
treated to a delicious breakfast by Elaine and afterward we walked around the
beautiful grounds and took a few pictures.
It was our last full day in
Ireland and we headed back toward Dublin to see a few sites that we missed on
our last trip. The first was historical Trinity College, founded in 1592. We caught the guided tour put on by a
slightly egotistical, but very knowledgeable, former grad student. We learned how the outsides of most buildings
are a lot more glamorous than the insides (including shared showers in one dorm - of which are
accessed only on the outside of the building – see the blue door on the red
brick building below. Imagine waking up in the morning and having to walk outside in the dead of winter in order to just get to the shower).
The tour ended at the Old Library, easily one of the most
fascinating buildings we’ve seen over the last two years. Pictures weren’t allowed inside so we bought
a puzzle which, when pieced together, shows an amazing image of the double-decker library. :) To
give you an idea of how massive and elegant this room was, we found a couple images
online to share. 
The main attraction of this library
(and frankly all of Trinity) is that it houses the ancient Book of Kells. This “book”
(actually multiple books) is an 8th century copy of the
four gospels, artistically created by Irish monks during the Dark Ages, a time
known in Europe for its lack of art and creativity. The books are impressive, even more so
considering how old they are.
Afterward, we had enough time to swing
by the modest Dublin Castle. While lacking in historical significance and an
idyllic setting, the buildings were charming enough. It’s always nice to see old architecture
regardless of its significance in world history.
