Carrig House Killarney

<br>Most people have never heard of the Skellig Islands found about 16 kilometres (10 miles) off the coast of southwest Ireland. But what a find and what an experience!! Skellig Michael, the larger island, was the home of Christian monks in the sixth century. They lived in beehive stone huts built near the top of the 600 steps that cling in places to the cliffs. Next door on Little Skellig Island is the ...

... it - bless those Irish drinkers! <br><br>Lunch was in Dingle, a small fishing village. It's best known for it's resident dolphin - Fungie who hangs out with the boats all day. The village offers sightseeing trips and are so sure you will see him you get your money back if you don't! <br><br>Back into the bus and past the Lakes of Killarney and into Killarney proper. Before our bags were down we were on the horse and carriage which ...

... and rivers - true postcard stuff. The weather again has been smiling on us and we enjoyed blue skies all day.<br><br>Michael our tour guide has continued to be a wealth of knowledge - in addition to the fairy stories, he's also told us legend of the white horses of Ireland and filled us in on the Potato Famine, which went for about 5 years and killed up to half of the Irish population - through disease, starvation or dying on the ...

... to see how we react to situations. and if any of you know how many bathroom breaks Nic and I take on roadtrips, you'll know when I say that I have seen more bathrooms in this country than Irish pubs. And they are all grosssss gas station bathrooms...giving us all great thigh workouts!! And it is sooooo hard to find a good cup of coffee here. Honestly, its all instant coffee and super strong. There isnt Time Hortons or Starbucks on every corner.

Today we got up early and headed out to Killarney to pick up a bus tour of the Ring of Kerry. Our paperwork told us to call 24 hours in advance to confirm, but when we did, the operator seemed astonished, and somewhat bewildered by our call. Should be interesting. Weather = Foggy and rainy.<br><br>Killarney is about 2 hours away from the cottage, and we got to drive through some really awesome scenery. we arrived at about 10 am, and ...

... that the IRA gets vilified but that it is also the fault of the British soliders. He presented two differnt ways of looking at things and is very knowledgible. Then we headed off to Paddys palace in Derry to stay the night. We then went out to dinner and and a few of us went to a pub in Derry for a few drinks and to listien to irish music. The next morning on Tuesday 10/02/08 we got up and cruised the North Atlantic Highway. We saw many breathtaking sceneries and saw where ...

... it was all down hill, it was great!! The last 3/4 of the Gap only took us 20 mins. At the end of the Gap it was a quick ice-cream stop and another 15km to get back to Kilarney. It took us another 30 soar ***** minutes to get back. All in all, great craic and something I wouldn't usually do. That night we took the 'scenic' route to Kenmare and had a very nice dinner there ...

... us off in town to have dinner at the rather famous Murphy's Pub, known for its Beef in Guinness. What a great dish. We also tried the apple cider and an assortment of beers. Then home after a long day. Tomorrow on to Dublin for 3 nights.

... cool. I can't remember the exact size of the island but there are 700 people, 14 villages with 10-11 families per village, 7 pubs and 1 bank, which is open only one day a week. The most stunning attraction is Dun Aonghasa, which was first built in 200BC. I would say that I was more impressed by this than the Cliffs of Moher. All-in-all the island was interesting but not really worth the 43E spent on it - 6E ...

... at some point too. Unfortunately seeing part of a game on TV was as close as I was to come.<br> <br>The spectacular scenery of hilly and rocky green paddocks of Ireland&#8217;s windswept and desolate western coast continued as we completed the Ring of Kerry and then moved onto the Dingle Peninsula. <br> <br>Then as the afternoon drew to a close we crossed from County Kerry to County Clare by catching a ferry across the wide ...