Not kissing the Blarney Stone

This is the lovely Blarney Castle.
On our way back to Cork we saw it on the map and decided it might be worth a look, even though anything 'Blarney' seems to be sort of cliche' and touristy.
When we got there, there were quite a few cars in the carpark and a big touristy gift shop flanked entrance (with a 10 euro admittance fee) but we decided to go anyway.
I'm so glad we did because it is definitely one of the prettiest places in Ireland....The walk to the castle takes you through a creek lined park and looming ahead is this huge stone structure..

Once inside you must walk up the 147 stone spiral staircase steps to get to the top...I was a bit worried about Dad but once again, trooper that he is, we kept going and arrived safely at the top and looked out to a gorgeous view of the property  which has been witness to many battles since1446...

  It had been raining up until we got to the top of the castle when the sun came out to show off all of those magnificent shades of green!   The stone work is incredible and once again a photographers dream with a shot around every corner...                                  

                                          

          Looking over the edge about 150 feet down .

When you're at the top for another added fee you can kiss the famous Blarney Stone which entails lying over an opening in the castle floor, upside down and kissing a big wet rock.

It's supposed to give you the gift of the gab...needless to say Dad nor myself needs it (since we already possess enough of that) and I couldn't really imagine paying the extra euro to give myself and Dad back trouble for the remainder of our trip!

When we climbed back down, we had the chance to meet up with some really friendly rooks who were hanging out in the picnic area...they are the Irish version of our ravens...

Anyway it was back on the road to Cork to return our rental car and hop the train to Dublin...

You say Shaboom, I say Macroom....

After Dingle we headed back to Killarney and stayed another night in a pretty little boutique hotel with views looking out into the village.

It was a rainy day so we thought we would just drive towards Macroom and see where it took us.
Dad kept calling it Shaboom and I just about drove off the road cause it was driving me batty!
On the way into Macroom, we found this lovely old cemetery and church ruins and pulled over for a closer look.

                        The views were really pretty out into the valley...

 

We had passed through Macroom on the way into Kerry and decided to come back and have a closer look. Right in the middle of town, (actually the motorway runs straight through it) is a medieval castle bulit around 1654. Sir William Penn was granted this place by the oh so generous Oliver Cromwell.

   The motorway bridge is another gorgeous marvel of architecture..

             And of course another mossy old cemetery to poke around in...

 I found this tombstone and thought it very interesting and one of these days will try to do some research into the battle it mentions.

 

Well back from my research and found a link on Wikipedia about the battle which happened very close to where we were.Click here to read more Coolavokig Ambush. It was areal hot bed of ambushes in this area, in fact it's where the famous Michael Collins was killed in a similar ambush.

The walk around Macroom was so interesting...deeking in and out of Medieval castles along the river...I even found a pretty broken piece of old pottery as a souvenir

We were in Macroom on a Sunday and at around noon we decided to go for lunch in a hotel on the main drag. Well talk about dining with the locals! It was the big Sunday buffet for many locals after church so we sat and people watched and listened to the men propped up at the bar speaking in Irish while we ate another excellent meal.

A short note: I had left my charger and extra camera battery in our room in Dingle, and didn't realize it until Macroom which is a good 3 hour drive away. So instead of going back for it we had the Oh so sweet Thomas from the Quayside B&B click here for more to put it in the post for me. Therefore there are only a few chosen pictures left and since it was nearing the end of our trip, I figured I would rough it and put the rest of my memories in the old fashioned computer...my brain.

 On the way out of the Macroom area we stopped in another pretty little Irish town called Kenmare where almost right in town is a tiny park with some ancient bronze age standing stones.  The odd thing about these is how they got to this spot since the type of rock is only found in an area many miles away and these stones weigh a few thousand pounds each....                                                                                                                                                          

The mysterious Slea Head drive...

The morning in Dingle started off with the bestbreakfast we had yet...The Quayside B&B serves Dingle smoked salmon on a bagel, fresh fruit, porridge, yogurt and even Bailey's Irish Cream for your coffee as well as the full Irish breakfast.

 Fortified, we headed out to take the drive out to Slea Head, the most westerly point of land in Europe.

This narrow, winding road takes you along some of the wildest coastline in Ireland and makes you gasp for air at just about every corner...not for the meek driver...there are some spots where there is only room for one small car held on the road by a rock wall which keeps you from tipping over down a 200 foot cliff into the ocean.

On the way there is an incredible museum dedicated to the famine victims who dwelled in these landlord owned cottages in the 1800's, many of whom lived and died in terrible conditions.

This area was one of the hardest hit and many people experienced some of the most horrific suffering, due to the remoteness of the place and one can only imagine how hard life was in the climate along the coast.

It is humbling and well worth a visit.

Oddly enough is the animal park within its rock walls, I suppose to showcase the native breeds of the area.                                                                                                                                                                                  The thatched roofs are amazing and detailed in ways that I didn't know was possible with thatch.

There are 'dummies' inside and out of the cottages, which lends an earie feeling to the place as well as scaring the bejesus out of unsuspecting tourists who come upon them!

Anyway, the drive was incredible with views out to

the jagged Skellings and wicked ocean below. The strange thing was that we were driving along trying

to figure out where the turnoff to Dingle was and thinking we had at least another hours drive back when things started to look familiar and all of a sudden realized we were indeed back in Dingle!

More strange magic on the road in Kerry.

Dingle...as fun as it sounds...

Upon arriving in Dingle we were up for a pint and some lunch and stopped in at a great little seaside pub. On the bay, a pint of Guiness, seafood chowder and the Vicar at the bar....oh Ireland...After lunch we parked in the village and went out in search of a b&b and came across a man and a donkey cart. At first we thought he was a tourist gimmick so I went to have a chat and take a picture or two, but uopn further investigation, learned that he was just a guy living on the road with his donkey, Connagh. Thats what he does...wanders around from town to town, doing odd jobs in exchange for food and pasture..so there you go..."not all who wander are lost" as J.R Tolkien says. We found a beautiful b&b (Quayside B&B) overlooking the harbor and frankly it was one of the nicest places we had stayed yet...the owner was a nice young lad from Dublin (I even picked up the accent!) and his wife who was born and raised there. Decided to have a looke around and found a great repubulican pub just within stumbling distance of  the Quayside which was totally empty but for the da, myself the barkeep and one other regular.The walls were covered in everything IRA. We had a pint, watched the nuns stroll past (REALLY!) and then asked the barkeep about music at night...he said to come back around nine and there would be some good trad music. After some smoked makerel fish and chips we headed back to the pub (O'Flagherty's) and the place was packed! Luckily there were a few seats near the action and the music was great...one fella played about 4 instruments while a woman played a wooden flute. After the set, the instrument guy walked around and collected empty glasses! Turned out he was the owner as well as the entertainment. When the intermission started, we decided to walk about town to see what else we could find . We learned that the meek hardware store during the day becomes the local local at night complete with blinds closed and nails and hammers put aside for pints and shots of whiskey. Ended up in the Dingle pub for some young lads playing trad and a good night had by all.    

Dingle bound...

Along the Ring of Kerry are so many gorgeous views to see and it reminded me of what my brother Dan had to say about Ireland.

He's been there a few times and as a teacher knows bits of info that we mere mortals don't. So I says to him after our trip "...the light in Ireland was so beautiful and the greens really are innumerable.." and he says to me "...well it's not just the magic of the place, it's the geographical location of Ireland..." and for some reason, because of the location of the island , it is the reason painters, poets, musicians and artists of all genres find Ireland such an intriguing place.

 On the way into the village of  Dingle, are many rugged, fertile farmlands pearched on sloping hills with little houses dotting the countryside along with those oh so lovely narrow Irish roads..have I mentioned the narrow roads here???

Anyway, coming into Dingle was such a treat with its light filled harbour, colorful buildings and friendly, welcoming residents. P.S...all those little white dots on the hillside are..you guessed it...sheep...oh that gorgeous Irish wool!

When in Ireland....

Heading out into the Lakes of Killarney we were now experiencing driving the Irish way...

 

The Ring of Kerry is notorious for its VERY narrow, winding roads and high speed limits...when we told one Dubliner that we were renting a car to do The Ring, he said..."thats probably not the best place you want to first drive in Ireland..." oh well...here we were. I decided that I would just pull over if anyone got on my arse and kept to the most comfortable speed I could handle which was about 65kmh in most places. PLUS I wanted to see the incredibly gorgeous scenery along the way...Dad was right there too, pulling out the movie camera at every turn around the bend.
As we tootled along, we saw a sign for Blackwater Bridge so I say, "lets go check that place out." So off the road we went down a seriously narrow country lane where we passed one other car and both of us were in the high grass on both sides to get past each other...after about 10 minutes we finally came upon this incredible, stone bridge over...you guessed it...Blackwater river.


 So we spent a while there enjoying the power of the water flowing through the arched underpass and then saw a sign for The Ring and thought we were going back the same way...oh no...nothing looked familiar but magically (as sometimes happens in Ireland) we ended up on the right road toward the Dingle Penninsula.

On the road in Kerry

The morning after our singalong and a good full Irish breakfast, we headed out to drive the Ring of Kerry. This loop around the Iveragh Peninsula is full of the most incredible scenery of rivers, mountains and the wild west coast of Ireland.
Our first stop was not far out of Killarney. Muckross Abbey was founded in 1448 by the Franciscans and burnt down (surprise, surprise) by Cromwellian forces in 1653.

Luckily most of the Abbey and all of the old tombstones are made of stone so needless to say it still stands today on the shores of the Killarney Lakes.

The walk in is lovely along a wide road with expansive lawns leading into the woods where the abbey stands.

 Once again we were fortunate to be the only ones there for most of the time until a noisy bunch of older teens hit the scene...oh well..we poked around and had a good look at some of the ancient headstones, my favorites being the white lady and the Gabriel angel one with the snail curled up near his horn. I loved how it was overgrown and wild with valerian and ivy.

 Another quiet, meditative place.