Goodbye Bantry Hello Dingle

It was sad to leave our beautiful, modern accommodation in Ballylickey, near Bantry. We were packed up with the house spic and span by 8:30 and off driving on the wrong wide of the road towards Killarney and another look at Muckross House and grounds.

We enjoyed our tour of the Muckross Mansion with a sly and witty guide. They don't allow photos to be taken inside, but I found this one online.

This is the front hall of what was built originally as a country hunting lodge. The mansion was owned by two different families, but actually not lived in for very long. It was eventually given to the Irish country and is beautifully preserved and furnished. Each room was splendid. A particular claim to fame was the visit by Queen Victoria, for which they prepared for YEARS. She only stayed 3 nights and wouldn't sleep upstairs because of her fear of fire. Also, I think she was quite stout and I bet she didn't want to climb the stairs. Just saying.

Another great attraction on the Muckross grounds is a recreation of a farm village with half a dozen homes set on a mile loop road. They are various sizes and prosperities, complete with some animals and interesting women dresses in garb of about the 1930's that are baking soda bread on the fire, churning butter and who will tell you in beautiful accents about their life on the farm.

I was quite obsessed with learning about peat, which is what has been used for many years for cooking and heating. This was my first chance to smell a peat fire burning and to see dried peat stacked in the shed. Also, soda bread cooked on a fire is delicious.

 I credit my peat obsession with the many novels and biographies I have read that are set in Ireland. Maeve Binchy, William Trevor, Edna O'Brien, Roddy Doyle, Frank McCourt are a few of the authors I have read from Ireland that write about Ireland.

Our trip to the farm village and each house was through the rain. I can't say that I was ever bothered by the rainy days we had in Ireland. It was one of the things I looked forward to and added to the atmosphere.

One of the farms was large and prosperous with a big house and lots of outbuildings. This place would have had several full time employees. Some that had rooms in the house and some that slept in the barns.

Mark discovers that handy ear anchors keep his hood intact whilst retaining 

waterproofing capabilities and maintaining peripheral sight

We drove along the "Wild Atlantic Way" which was dark and stormy. I love a moody ocean.

We arrived in Dingle which has a reputation for charm and Gaelic speaking. It is taught in school and signs are always in Gaelic and English. This was a pretty little place.

At some point, a playful little dolphin adopted the small harbor as his home. He was named Fungie  (foon gee) and is a local hero. Fungie merchandise is everywhere. It reminded me of a series I watched as a kid, "Flipper". I can still sing the theme song..."They call him Flipper, Flipper, faster than lightning"

It would have been such much cooler to sing, 

They call him Fungie, Fungie, 

faster than lightning. 

No you see, is smarter than he. 

And we know Fungie, 

lives in a world full of wonder. 

Flying there-under, under the sea! 

Oh how I wished I could ship this cool truck home!

This is what happens when you shop with Carol and Yvonne

Much to my delight, I discovered that you can buy peat briquettes outside a market, just like you would buy charcoal briquets or firewood in the USA. 

We left Dingle, heading on to Limerick. Keith decided to take a scenic detour over a small mountain. It turned out not to be so scenic because as we climbed the road was completely enshrouded in fog. The lane very narrow with sheer cliffs on one side and no guard rails. Sometime there was no room for cars to pass, which meant backing up. I have no pictures of this adventure because my eyes were firmly closed and my teeth were clenched.

My Precious Ring of Kerry

The ring of Kerry has nothing to do with precious metal or dirty bathtubs. It is a ring road in County Kerry that takes in many beautiful sites. It is circled daily by unwieldy buses filled with tourists. Our guide books told us to go counter clockwise to avoid being stuck behind their belching behinds and we followed this sage advice.

Our first stop was at the home/tourist shop/recreated farm of the good Widow Molly Gallivan. This resourceful woman kept body and soul together by selling farm produce, baked goods, hand spun woolens and the real moneymaker - "Molly's Mountain Dew" which was illegal homemade whiskey that paid the bills. Sadly, it was not available in the gift shop.

Our next stop on the Ring Road was a cow pasture that lead over a stream to a gate with this intriguing invitation

Paying only one euro for the right to trespass was too good a bargain to pass up.

This is Staigue Fort. It is so old Martians may have built it. There is no mortar in between the stones.

They are fitted together so perfectly it is like one of those 5 million piece jigsaw puzzles that the whole family tries to put together over Christmas but it gives everyone migraines and never gets finished.  Only...this fort actually got finished!

It also contains several handy hobbit holes where you can stash extra house guests during the winter solstice

wild fuchsia grows everywhere

Every turn in the Ring of Kerry made me rub my eyes in amazement. I tried to get bored by all the beauty but never succeeded.

We ducked into a bakery in the sweet little town of Sneem to have a bite of lunch, narrowly acing out a big bus full of German tourists. The queue in the tiny restaurant formed quickly and suddenly one of the Germans Merkled her way to to front of the line. I guess she figured as a German citizen, the taxes she paid toward bail out money, much of which has gone to Ireland, gave her the right. But drinking hot chocolate and eating pastry, I couldn't muster up any outrage.

After all, I was in Sneem! 

Eating pastry! 

Drinking hot chocolate! 

With cream! 

From Irish cows!

 In Ireland!

There is a National Forest called Killarney that we didn't get to explore much, but we did walk up to Torc Waterfall through a tree tunnel

Queen Victoria famously visited this place, honoring Ireland five ways to Sunday. I loved imagining her stout figure huffing and puffing down the path. I bet she didn't climb the 5000 steps up the hill.

Just down the road from the waterfall is Muckross House. Muckross is pronounced in a refined manner so it comes out sounding much less like muck and much more like Ross as in Poldark. We arrived too late to tour the house on this day, but walked around the gardens like we owned the place, claiming the grandest clouds like they were all ours.

John Constable was probably up in heaven painting these clouds

The two Keiths discussing how glad they are they don't have to mow this back garden

Our dreams came true when we found a great pub in Kenmare that served good food and had a fine singer. He alternated between songs from my teenage years (Leavin On a Jet Plane) and tender Irish ballads like "You Drunk You Drunk, You Silly Ol' Drunk"

Carol did such a fine job drumming the table and enjoying the music that she was congratulated as we left. It was a fine evening.