Rain, Rhododendrons and Racers

Up and on the road by 9:00 and heading south toward the Beara Peninsula. It was stormy, windy and raining again, but our other choice was to sit in our apartment and get bored – so off we went.

We drove south again, back to Kenmare. And yes, we stopped and Patrick bought another chocolate muffin at “his” bakery.

We continued south and got to the Beara Peninsula, described by Rick Steves as a “distant third choice after the Ring of Kerry and the Dingle Peninsula”. After driving around it for a while today, I think he may be right. Sadly, the road around the peninsula is *very* windy, narrow, and with tall bushes/trees growing on both sides. All this combined with the bad weather made for little chance to see the views of Bantry Bay. What little we did see was dramatic and rocky, but I have to admit that I liked the Dingle Peninsula better. It was interesting to see more trees than normal and even ferns growing on the road side. Rhododendrons were in bloom and everywhere. Some were so huge they were arching over the roadway!

I can now say I’ve gone around all three: the Baera Peninsula, Ring of Kerry and Dingle Peninsula (specifically the Slea Head Drive). Check that one off my bucket list!

We did stop intentionally in the little town of Eyeries on the north coast of the peninsula. It’s known for its brightly colored buildings – which was true! Still, the town was very small with one windy street and that was that.

After Eyeries we continued on the rest of our loop and stopped at a nice viewpoint. The rain stopped long enough for us to run out and take some quick photos.

One interesting moment in our Beara Peninsula drive – we were stopped by what we at first thought was a police motorcycle, blocking traffic from entering the main road. We heard sirens and people whooping and hollering. We’d heard that Obama was visiting Ireland but we couldn’t imagine *what* he’d be doing on the Beara Peninsula. We were laughing pretty good when the peloton of bike racers flew by, instead of an Obama motorcade.

Back to Kenmare and we managed to *not* stop at the bakery – LOL. We did stop at a local stone circle which was so close to Kenmare we’re wondering now why we didn’t see it in 2009.  But, after sites like Avebury and Stonehenge, it was really small and not inspiring. It was basically a “go-in, take-picture, go-out” kind of place.

We made it back to our apartment by 3:00 and I think we’re ready to have a quiet afternoon/evening.

 

A Day Around Killarney

It’s already Tuesday and I feel like we’re running out of time. This is my last week on vacation! The weather looked like rain, so we decided to stay close to Killarney. We went out for an early mocha – but apparently shops around here don’t open until 9:00 – not even coffee shops! Instead we wandered over to St. Mary’s Church – where I fell the last time we were here. Luckily, no falling this time. The church was vacant and there appeared to be a coffin waiting near the altar for services. Kinda gave me the willies in such a quiet, echo-y place. We walked back the way we’d come, got some mochas that were just OK and returned to the townhouse.

We got into our Chevy Epica car and headed south.While driving through the Killarney National Park we got a chance to stop and walk up to the Torc Waterfall. In 2009 we were here and every one of my pictures came out blurry. This time I made sure to get a few good shots. And even better? Since this time we’re visiting in spring, the wild rhododendrons are in bloom!

Back into the car and we continued our drive. We stopped briefly at Moll’s Gap for some quick pictures and were quickly back on our way to Kenmare.

We had two goals for Kenmare:

1. Find the shortbread cookies layered with raspberry jam with one end dipped in chocolate. Patrick had especially enjoyed these on our earlier trip. We were pretty sure we knew where the bakery was, and I’d found it in Google Street View.
2. Fruitcake from another little bakery where I had stopped in 2009 to buy a mocha, and happened to find some great fruitcake (muffin-size).

#1 – we struck out! We found the bakery, but the employee there had only worked there two weeks didn’t know what we were talking about. And frankly, the interior had been re-done and they’d added vegetarian items to their menu. Patrick made do with what he call a f*cking awesome chocolate muffin. In fact we went back after lunch and he bought a second one.

#2 – Score! Even though I wasn’t really sure the bakery with the fruitcake was in Kenmare – I found it! I bought two of the little muffin-sized fruitcakes for 5 euros (about $7.50). Deeee-lish but super sweet. I haven’t really had much sugar in the past 5 months and these things pack a punch.

A Kenmare pub served up a nice lunch. Amber had her third fish n’ chips, Patrick had a grilled chicken burger and I got a bowl of cream of veg’ soup with some wonderful toasted brown bread.

While walking back to the car we stumbled upon an art store. I ran in and bought two pens and a badly needed pencil sharpener.

Then it was back in the car for our return trip to Killarney. This time we stopped at the Ladies’ View and I tried to take some HDR images – we’ll see!

We stopped at Muckross House and Gardens and wandered around for a while. This is a manicured, huge park with a giant Victorian house. I had finished a watercolor/ink painting of the Muckross House this past winter, so it was great to see it again. My painting was based on a photo I took in the fall of 2009. Things looked pretty much the same this spring, except the ivy was all green now instead of having a lot of red in it.

Once back in Killarney Patrick decided he really wanted to see Ross Castle again, so Amber and I waited in the car while Patrick enjoyed the tour.

Now? Done for the day.