Blogs from Killarney, County Kerry, Ireland, Europe - page 8

Today we drove into the town of Killarney. Yesterday we drove the Ring of Kerry. We ventured off the main path and found some old castles and stone forts that had ben mentioned in a book we had. It was well worth it. We had each place to ourselves and didn't have to deal with any tour buses. We found a pull out spot along the road with an overlook of some cliffs and the beach to set up camp for the night. While there Scott got to play "medic morri" There were some people jumping of the clifs into the bay and one guy dove head first into shallow water landing on his head. Scott evaluated him and had an ambulance come out because he was pretty sure the guy had neck and/or spine fractures. ... read more

Thursday 3 September This morning we were excited to go on the Ring Of Kerry excursion. We were lucky that the rain looked like it was stopping! Perfect timing. We drove off on some very narrow and dangerous roads. At one time, there was a near accident, when some idiot overtook us, nearly hitting oncoming traffic. The coach driver rang his licence plate into the police. The views were finally what I expected of Ireland. Beautiful coastlines and inlets. Many green mountains… although they did not compare to those in Scotland. Not even close. It was a lovely day though and the highlight in Ireland. We stopped at a tearoom for lunch that was intimate and lovely. We had delicious sandwiches and homemade scones. It was a lovely stop. I had a walk through the town ... read more

Had a wonderful sleep and even better breakfast. This morning I ordered the traditional Irish breakfast. The black pudding was excellent. Left Rivermount House at 9am and headed along the coast, stopping at each town along the way. I avoided the beara peninsula and made it to Kenmare, which is just south of the Ring of Kerry. This is about a 180km loop around the Iveragh Peninsula. I ascended to a lookout point and stopped for some photos. I have been stopping quite often to take pictures of the changing landscape. If I keep this up all day then I will not get to my destination. I went over a Pass at the top of the Beara Peninsula, which is not listed on the map in front of me. It started with B. This was impressive, ... read more

First welcome to those that Michelle and I added to the Blog's email list. We'll be doing this once every couple of days or so... so have a read and don't expect any real good grammar... So yesterday was a marathon of a drive from Doolin to Killarney via the Dingle peninsula. We started the day with a quick drive to the Cliffs of Moher which are spectacular. We then took off south down towards the River Shannon, which is the widest river in Ireland at 5 miles, to cross on a ferry. On our way we stopped at St. Brigid's Well which was pretty cool. After that we learned a very valuable lesson... always carry spare side mirror with you while driving in Ireland; You see the roads are quite narrow and with all the ... read more

I admit that I've turned into a neurotic eater and the potato has fallen victim to this. A summer of eating nothing but bland boiled potatoes has turned me away from this starch... with the exception of mashed potatoes. Mashed potatoes are something of an elusive craved dish as they have never been made at home... not even when growing up. They're just not a Chinese thing to make. Friends are aware of this and the dish forms a substantial part of my birthday dinners and they slip me doggy bags of it from other events such as Thanksgiving or Easter that I happen to crash. I'm in mash potato heaven in this part of the world. Ireland seems to have a long history with the potato (most notably the Irish Potato Famine in the 1850s) ... read more