On To Killarney and Ring of Kerry.
Mood:  mischievious
Now Playing: Dingle. Dingle. Here we come!
One great thing about our hotel today was this: it had a
beautiful gym, pool and sauna. I availed myself of the first,
returned to our room and Lonnie and I set off for breakfast. This
is really a nice place and very moderately priced: 90 but when
you travel with a friend you only pay half! On the other hand
Lonnie is very hairy and not a lot of fun to cuddle with.

The dining room and the hotel, itself, are on the River Nore, a
swift-flowing water. During nicer weather you can dine on the
patio directly on the river. It must be beautiful in the spring.


The view from the dining room of our Kilkenny hotel.

This town is centered around the 12th century Kilkenny Castle
which passed through three important families. The third was the
Butlers who possessed it and its lands (hundreds of thousands of
acres) from the 1600's until 1962. These were cousins of the
British royalty and their wealth was astounding. Glancing out of
the window from the dining room I see mountains in the distance
about 10 miles or so away. "What mountains are those?" I asked
the guide. "Those are the so and so's", he replies. The Butlers
owned the land all the way to those mountains." A lot of land
they owned, we thought.


The two lads in front of the Butler home.


Viewing the family photo album in the "long" room.


The family's "long" room. This was added in the 1800's as part of a restoration.

On the way back to our hotel (and to our car to leave Kilkenny)
we pass this cute pub and the owner poses for us.


Matt at Matt the Miller's place.

We get on the "main" road which is more like a back-country road
in the states....one lane in each direction, narrow and twisting.
We're going to take "The Vee" a "shortcut" that cuts through
magnificent mountains covered with heather and lots of sheep.

Before that, we see a ruined castle and graveyard just off the
"main" road down a really narrow road and decide to take
a look-see.


A narrow road leads to some ruins and an old cemetery.


Some back roads on the way to Killarney.


A cemetary and ruins.

We leave the main road for "The Vee" and the road climbs into the
mountains with one switchback after another. It's like being in
an airplane. However, it's foggy and gray, sort of quintessential
Irish weather: moody and brooding. I love it. Lonnie wishes it was a bit sunnier.


A panoramic view of fields from The Vee.

We leave The Vee and get onto the "main" road again: the N72
which will take us straight across to Killarney. It's getting
late and we stop for a mid-afternoon lunch at a pub in a little
town on the way.


A pub for some potato-leek soup and a sandwich...


...and, em, a Guinness also.

It's a gray day and it remains so for the rest of our trip to
Killarney, which is the gateway to the Dingle Peninsula and the
Ring Of Kerry. Lonnie has convinced me to drive all they way
through instead of stopping at Cork which he dismisses as "just
another city" ("like Dublin", he says). He wants to see
natural Ireland. I haven't been there either so, what
the hey! Let's go.

We end up in Killarney, which seems (in the dark; it's 8 o'clock)
like a charming tourist town and find a very sweet b&b called The
Fairview Guesthouse. Since it's low season, the price is right,
we unpack and hurry out to dinner.

Tomorrow Natural Ireland! Till then I remain your humble
blogger, Matt The Miller.


The Fairview Guesthouse in Killarney.