Blogs from Killarney, County Kerry, Ireland, Europe - page 2

Killarney to Carlow Just outside Killarney are the Torc Falls surrounded by beautiful mature native trees in the first National Park of Ireland. Some 11,000 acres were donated in 1932 by the last owners of Muckross House and estate. We took a tour of the house (yes another one) and heard how the house was built in 1843, has 65 rooms and took three year to build (pretty good timing- no wonder we’re importing Irish builders). Anyway the Herberts’ manged to get the nod for a visit from Queen Vic. It was six years in the planning so as you do they decided to fix the old place up a bit,(Did you know Queen Vis was frightened of fire and asked for a bedroom on the ground floor). The trouble was that several months after the ... read more

A key theme of this trip to Ireland has been music, specifically Irish traditional music. We wanted to see it performed and hear as much as we could. We were keen to experience music in the places and in the situations where the Irish traditionally play this type of music. It was unlikely that we were going to be invited into homes and private gatherings all over Ireland and so, in large part, it was off to the pubs and the 'sessions' there. Sessions can be quite informal. Musicians go to pubs and take their instruments. Normally, they meet other musicians there. They have a corner, or a particular table allocated by the management, and they go about playing. These musicians might be encouraged in their endeavours with a supply of their favourite tipple provided by ... read more

Well, sad start of the day lol. I had shuttle bus issues (i.e. I was impatient... and I misjudged how long to wait not knowing if it was the right stop... etc etc.) So instead of the 10h45 bus, I had to wait until noon. Ended up working out well though. I met a couple from San Fran, who both happen to be teachers, so lots of discussion there. And once again the driver was great - they're just so much fun here haha everything becomes a joke. Someone had parked in the clearly marked bus loading zone... so... our bus driver parked the bus anyway and blocked the car in. Since we weren't scheduled to go for another 10 min or so, he waited until the car driver came back, said 'sorry you shouldn't be ... read more

Yesterday was very low-key - off to Killarney. Waiting for the bus I had a convo with a nice old man who had such a thick Irish accent I maybe caught half of what he said. Very friendly though! The drive itself was uneventful. Very green, very grey ;) Killarney looks cute. I wandered around the town centre most of the day. A lot of little markets, so I just had to get some scones to try. Otherwise I didn't do much else - other than go see Antman... it's Marvel, I felt obligated but I really did enjoy it. Woohoo! Today I had planned to go down to Muckross House and the national park, but with a change of weather forecast I chanced it and went on a tour to Dingle. So, def on my ... read more

Geo: 52.0579, -9.50747Today we toured the Ring of Kerry which afforded quintessential Irish views of the rocky green landscape and grey coast of the North Atlantic. Our bus driver Connie fittingly accompanied our drive with a CD of Celtic music and bagpipes. Sheep and cows dotted the hillsides and everywhere we looked was green green green. Our first stop along the Ring was the beach! Even in spite of the chilly breeze we loved combing the beach for shells and pebbles in the softest shades of red and green. The students recovered crab legs and mollusks, kelp and jellyfish.Our next brief stop was a roadside overlook for a short but steep hike up a grassy hill side. While much fog clung to the mountains and hovered around the bay, we still could make out the foam ... read more