Ring of Kerry

Today was spent travelling around the Ring Of Kerry, via Killarney.

We were all on the bus by 8.30am and some people had opted to go to Muckross House which apparently has spectacular gardens, but I chose not to go to that one ( I can see some collective eyes rolling out there!)Anyway, it was just as well that I didn't choose that option for two reasons...
1. There was a picket line at the entrance to Muckross House, because the powers that be are trying to put "nappies" on the horses on the jaunting cars, and of course the drivers are objecting. So we would have had to cross a picket line to go in...

Entrance to Muckross House

2. The left-overs who didn't go were dropped in Killarney, and I managed to go to Holy Mass. A quick Mass is a good Mass, and we were out in 40 mins. I was surprised how full the Church was.... It was 10 am Mass and it was 90% full. The Church was a Franciscan Friary and they love their statues over here... I think every available spot in the Church was taken up with a statue!



After we rejoined forces with the others, we took off for the Ring of Kerry. I have often shared with you the little pearls of wisdom I have learned on this journey. Today I have another one...

The back of the bus is not a good place to be on the winding roads of the Kerry Ring. I was virtually in the back seat, on the opposite side to the view, so I saw very little of the beautiful scenery. And again we rocked and rolled and twisted and turned. I have to admit I'm glad to be off the bus tonight... But the scenery was magnificent, and we stopped a few times so I'll let my pictures do the talking for me.

First photo stop on the Ring of Kerry

Killarney Lakes Ladies View

Another photo stop along the way

Ring of Kerry Waterville

That's all for now folks - Internet is so slow. Tonorrow I'm going to kiss the Blarney so who knows what this will be like tomorrow...????

Bunratty, Adare, Limerick Killarney

Sure, it's a soft day in Ireland! In other words it's raining again. As someone said earlier, it only rains in Ireland on days that end in "y".

Anyway, up and at 'em....

We started the day with an optional extra to Bunratty Castle. Having studied Castles with the Year 4s this year, I was really interested to go and see one live. It was a great excursion. The castle was built around 1425, and during the 16th and 17th centuries became a stronhold for the O'Brien family, who pledged their allegiance to the King. In return for giving up their Chieftain status, they were made Earls in the British system. Thus they became the Earls of Thomond. It was a well preserved castle and had a Great Hall, and murder hole and the staircase was just as described in our history studies of castles.






Bunratty also hosted a Folk Park which was a little similar to the Ulster Folk Park, and had many thatched cottages, each one set out in the furniture and design of the times (19th Century).


If you're sick of looking at thatched cottages you might notice my brand new Irish hoodie in vibrant green. An Irish person would never be seen dead in it, but I love it!


We had a very short visit to Limerick, and really only stopped to take photos for a few minutes. We stopped at the Treaty stone where the Treaty was signed between the Williamites (William of Orange) and the Jacobites (Catholic followers of King James) - I think. All this history is doing my head in! Anyway, the Catholics lost - I know that much- and the Penal Laws followed which sent the priests into hiding, and thus began the hedge schools and Masses celebrated right out in the mountains.



The other parts of Limerick that we saw were the River Shannon, and King John's Castle.


Our next stop was Adare, where again we were given the opportunity to look at the thatched cottages. There were three things against this.... it was our lunchstop, there were souvenir shops aplenty, and it was still raining. Poor old thatched cottages got the cursory glance and we moved on to food, loos and shopping.



I haven't talked about toilets much lately, but it has to be said.... For a country with as much water as Ireland, you'd think you could manage to flush a loo. But each one is unique in all the world. You're never sure if you have to pump the handle, or just give it one big push, or just wait and pray! The showers are also in the realms of the great unknown. There is never one so simple as to have a hot tap and a cold tap. There is always a combination of dials and plugs, and when combined with the bath, you're never sure where the water is going to come out... Nor what temperature it will be. I've learnt now not to hop under until I see what water is coming out of where, and how hot or cold it is. Aaaaahhh the intricacies of life on the road!

Anyway, back to the travelogue. After lunch we travelled through Limerick and into Kerry. They love their Gaelic footy and hurling down here, and nearly every house flies a flag with the County colours.It's sad but true that my County - Clare - has
the colours blue and gold. There are some trials in life that you just have to put up with...!

We stopped for a view of the Killarney lakes, which was just beautiful. The sun just popped out for a few minutes... just made everything seem even more mystical.


Our last stop was at yet another souvenir shop, but this one was very upmarket... They had some lovely knitware (which is a bit wasted with Perth weather anyway!), but the ones on special were 180 Euros - nearly $400AUD. The ones on the shelf were
260 Euros for a simple Cashmere cardigan. Wow..... not in my budget! But they did greet each one of us with an Irish Coffee which was lovely (although a bit sweet for me!)


Now here we are in Kenmare which is on the water at the beginning of the Ring of Kerry, which we do tomorrow. Nice hotel with free access to the Interent in the lobby (I hope it works ok). Having tea at Casey's Pub tonight. Last night I had Boiling Bacon and Cabbage - that's real tucker! Wonder what I'll have tonight....???

PS Had Irish Stew for dinner tonight - very nice! :)

Ballintubber Abbey, Connemara, Kylemore Abbey, Galway

Well, we rocked and rolled and bumped our way through Connemara today. The driver said it was because the roads are built on a bog, so the roads are like a bumpy, winding roller coaster. A few people felt quite queasy, because the driver tends to be a bit jerky anyway. But we all survived!
We started the day with a foggy morning - not something I see very often these days. I took the optional extra to go to Ballintubber Abbey, "the Church that never died". It survived the many invasions and looting and burnings and their claim to fame is that mass has been said every day in that Church for over 800 years.

Here's a link to learn a little more about Ballintubber Abbey

The Church itself was beautiful. It had been renovated many times but it still maintained the feeling of being very old, yet it had a deeply spiritual feel.

As usual there are many stories attached to the Church. There is so much history in every brick. The guide told the story of the Priest killer who was paid to kill priests, which he did very successfully and was paid handsomely - keeping him in drinking money. Anyway, long story short, he ended being killed and being buried in the local cemetery, and everyone was up in arms. So they dug up the body and threw it in the lake. Anyway, the curate said they couldn't do that, so they recovered the body and buried him the Church yard, but they didn't bury him facing East, as Christians are - to face the rising sun. The buried him facing North -the direction of the devil. Later a tree grew out of his grave, but a big storm came and split the grave in two. the Irish are great storytellers.....

Here's a link to the story of Seán na Sagart - John of the priest

Priest Killer's Tree

The stations of the Cross inside the Church were made by some contemporary artist and were quite lovely.. see below...
Here's a link to see more of the Stations of the Cross


The other interesting thing about this Abbey was that it was a resting place for those who were on the pilgrimage to Croagh Patrick - the mountain of St Patrick. It was a place to stop and have a wash and relax before you attempted climbing the mountain - 22 miles away. Of course, legend tells us that Croagh Patrick was the place where St Patrick drove all the snakes out of Ireland. It's quite a high mountain that apparently takes a good few hours to climb. And the very good pilgrims actually take off their shoes and climb the last part with bare feet... over quite ragged rocks.

Croagh Patrick in the background

Part of the deal about being a pilgrim is you must not complain on the journey. If you fall into a bog, you just say "Thanks be to God" and keep going. And a pilgrimage doesn't work unless something changes in your life. Our guide asked us if we were tourists or pilgrims..... tricky question that. I think it's easier to be a tourist!

Ballintubber Abbey

Next we rocked and rolled our way through Connemara and the mountains. The scenery was quite wild and rugged, but always very beautiful. We passed by quite a few Loughs (or lakes).


Our next stop was Kylemore Abbey, which always reminds me of the episodes of "Two Fat Ladies" with all the nuns tucking into that rich, fattening food that they prepared so well. But it's a beautiful spot, tucked between a mountain and a lovely Lough.



The scenery on this journey has been quite different to the North. It is far more rugged and wild. Our guide tells us that during those times of oppression when the British took over the East coast of Ireland, they pushed the inhabitants towards the west coast because the land there was so inhospitable. The history of Ireland is so filled with oppression and mayhem. And of course there was the great potato blight leading to the faminine, where the British Govt just let nearly 2 million people starve to death. History can be very condemning as well.


Our final stop before Galway was the Connemara Marble factory where we shown all the different types of Marble that are found in this region. Very informative, and of course we had the compulsory gift shop!


As our hotel is about 15 mins out of Galway we were given an hour or so to cruise through the shops in Galway before dinner. The shops were lovely and I really enjoyed just walking around here. I've developed a liking for the local brew.... Smithwicks Ale, so I had to stop at one of the many pubs and have a half pint of Smithwicks.

Galway shopping streets

So, that's about it for today. Once again I have free internet access in my room so I was able to embellish a little more today.

Hope you're all well and enjoying reading this as much as I am writing it. I have to admit I have to discipline myself sometimes, but I've got into the swing of downloading my pics as soon as I hit the hotel room, then writing the blog immediately, otherwise I might put it off. But it's a great record for me later, and I'm sure I will enjoy reading this over when I return and see how lucky I have been to go through such rich experiences. Indeed I am blessed!

Ulster Folk Park, Belleek, Yeats, Sligo

My day today was more of a regulation tourist. Our bus stopped at the more "commercial" tourist spots, and that was ok, but anything was going to be hard to compare with the grandeur of yeterday's trip.

Ulster Park

The days are starting a little later than the European Tour, and that is much appreciated! There is always a cooked brekky on offer, but I take the cautious way and just have my weetbix and toast and vegemite. I have to take my weetbix down in a little ziplock bag, and I feel such a dork bringing out my daily dose of sugar-free fibre, but when travelling on a bus, all precautions must be taken. Then to add to my dorkiness, I then proceed to furtively drag out my jar of Vegemite, because, once again, they only offer sweet things to put on your toast. I could have a massive cooked breakfast every day if I so desired, but that might be pushing my luck a little too far...!

One of the young-ish gentleman on the tour, who is a little unique (whole life history in first 5 minutes!) stacks his plate twice at breakfast and works his way through it all. I just sit back and admire an appetite like that.

Anyway, having negotiated breakfast, we're on to the Coach and off for the day. Today our first stop was at the Ulster-American Folk Park, which was little like Sovereign Hill in Ballarat, except it was about Irish immigration to America. It was actually quite a good display and combined both lifelike models and poster boards inside, with recreations of cottages and live locals who were acting out the roles of the people in the olden times.

Models depicting life after immigrating

We had two hours there and it went really quickly. We could've stayed a lot longer. I loved the Irish traditional houses and models of life of the immigrant, but I zipped pretty quickly through the new life settlement in America. The money for the display was donated by an Irish American family who had made good in the USA, but wanted to highlight the life of the Irish immigrant.


It traced the history of the potato famine and how the population of Ireland decreased by over 25% during that period - through both immigration and death by starvation. Some of the displays were very lifelike and really portrayed the miserable conditions that the immigrants faced, both in Ireland before the journey, then on the ship, and then when they arrived in the USA things were not much better.

Our next stop was Belleek, the china making factory. It was fascinating to watch the craftspeople at work and see how long it takes to make the individually crafted items. The prices refelect this amount of time and effort, so purchases were kept to a minimum, as I was also worried about transporting any fragile items I bought.




Then we all piled back on the bus, and the next stop was Yeats' grave at a place called Drumcliffe - just outside Sligo. I had been there before on the bus tour I took 12 years ago, and as we approached the place, I actually remembered being there before. There is a magnificent set of mountains behind the grave and they tower over the Church and cemetery. There is also an ancient Celtic Cross there which dates back to the ninth century. The monastery was founded by St Columcille (St Columba) around 574, so the history just oozes out of the place.

The handles on the door of the Church were a pair of swans and apparently they were donated by the Yeats society of Western Australia. Nice connection!!!



Had a short break in Sligo and just had a cruise around the shops. We don't really get enough time to do a town justice, but I suppose it's giving me a picture of what's available later when I hire my car.

On the way to our hotel for the night, we made a quick stop at a Holy Well called Tobernalt Holy Well. It was a shrine which grew around a well and there were grottos and statues and candles burning. It actually had a truly peaceful aspect to it, and
the sign as you went in said "Silence" and most members of the tour honoured that. I lit a candle myself and said a prayer for all the people on my email list, especially those who are not well at the moment.





Tonight we are staying at a place called Castlebar and we are in a lovely old home that has been renovated into a modern hotel. It's called Breaffy House Resort.


So - a good day for a tourist today. Scenery was just lovely Ireland, and I'm not complaining at'all at'all at'all at'all!