You can't have a rainbow without the rain. After a couple of sunny days in Dublin, the real Irish weather returned. We were told that it rained almost every day in Ireland, and we can't really argue with that. But this rainbow accompanied us most of the morning as we drove from our B&B in Killarney to the Dingle Peninsula, so we couldn't really complain.
But I'm jumping ahead in the story.
We left Dublin with no real plan, just to see where the roads took us.
They eventually took us to New Ross in central southern Ireland. New Ross is famous for its most famous emigrant--Patrick Kennedy, the great-grandfather of President Kennedy. Patrick Kennedy left Ireland during the Great Famine in 1848. The rest is, you know, history.
President Kennedy visited the Kennedy homestead just outside New Ross in 1963. It was a very big deal then, and still is today for the town. Pictures and banners of the President are everywhere downtown. Members of the family still own and live in the actual homestead but have opened the grounds, a few outbuildings and a very well done visitor center to the public. The private home, below is where the President had tea with his cousin. The courtyard was filled with poiticians the press and local people who had been invited.
We ended up staying overnight in New Ross, a nice small town on a river. Apparently it had been a major inland port since the 12th century. Patrick Kennedy emigrated from there in one of the saling ships known as "famine ships" and you can tour one in the harbor if you wish. They aren't very big. We looked at it and thought about how desperate someone would have to be to leave on a ship that small.
We decided to make Killarney our base for exploring Killarney National Park and the Dingle Peninsula. We found a lovely historic B&B (above) literally across the street from the Park, and it came with a donkey! What more could one ask for? The donkey's name is Paddy.
Killarney National Park is beautiful. That's all you really need to know. Go there. Leave now.
If you're a data geek, here are some factoids--it was the first national park in Ireland, created when the Muckross Estate was donated in 1932. It's over 25,000 acres in size and, according to Wikipedia, is one of the very few places in Ireland that has been continuously covered by woodland since the end of the most recent glacial period, about 10,000 years ago.
We loved that, from the B&B, we could just walk into the park and around one of the lakes. There are well marked trails. Many are used for walkers, bikers and horse carts (called "jaunting carts") but some are designated for walkers only. The jaunting carts are quite popular, and you do have to watch where you walk. An admittedly poor picture of a jaunting cart:
Our first walk took us to the Friory, established in 1445 and broken up by Cromwell in 1652.
Hauntingly beautiful and serene, and amazingly accessible. We were able to climb to the second floor and would have ascended the tower if Fred's efforts to pick the lock with our room key had worked.
This incredibly ancient yew tree was planted in the courtyard. Could it have been planted before Cromwell destroyed the Friory? Probably not, but there are yew trees in the park that are 200 years old.
We also visited Ross Castle, a 15th century tower house. We took the guided tour inside which has been restored in part. The tour gave a very detailed look at life in that time period. And went up and down a lot of very tiny spiral staircases.
A pair of rooks, a kind of crow, at the Castle. The older one is in the foreground with the white bill. We also saw a pair of white-tailed eagles at the lake, part of a population re-introduced in 2007.
We walked to the Torc Waterfall from the B&B only to discover that the tour buses got there first! Bedlam! Our serenity was seriously disturbed. But it was an overall pleasant walk of a couple miles, round trip, greatly enhanced by the presence of toilets at the falls and by the jaunting carts going by on the footpaths.
Our last day at the park we drove to the grounds of Muckross House, built in 1843 and the basis for the original park. The gardens are phenomenal, and worthy of a visit even if you don't want to visit the house. Great photo ops and walking paths. The grounds also have a visitor center and a working farm.
I'lll add a picture of Muckross House after we get home (different camera) or you can Google it.
You might have noticed I still haven't mentioned the Dingle Peninsula. Dingle deserves its own blog entry....so that's next.
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