July 17th and 18th - Killarney

---

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 list of places to come back to when I rent a car some day. Amazing area.

First off, just waiting for the bus was fun enough because there was a great big old Lab that just wanted some lovin' so I was happy to oblige.

The tour itself was good (Deros Company) - the guide threw in a few jokes here and there and there was a lot of good information - not just about touristy bits but all sorts of history and cultural stuff too.

The best though was when he told us the sheep have paint on them because of the fashion trends from Milan and Paris (obv a joke). He had this like 5min deadpan spiel explaining the fashion trend (red paint - it will become red wool etc.) And then he ended with a "way to be gullible..." (It's quite simply a way to mark their sheep. Because more than one herd will graze together - one farmer is red, one is blue etc.)

Anyway, I'm glad it was a minibus and not a coach - we were able to stop along the highway in parts for quick get offs to take pictures. Holy shit was it windy though... all along the peninsula every time we'd get off it was hold on for dear life. I have a few funny shots on my phone because I had a death grip on it so that it wouldn't fly away... as such a lot of faces of me going "ack" and a lot of pictures I didn't mean to take.

The coastline was spectacular to say the least. I could listen to the waves crash ashore for hours on end. The raw power of it all.

The rain (miraculously) held off, but the sky was a deep grey. Our driver joked about the 40 shades of green in Ireland, but after driving through the fields and valleys I'd say they're not far off.

We had lunch at some tourist place in the middle of nowhere which annoys me to no end. They even make the point of essentially saying there is nothing else around so grab a cuppa. However, I found the path to the coast so went for another little walk.

I had a good laugh in Dingle. Back in Cork I stayed in a room with a New Brunswicker, who I then ran into in Killarney - we'd booked the same hostel by chance again. So I ran into her yesterday on the street and we said goodbye since she was off to Dingle. Now what are the chances while I'm roaming around Dingle for 20min that yes... I bump into my New Brunswick buddy once more haha.

The drive back from Tralee to Killarney was paaaaainful. There's this big match between Kerry and Cork so traffic was a nightmare. What was supposed to be a 15min drive took us an hour and twenty minutes. So many people - even when we got into town we could barely over because the roads were flooded with people. (literally... the road out of Killarney was closed to cars... just people.)

I leave you with a few more interesting stories from my tour:
-I challenge you to find something that looks more joyful than a frolicking running cow
-towns here have random festivals to bring in tourists and money. One has a goat festival where they go up into the mountain, grab a goat and name him king of the goats. I mean, that is fantastic is it not?
-there is this big low sand dune and they used to have land pirates in that area. At night they'd put lanterns on the horses while they grazed - they looked like boats, bobbing in the sea. Boats would come along, run ashore, and the land pirates would attack and pillage.

---