Victoria House Killarney

... appearance. Our first stop was the Staigue Stone Fort. It was incredibly well preserved. As the name implies, it was built of stone, but with no mortar. We met people from Colorado and Maine (formerly of Medina) there. They were all trying to beat the buses, too.

After exploring around the fort, we drove to the town of Portmagee and had lunch in a bar. It’s Sunday, and a lot of places are closed, but we’ve found that there’s always a ...

... links the mainland with Dursey Island, so that the islanders and their livestock can get to and fro. It has a broken door, however, so it was closed to tourists. Over 200 people live on the island, but there doesn’t seem to be much to recommend it other than its bird population.


We stopped in the town of Castletownbere, which is the major fishing port here. We had lunch at a small café, during which the rain started again, threatening our trip back over ...

... John bought a somewhat pricey bar of milk chocolate. I tasted their dark chocolate, and it was very good, but I have my own stash with me.

We went into town and walked to the tourist information office. While there, we heard the woman who worked there recommend restaurants, and she mentioned one that we had gone to and found closed. She called the Lime Tree for us, and found that they’ve cut back to two nights a week. She booked us in for dinner, and then gave us ...

... to practise their rally car skills needs to do this first part of the ring of Kerry!

Up on Lady's view we had a perfect view back along the way we came.. we had lunch at Waterville, what would be a very lovely sea side village in the summer! lol. The day was quite mild but the water was freezing!!

Back around the other side reminded me of Scotland with the wild mountains and mist!!

This ...

A complex of churches in this area. The ruined cathedral is from the 12th century. Two churches are in the graveyard - one is the Teampall na Griffin from the carving of the Griffin. (Couldn't see it due to maintenance, but got a photo from the exhibition).
A short walk away was another ruined friary.

... I really wasn't sure I could keep driving, so when someone came from the opposite direction and pulled in next to us I asked what lay ahead for us. The woman assured me there were only about 5 more minutes of sheer terror, so we pressed on!

It truly was amazing, and after the mountain peak the road widened back to two lanes and the incline softened a bit. We just drank in the view as we gradually wound our way down ...

... assumption, but I would like to be able to go to town without worrying about what shoes I am wearing, or about whether or not I need a helmet. Oh well, that's life. So, per my travel philosophy of not succumbing to the exhaustion that threatens to overwhelm after an overnight transatlantic flight, Dad and I collect our bikes and set off for our first adventure. Not too far out of town is Killarney National Park ...

... profanity to be repeated verbatim here. Added to his knowledge of Irish nature, Niall had a keen interest in photography, and while regaling us with stories of staking out cheating husbands and photographing them as part of his security job, he managed to show us how to take video clips on our camera. This was a revelation, but also tinged with frustration as we thought back to all the times we could have used it during our travels so far (Costa Rican Tarzan swings ...

... the mountain paid off with great views. Unfortunately, I will have to post pix later, as this computer has no accessible USB ports. Some tips from the trail, When using the phone...Do not, I repeat, DO NOT **** IN THE PHONE BOOTH WHILE YOU ARE CALLING LONG DISTANCE. You are stuck in there for the duration of the call, and you are paying for it. On getting a room...Try NOT to get a room that has a window that opens to a pub. Even three stories up ...