Ireland Trip - Day 5

Warning: this post contains a lot of pictures of scenery...a lot. For some reason, I just couldn't get over the beautiful green color of the countryside, so I felt like a needed to take a billion pictures of it. This probably has something to do with the fact that I despise how our yard looks in the winter time because the freeze turns the grass a crispy, brown color. Now, if it was covered in pretty snow that would be one thing, but it's not. So for 3 months out of the year, I have to look at dead grass. They don't have this problem in Ireland because they do not have extreme temperatures; so it doesn't get really hot and they don't usually have a freeze in the winter. Therefore, they have beautiful green grass all year long. Jealous.

March 21st - Ring of Kerry-Killarney, Ireland

Our morning began with a drive along Clonderlaw Bay to Killimer. Rather than taking the extra time to drive around the estuary that lie between us and the Ring of Kerry, we simply drove our bus onto a ferry boat in order to cross the Shannon Estuary.

Next, we stopped in Fossa at a store called Macken for a complimentary Irish coffee. Jared loved the Irish coffee of course, and I was willing to try it even though I don't like coffee because I figured that if there was anything in the world that might improve the taste of coffee, it would be whiskey :) Unfortunately, that did not pan out as I planned and it pretty much just tasted like coffee still.

While in Ireland, whenever we would tell people our last name they would say, "oh, so you're an Irishman!". I would think to myself, "no actually my husband's paternal family is from Cuba"...and the confusion set in. Side note: people in Ireland seem to know the family history of everybody. Our tour director, in particular, seemed to know the family history behind every last name you could throw at him. After much discussion, our tour director informed us that "Roche" did originate in Ireland and a number of them immigrated or were exiled to Cuba from Ireland. However, there are still a large number of them living in Ireland and Roche happens to be a very common surname for the Irish. Here all this time I was thinking that you had to have a Mc or an O' at the beginning of your last name to be Irish. After this revelation, we noticed that everywhere we went we saw Roche family crests and family histories, so we just had to buy one. On our journey, we found out that our name means "rock" and that it is a good solid Irish name...pun intended :) We fully intend on looking into our family history more now that we are home, as well as embracing our "Irish-ness". Guess I can finally celebrate St. Patrick's Day for the right reasons now.

From Fossa, we continued on to Killorglin where we began the 100-mile panoramic trek around the Ring of Kerry. The scenery on the Ring of Kerry is some of the best in Ireland. It varies from picturesque countryside to mountains, and even cliffs over the Atlantic Ocean.

How many times have you seen cows that have an ocean view?

About halfway around the Ring of Kerry, we stopped for lunch at the Scarriff Inn which is a bed and breakfast built into the side of a mountain overlooking the bay. It claims to be home to "Ireland's Best Known View" and it most certainly was.

After lunch, we continued our drive around the Ring of Kerry passing through a number of quaint Irish villages, some more countryside and the beach (which no one probably ever goes to because the water is always freezing).

We stopped briefly in Moll's Gap, which is in the Black Valley, on the last leg of the Ring of Kerry. The Black Valley is aptly named as it is far from the green pastures typical of Ireland. Full of rock-faced mountains and rough terrain, it is truly the "dark" region of the country.

The Ring of Kerry ended in Killarney, famous for its beautiful lakes. While driving through the Killarney National Forest, we stopped to enjoy the Lakes of Killarney via the "Ladies View" cliff edge.

After standing near this rock for a few minutes taking some photos, Jared looks down at the rock and notices that someone with our last name has carved their name into the rock. In case you can't really read it, it says "Annie Roche". Small world.

Early in the evening, we went on an excursion to the Muckross House and Gardens. First, we strolled around the gardens enjoying the fabulous views of the mountains and lake scenery.

Next, we took a tour inside of the Muckross House, which at one time was owned by the Guinness Family, and visited by Queen Victoria and King Albert in 1861. Of course, we were not allowed to take photos inside the house, but it was beautiful. I'm very sad that I could not take a photo of the ceiling in the dining room because it was covered in giant quatrefoils.

After visiting Muckross House and Gardens, our group went out for a pre-dinner drink at the Lake Hotel on the Lower Lake of Killarney. The hotel not only has views of the lake, but also of the mountains and the MacCarthy mor Castle. We enjoyed a pint of Guinness in the hotel pub and then wandered out to the ruins of the castle to explore.

While we were at the castle, we spotted some Irish Native Red deer in the marsh right behind the hotel. We had seen some red deer earlier in the evening and some wild pheasant in the days prior. Apparently, we need to come back to Ireland for some hunting :)

We had a group dinner in the hotel that evening, and then hung out in a local pub for a little bit after dinner. Killarney is a beautiful place to visit and we surely enjoyed our time there even though it was rather short.