Second Day (Ring of Kerry)

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As if last night's dinner wasn't spectacular enough, the Gleaneagle Hotel outdid itself with this morning's breakfast. We walked into the same dining room where dinner had been served. At first all we saw was a line at a big buffet table. We immediately got in line. We got juice, choice of cereals (I got oatmeal), lots of fruit and rolls and various spreads. When we sat down at our table a waiter asked if we wanted eggs. "Of course" said I and ordered sunny-side up with home fries, bacon and toast. That's my idea of a healthy breakfast.

After breakfast while we waited for everyone to meet before boarding the bus, Gail had to listen to the usual first day complaints: "My room was too hot", "My TV only picked-up one station", "It was noisy in the hallway". Blah-blah-blah. The same story every trip. However today I heard a new one. "I broke my toilet". It seems one of the folks in our group had a little problem getting out of the shower. She lost her balance or slipped than careened into the toilet and busted the sucker. She sported a rather nasty bruise on her arm. Of course she was the subject of a great deal of needling for the next couple days.

From the minute we boarded the bus our guide James was offering Gail numerous suggestions for sidetrips or detours. Normally, as soon as an EF tour guide starts offering to go out of their way it's time to start saying "No thanks". They usually try to nickle and dime you to death with the charges for these side excursions. Not only did Gail want to avoid any additional charges but she really didn't know what was worth going out of our way to see. This would be James' modus operandi for the next two weeks. I thought it was great and really enjoyed the places he took us to, but Gail kept worrying that sooner or later James would be asking us to pay up for the extras. It never happened and we ended up seeing things most EF tour groups never get to see.

With as small a group as we had (18 people) we didn't spend a lot of time waiting for late arrivals or having arguments about what to do or where to go. On this morning we left our hotel precisely on time and headed for our day long bus trek around the Ring of Kerry.

Ring of Kerry map

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Photos

King Puck
As we approached the town of Killorglin James pointed out this statue dedicated to a famous local goat. It seems back in the days of English occupation an English army was attempting to sneak up on the town of Killorglin. The hungry troops tried to gather up a bunch of goats grazing up in the hills. One escaped and made his way into town where he alerted the locals. They were then able to fight off the British attack. As a result each year since the town of Killorglin honors the goat at Puck Fair. Each year a goat is selected to be honored and is named "King Puck" for the duration of the fair.

There they are again
We just couldn't seem to get away from the watchful presence of the Macgillycuddy's Reeks. The morning fog hadn't yet burned off when we stopped for a photo op.

Kerry Bog Village
Just as we had done on our last trip to Ireland, the first extended stop of the day was at the Kerry Bog village. Unlike our previous visit this time we weren't visiting in the middle of monsoon season. In fact, the day couldn't have been any prettier. The locals often commented to us that we were visiting during an unusually hot week, but this was nothing compared to Italy and Greece. At least in this part of Ireland there was a nice breeze keeping things bearable.
This village is a popular tourist spot. It's a recreation of a typical early 20th Century village in the area. In this part of Ireland the poor farmers of the region would heat their houses by digging up the peat buried just below the grassland. It was a low-grade alternative to coal and was left a dirty mess when burned but it was cheap and plentiful. The pile next to the house is composed of recently dug peat.

Interior of a farmer's home
As I said, the farmers of Kerry lived a subsistence level existence and this home demonstrates just how little they possessed. Even now the room smelled smoking and felt damp despite the sunny weather and 85 degree temperatures.

Walking down Main Street
This is about the entire extent of the bog village. Even though there were only 5 or 6 buildings this was a typical little community of the area. Note the thatched roofs.

That's some thatch (say that three times)
A close-up view of the roof thatch. I was surprised how tightly packed and how sturdy these roofs were. James told us that they usually last 5-10 years and cost more than regular roofing material.

Irish coffee
Once we toured the little village and perused the souvenir store, we had a few minutes to relax in the adjacent Irish bar. The lure for the tourists was an offer of Irish coffee for only 4 Euro. I hate coffee and the idea of imbibing spirits at 9:30 in the morning, but Gail and her mom had no such inhibitions.

Dingle Bay
After we left the Bog Village our bus driver (Patrick) took us due West. Before long we were running alongside Dingle Bay. On this particular beautiful day I expected to see the waters dotted with sailboats and maybe a few windsurfers but there wasn't a soul in sight. We were also extremely lucky in avoiding the massive traffic jams that the Ring of Kerry often hosts. An interesting tidbit we learned was that the buses rounding the Ring of Kerry must all travel counter-clockwise. It seems the roads are too narrow to allow big buses to get by each other if they traveled in opposite directions.

Looking back
There wasn't a cloud in the sky and the stiff breeze off the bay felt wonderful on this rather warm Irish morning.

Sheep-herding dog demonstration
A little farther up the road we stopped at a tiny farm where this gentleman puts on a highly entertaining demonstartion of his dogs' shephereding skills. The last time we visited Ireland we also went to this show. That day it was misty and rainy but with a small crowd. On this glorious day we had to wait for the shepherd to finish his show for a group of about 100 Germans. This is the beginning of our tour where we were combined with a couple of other busloads of tourists. The shepherd is pointing out the many types of sheep raised in Ireland. Not quite as diverse as the selection in New Zealand but still pretty impressive.

Dogs at work
At this point in the show these dogs had just rounded up this group of sheep that had been grazing up on the hills behind the shepherd. We could barely see the dogs and sheep they were so far off in the distance, but through a series of whistles the human shepherd was able to tell the dogs which way to bring the sheep back down from the mountain. Not very cute looking dogs, but they sure were smart. We learned that each of these dogs are worth a couple thousand dollars each. Running up and down those hills entertaining tourists all day with their skills makes that seem like a bargain.

One more look at Dingle Bay
We didn't have time to get bored sitting on the bus. James had Patrick continuously pulling over so we could snap photos. At this scenic spot there was not only another pretty view of the bay but also an artist selling sketches he had done of the surrounding countryside.

Lunch break
Since it was approaching noon we were all getting a bit peckish. James suggested this place which sported a brand new thatched roof. I never learned the name of the place and maybe that's good. It wasn't all that great. I ordered what would become one of my staples of the trip, Shepherd's Pie. I had seen lots of signs in front of taverns advertising "Bulmer's". I figured it was some kind of local beer so I ordered a bottle with my meal. Yeccch!!! It was alcoholic cider. I had made the same mistake a few years back when I ordered Strongbow in London thinking that it too was some kind of beer. The Shepherd's Pie was disappointing too. It was a little dry and very bland. Not awful, just not as delicious as I expected. Gail got herself soup and carrot cake while her mother had a cup of tea. After we ate we visited the tiny gift shop in the attic of the building but once again we found nothing we needed or wanted.

Irish home
As we drove longer around the Ring I was very surprised by how many new and rather spacious homes were being built throughout Ireland. With the recent bonanza of wealth coming into Ireland thanks to their entry into the European Union home sales have skyrocketed. This place was a rather typical sized dwelling. The location was what made it spectacular.

Charlie Chaplin in Waterville
This statue is dedicated to one-time resident and frequent visitor, Charlie Chaplin who greatly enjoyed this tiny seaside town.

The beach in Waterville
The Europeans seem to make do with some pretty dismal looking beaches. This is about as inhospitable as a place can be but there were plenty of people sitting around sunning themselves and frolicking near the water's edge. Nobody was fool enough to venture into the water however. Even though the temperature up on the street where our bus was parked was near 90, down on the shale beach we felt cold because of the wind blowing in off the frigid water.

Postcard picture-perfect Ireland
This will forever be the image in mjy head when I think about the country of Ireland.

Circular stone fort
As we neared the Western extremity of today's jaunt the road began to climb up some gentle hills. As we twisted up the road James had Patrick stop again so that we could get a nice view of this old stone fort at Leacanabuaile. This site dates from about 500 AD.

Does it get any prettier than this?
Another stop we made was on top of a high hill overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.

One more seaside shot
I could've spent hours up here just enjoying this view. Maybe a nice picnic lunch, a couple of beers, letting the dogs run around... In fact, a lot of tourists seemed to have that exact thought in mind. Up until now the road around the Ring of Kerry had been rather devoid of buses and vans but once we got to this spot we were suddenly surrounded by tourists. When it got to the point where I could no longer take pictures without having some knucklehead walk in front of my camera, I got back on the bus.

A pretty isolated homestead
Double click this picture to expand the size - then you'll see the lonely little cottage sitting in the middle of this expanse of green. I can imagine the poor farmer or shepherd living here back in the 1700's probably saw very few people yet was constantly aware that he was in danger from pirates or the British sailing from the Atlantic into Dingle Bay.

The long and winding road
We continued our way along the rather deserted coastline. As the ring took us back toward the East, we followed the River Kenmare. In this section the road was extremely narrow and continually curved around stone outcroppings and rocky pastures. Despite the beautiful weather there was still no one out sailing in the calm waters.

Sneem
We made a couple of short stops to take more photos of the ocean and beaches, but before too long I got bored with the sameness of the scenery. Eventually we reached the charming little town of Sneem. I assume the town achieved its notoriety as a tourist attraction simply because it's the only interesting thing after travelling past miles upon miles of open fields with nothing but rocks and sheep in them. In Sneem we did our first productive souvenir shopping. I badly wanted to get a Bodhran (Irish drum/tambourine). Each one is decorated with a unique design such as Celtic crosses, clovers, dragons, knights or a beer company logo. On our last trip, in 2002, I vacillated on the idea of buying one because of the price. I felt that $40 was a little too much, but in the meantime I had started to "decorate" our den with beer/tavern/restaurant items that we had picked-up on our other subsequent world travels. I figured if I could find a Bodhran with an appropriate design for under $40 I'd get one to hang on the den wall. As soon as we got off the bus in Sneem I saw a music store advertising Bodhrans and Irish music. The entire sales floor ceiling line was decorated with them. They were all listed at no more than 30 Euro or just under $40. I seqarched through all of them finally settling on a somewhat faded-looking one with an interesting Irish script and two beer glasses. I have no idea what it says, but it looks cool hanging in my room. Gail got herself a CD of Irish music then we walked next door for that Irish tradition, ice cream cones. After dribbling half my cone on my shirt we found a couple other tacky souvenir shops where I added to my little collection of postal junk by buying a platic replica of the ever present green, round Irish mailboxes we had seen in every tiny village we passed through. In that Quills store you see in the picture Gail found more jewelry and a couple little do-dads for friends and co-workers. Little did I realize that this was only the first of about 20 Quills I would see throughout our visit in Ireland.

Heading back to Killarney
After leaving Sneem the landscape changed to a lusher green with many more trees and less pastures full of rocks. We started to climb up through the mountains (hills) where we saw some pretty lakes like this.

Ladies' View
I like the way James does his tours. Once again, he kept suggesting places to stop and so far everyone had been interesting. It also broke up the monotony of sitting on the bus all day. This time we stopped at a place called "Ladies' View". The "Ladies" in question were the ladies-in-waiting to Queen Victoria who toured the area back in the 1860's. They were suitably impressed by this view of the lakes in the huge National Park outside Killarney.

Back in Killarney
As we drew closer to Killarney we passed through dense forests set amidst the deep valleys of the National Park. Inviting mountain streams bubbled alongside the road and I could almost imagine the leprechauns watching us from behind the old oaks as we rode down yet another twisting road back to our hotel.
Back at the hotel we had some time to relax before another great dinner at the hotel dining room. Once again we were allowed to choose from a menu. This time I chose Irish stew and some sort of cream puffs for dessert. Gail and her mother decided to see "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" which was being performed at the theater adjacent to our hotel. Not really wanting to be bogged down with others in our group, I quickly sneaked out of the dining room and sprint-walked into downtown Killarney. I was on another shopping mission. Knowing that we would be going to the usually overpriced Blarney area then to Dublin after that, I decided now was the time to pick-up some bargains. On my own I had much more time to explore the cute little shopping area. I found another "Quill's" where I bought myself a tweed racing cap. I must've passed 25 tempting bars on my quest to find a foodstore. I chanced upon a "1 Euro" store where I loaded up on some chips and candy for future bus rides. The streets were getting pretty crowded at 9:00 on a Thursday night. There were street buskers performing on a couple of the streets I traversed. They seemed to be making some pretty good money because the crowds in front of them were huge and their instrument cases were full of coins. Somehow I blundered down a side street and came into a fantastic food store, a Tesco market. They had two rows of beer from all over the European Union for sale. It took me almost 15 minutes to make up my mind but eventually I settled on a 4-pack of the Kilkenny beer that I had heard so much about and a single bottle of Framboise Lambic. The latter goes for close to $15 a bottle back home. In Tesco I paid $4. I walked around town for another half hour lugging my heavy bag of beers, another one full of chips and candy and a third with my hat inside. The long walk back to the hotel was the real killer. I figured I might re-injure my shoulder hauling that stuff back, but a beer back in the hotel bar set things right. (When I got back home and finally drank my Kilkennys I was surprised to hear something rattling inside the can when I picked it up to pour. At first I though maybe ice had formed inside. After pouring the dark amber liquid which had the creamiest-looking head I ever saw on a beer, I shook the can and could still hear something inside. I cut open the metal can and inside found a white plastic ball about the size of a golf ball inside. I learned that this helps make the pour so creamy. It was a delicious beer and well-worth the hassle of bringing it home.)

Comments

[anonymous]

Stunning place!