Ring around the...Ring of Kerry.

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The next few days of our tour dealt with some of the scenic wonders of Ireland. The first that I will discuss is the fabulous and iconic Ring of Kerry.

The bus pulled out of the hotel amidst a dreary backdrop of haze and fog. At our first stop, Moriarty's at the Gap of Dunloe, a store where Tommy was letting us out to shop, we were scheduled to take a group picture. Complete with umbrellas, raincoats and raindrops on the camera lense. But the shopping...brilliant. In the twenty minutes we had to look around I ended up purchasing a beautiful silver Celtic cross neclace and a Celtic knot ring.

But the twisting, turning roads of the Ring of Kerry were calling. The day consisted of some really amazing picture stops alternating with some fog bound scenery. Lunch was at a place that claimed to have the most scenic dining in Ireland...But we couldn't see anything, just white.

There were two notable picture stops that were really breathtaking. The first was overlooking some beautiful, sheep filled hills with water running around the base. There was a man at this stop standing along the roadside with a donkey dressed traditionally with a little bowl for money, just waiting for the tour buses to come.

The other notable stop was called, The Ladies View, and was much closer to Killarney. This one viewing area had the whole of the famous Killarney lake district laid out before it.

The only stop we made that was more than a 5 minute photo stop was at The Skellig Experience. Down on the southernmost tip of the Kerry peninsula, it told the story of the Irish monks who made their way out to the Skellig Islands a thousand years ago and carved out steep steps into the harsh rock and built bee-hive huts out of rock for protection against the harsh Atlantic winds. Across the water from this little museum was a quaint little fishing village. We also made a short stop in the village of Sneem. There we had ice cream and took some beautiful pictures from a bridge over a rushing river. At last it seemed the misty Irish rain had cleared up and we were rewarded with great weather to end our tour of the Ring.

Tommy arranged for a jaunting cart ride for those of us that wished to continue our tour. The flat bed carts with two benches were pulled by a horse and driven by a very interesting elderly Irish man with a thick accent and very few teeth. One of the girls on our tour, a New Yord schoolteacher named Lissette, sat up front with the driver and they both had us in stitches. She kept asking him questions about everything. Why are there cattle in the national park? We never did get an answer to that one. But we laughed nearly the whole way to Muckross House and back.

Muckross House was beautiful. Mom mentioned that the house reminded her of Toad Hall from Wind in the Willows. And the back gardens were filled with some wonderfully designed flower beds bursting out in full bloom. On the way back to the hotel in the cart we actually got stuck in traffic. I remember thinking that this was something I never thought would happen to me...being stuck in traffic in a horse drawn cart driven by an elderly Irish man and laughing hysterically the whole time. It was definately an experience to remember.

Back at the hotel we had a lovely three course dinner with desert that was to die for. Then it was back out to get the last of our Killarney shopping done before the stores closed for the evening.

Coming up next...The Cliffs of Moher.

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Photos

The Ladies View
Lakes of Killarney