On Friday evening we took a short drive from the hotel, just to sort of get a feeling for the lay out of the town. We were staying in Killarney, and our hotel was on the edge of town. We headed off towards the lakes and just followed the road up a bit, hoping out of the car whenever we saw a good view and a convenient turn-off.
Saturday we set off for the Muckross House and Killarney National Park in the morning and a tour of the Dingle Peninsula in the afternoon. The Muckross House was a family estate that was donated to the Irish government in the 1920s, I believe, it is now a part of the Killarney National Park, it is truly a magnificent house (52 chimneys) and it sits in the most gorgeous spot. We parked our car at the road and walked the 3 km in to where the house is. Along the way we passed the abbey, which was destroyed by Cromwell in the 1600s. We decided not to take a tour of the house itself, as the day was so beautiful we walked around outside and enjoyed the gardens and flowers.
We also took a jaunting cart ride around the grounds- these carts were ALL over Killarney and every time you paused some guy asked if you wanted a ride. We broke down out here and it was the best way to see the estate, and he gave us a ride back to the road so we didn’t need to walk out again.
After leaving Muckross we headed straight up to the Dingle Peninsula. We passed through several little towns along the way and we stopped in Castlemaine for lunch. There were only four establishments to choose from and only one, Knightly’s actually serves food, so the choice was easy. We walked in and really surprised a local group of pub goers. There were several men watching the Royal Ascot races and enjoying a few pints. I think they were surprised that we stayed, but we did sit in the adjacent room so that our talking wouldn't disturb them. We ordered up three meals, two fish and chips and one sausage and beans, and I had a glass of Guinness as well. The food was fantastic! We devoured every last bite and then set out again heading north.
We didn't make it all the way around the Dingle Peninsula, we went about halfway down the north side and then cut across and came back along the southern side. The views were unbelievable and the water was incredible. It was so blue that it looked like the tropics.
On Sunday we had a pretty relaxing day. Happy Father's Day to Steve! The only sight-seeing we did was to go out to Ross Castle, which is just 2 km outside of town. Again, we decided against a tour, but we wandered around outside for quite a while and the boys had plenty of opportunities to climb on the castle walls.
Late in the afternoon we met up with some colleagues of Steve’s from Jefferson. Karen and Eric are both faculty in Steve’s department, and Eric is attending the same conference as Steve. They have two boys who are almost exactly the same ages as ours. Every summer they travel as a family, even including Karen’s mother and her husband as well. This year they have rented a house here in Killarney and then they will go up outside of Dublin for a second week. They kindly invited us to their house for dinner. So, we enjoyed a great meal with them and the boys played with their kids.
Other highlights of the trip included the hotel pool and the all you could eat full English breakfast. Both Charlie and Henry really liked the trip to Ireland and definitely want to go back some day. I have to say that it was quite nice to be somewhere that I understood the language and felt a familiar connection. It has been a long time since I have been to England, but this was very similar. Perhaps we will have to consider a longer trip to the UK sometime in the near future.
No comments:
Post a Comment