Ireland - Kilkenny, Kinsale, Glengarriff, Dingle and Killaloe

Friday June 23rd: In the morning, I enjoyed a delicious full Irish breakfast and Vee was quite happy with the continental. We needed to get cash to pay for our room, and therefore needed to find an ATM in town. It was far enough away for us to decide that we'd go ahead and tour Kilkenny Castle too since it was just right around the corner. We waited for the first tour of the day to begin, and were shown a short video about the infamous Butler family who lived there for generations, and a good background about the castle restoration before we were lead through the castle for another 40 minutes or so. After the tour, we stuck around for a bit and took pictures in the gardens and huge lawns, then went across the street to the old stables that have since been converted into artisan shops, as well as another Butler estate, enveloped in green ivy, its grounds and gardens. We walked back to the B&B and paid John, one of the hosts of the B&B, and had an insightful conversation about how so many people come back to Ireland from the U.S., Canada and Australia, hoping to trace their roots. He had many interesting first-hand stories to tell. And one was that his mother is the last living person to have worked for the Butler family in the castle that we had just toured that morning. They allowed us to park the car in a small spot on the sidewalk adjacent to their B&B, and we walked back into town to explore some more and find a cafe. The night before, it seemed like every other shop was some soft of cafe, but in the morning, we didn't come across as many, but we did find a nice little one where we shared capps and pastries. I asked our waitress where we could go to get a music CD, and she said there was a music store right next door...duh. After we finished, we went to look at CDs, but the prices were outrageous, with most of them being at least 18 EUR. Quickly giving up on the idea of buying a CD for the road, we went across the street to a huge department store to load up on some snacks and water for the next few days of driving. Bags in hand, we hiked back to the car and pointed ourselves to Kinsale, a cute fishing village with a marina and huge multi-colored rusty old fishing boats. We parked the car in a lot up the hill a bit, and walked around trying to find our b&b. We asked a lady in the pharmacy, and she pointed us back up the hill, where we asked another gentleman for help, and he told us exactly where we'd find it, and we did. We met John and Carroll of the Golden Gate as soon as we pulled in, and Carroll showed us to our room. They were real nice, and John seemed like a character, like a kid in a man's body. We unloaded our stuff and since Vee wasn't feeling well, I went into town to walk around some, and came home with some goodies too enjoy while watching World Cup.

Saturday June 24th, Vee felt better in the morning, and after a hearty breakfast, I went into town and got some cash to pay for our room, and while I was gone, Vee overheard another couple checking out, and the guy was explaining to John and Carroll how Bolivia was his favorite place to travel in the world. This got Vee quite excited and she ran out of our room to tell them that she was Bolivian, but the guy could hardly believe it. When I came back, Vee was still all wound up, and when we checked out, we had a really nice long conversation with Carroll and John about Bolivia and all kinds of other stuff, including the Irish sport of hurling. He even got into his truck and pulled out his old hurling stick to show me what it looked like. Its alot like field hockey, but rougher. He said there was a huge tournament going on the next day and that it would be televised. We said our goodbyes and parked the car in the lot down the hill, and walked around the little village of Kinsale until the afternoon. There were so many cool little curvy streets and funky shops, and we walked all the way out along the water by another boat marina, and back again where we stopped into a cafe to watch some Irish rugby and share some coffees. It was a beautiful morning and the sun was shining warm through the cafe's large windows. After we had our fill of rugby and coffee, we continued wandering around town a bit, then hopped back into the car to continue our journey to Glengarriff. As we got closer, the terrain got more interesting; much more craggly and rocky yet deeply green. We found the turn-off to our b&b before getting into town, and this place was AWESOME. The owner, Kathleen was a little angel, syrupy sweet, and showed us to a room that absolutely blew us away. Not only was it huge, and have an amazing view of the mountains and bay and pastures and gardens, but it was beautifully decorated with all the comforts of home. We could hardly believe it, especially given the price. We watched Germany win their match in the very nice common area, and had a nice conversation with a super nice and reserved older German gentleman who was a regular visitor of the b&b. We needed to get more cash to pay in the morning, as well as something to eat for dinner, so after the game, we drove into the tiny village of Glengarriff and found a convenient parking spot right in front of a little Celtic shop. We looked for an ATM, and found none. We stopped for dinner at a little pub, but they didn't accept credit cards and the waitress said that the only place that did was an Inn across the street, so that is where we went next, and had a delicious pub meal. The waitress there explained that we had two options for getting cash, 20 minutes in one direction, or 35 minutes in the other. So, after paying, we drove back out past our b&b to another town, and got money out there, and looked for an off-license to get some beers, but none were open. Back to the b&b for the night.

Sunday June 25th, we enjoyed a delicious breakfast and spoke some more with our German friend about where he was going for the day, and what our plans were. We still had not made reservations to stay anywhere, and were hoping to get some input from Kathleen and/or some other folks so we could make a decision on where we should plan to go for an overnight. Our German friend reiterated that Killarney would be virtually impassable because of a huge motorcycle rally and parade. So, after breakfast, we spent some time analyzing maps and our b&b directory and decided to drive an indirect route to Dingle, by taking the long way out and around the peninsula on N70, instead of the direct route on N71 which would take us right through Killarney. We packed the car and said our goodbyes to Kathleen, who was such a sweetheart, and as we pulled out, we all frantically waved at each other, like family, as we made our way up and then down the long gravel driveway. It was a wonderful start to our day, and it just kept getting better. When we left, we decided on today's travel plans mostly as a way to avoid the anticipated congestion around Killarney, even though we really wanted to see the city, as it comes highly recommended. But, what we didn't know, and would soon find out, was that the driving route we chose was actually one that people do on purpose, and is known as The Circle of Kerry. Absolutely amazing!!! Glengarriff itself was amazingly beautiful, and as we made our way through a number of really nice looking towns, especially Kenmare, the terrain through the sweeping green mountains, and alongside bays and inlets, was breathtaking. I couldn't help but to keep stopping alongside the road to take pictures, probably 5 or 6 times. We stopped for a little break in a small waterside village called Waterville, where we took a nice walk on a sidewalk alongside the water, and then popped into a little cafe for some capps and Internet access. The town was loaded with Harley riders, from all over, including the U.S., France, Italy, Germany, etc. We also called a b&b in Dingle, and made a reservation at the Ard-Na-Mara house with Mrs.Ann Murphy, and got some directions on how to get to her place once we arrive in Dingle. We jumped back in the car, and continued on our way, continuing to take video, photos, oohhing and aahhing at all the green splendor. Another stop, at the last second, was at the "Inch", a strange but awesome stretch of beach among the surrounding moutains where you can drive your vehicle onto the wide flat beach, and do all the normal beach activities that we would do at home. It reminded me of what the Outer Banks might look like, minus the huge green mountains and the Red Cliffs. After enjoying some beach time, we continued onward and long before our expected arrival time, we landed in Dingle. It was not immediately that we found the b&b, but after a few attempts, we found it, and Mrs.Murphy was a sheer delight as she showed us the rooms we could choose from; we chose the one with the view to the Bay, instead of the larger room with a view of the pasture. Tough...heheheee. After unloading the bags, we drove back into town and took a nice long stroll throughout, stopping in a few shops, and then wandering up the hill around the backside of town, into a new development, and back along the water into town from the opposite side. For dinner, we looked at a number menus, and walked into one with definite "criag", but there were no seats or tables available. Finally, into a pub called Murhpy's where we had a delicious meal, where Vee had an opened face chicken sandwich and I had a cajun chicken and vegetable dish. After dinner, I tried to find an "off-license" for a few beers, but they were all closed. Back to the b&b for a nice early night of reading and downloaing our pictures.

Monday June 26th, we arose in the quiet solitude of Dingle, cleaned up, and headed down for breakfast, where we ended up having a really nice conversation with a really sweet young couple from Turino Italy, Simone and Guliana. Having been in so many places has opened up opportunities for connecting with people so much more easily than before. Guliana and Simone shared all the things they knew about Philly (The movie "Philadelphia", the "Philadelphia" cream-cheese, "Rocky"), and we in exchange told them about our impressions of specific parts of Italy. We exchanged contact information and offered our homes for any future visits in Italy/U.S.. Mrs.Murphy made sure we were well fed and happy, and we were, as I had scrambled eggs and smoked salmon, and Vee had smoked salmon over toast. With the car packed, we paid Mrs.Murphy, and got some last minute advice on where to stay for the night, and decided on Killolee, rather than Limerick or Adare. Our road trip in the morning took us around the Dingle peninsula, where we stopped a number of times to enjoy the spectacular views. One was at a super long and wide beautiful beach where cow pastures had the best ocean front location and the development was sparse to almost non-existant. Another was a view from above, of another wonderful beach. Another spot was at the top of the Conner Pass, where we climbed to the peak and stood on a pile of rocks from 360 degree views, including Brandon Mountain and Brandon Bay on one side of the mountains, and Dingle and the Dingle Bay on the other side. From the top, we rang a b&b in Killolee and were successful on the fourth dial. We had to shimmee the car down the one lane pass, avoiding a few oncoming cars and a bus or two, but luckily, it opened back up to two lanes and was actually quite a nice road beyond the construction. We stopped in a little town called CastleIsland for capps and pastries in the late afternoon, then on through Adare and Limerick and lots of other smaller towns before arriving in Killoloe. We mistakenly crossed the bridge into the adjacent town, after sitting in traffic forever, then had to reverse coarse, and sit in traffic again, but were able to right ourselves, and found the b&b soon after. We were greeted by Bryan, the owner's son, at the front door, and he showed us our room, gave us the keys and explained what the keys were for. We dropped off our bags and on the way out met the very friendly owner, Anne O'Conner, on our way out for a walk into town for dinner at Gooser's where I had a burger and Vee had a veggie baguette and we shared a scallop app and a chocolate mousse dessert. We walked back to the b&b where Vee showered and I washed some clothes in the sink with the Switzerland-Ukraine game on the tele. Probably just do some reading before bed.