The Ring of Kerry

The next day we headed out to drive a scenic route around the Iveragh Peninsula called The Ring of Kerry. Unfortunately this was our rainy and foggy day in Ireland, but we made the best of it.

We started in Kenmare, went through Sneem and around the ring we went. We even did the red scenic route sticking out from the official Ring of Kerry. That turned out to be one of the coolest parts.

 

A random stop along the way.

sheep!

After driving through fog and not seeing much, we arrived in Waterville and were able to see again. We parked the car and walked along the town's beach.

Apparently Charlie Chaplin spent a lot of time here in Waterville. According to our guide from our boat ride on Muckross Lake, Chaplin was able to have some privacy in this small town. People thought he was a little off (he used a different word), but left him alone.

Back in the car again, we headed toward Ballinskelligs. We didn't really know where we were going, but saw a sign for a beach decided to investigate.

This was one of our favorite places. It was just us, a castle with unrestricted climbing and the water.

This overexposure is kind of cool- Toby walking off  across some shimmering water to a castle tower.

The fog covering the hills in the background is most likely what we drove through earlier in the day.

On top of the tower from the outside...

...and the inside

so far down...

After the stop at the beach, we continued on around this little ring. We passed by the Skellig Rocks which is home to a wide variety of birds and on the larger rock, there are remnants of a monastery. I would have loved to go but, when planning the trip, we didn't have time. (We wouldn't have been able to go anyway because of the weather.)

As we drove on we did see a Skellig we could get to: Skelligs Chocolate. 

In the middle of nowhere there was this chocolate factory.  You could watch them make their chocolate and they gave tons of free samples. 

Although we were hungary, we wanted something more than chocolate for lunch, so after tasting (and buying) some chocolate we continued down the road to Cahirsiveen at ate at Frank's Bar. It was tasty.

As we rounded the corner of the Ring of Kerry we explored the Gap of Dunloe and Muckross Abbey.

On the way back to our B&B we had some sheep crossing the road. There were more, but I didn't get my camera out it time. In addition to the sheep, you can see the sticker in our rental car reminding us to drive on the left side of the road.

That night we ate at a place called Davitt's and got to listen to some more music. This couple played a variety of instruments and also sang acapella. They admitted that they played more traditional songs than the younger kids played next door (at The Coachman's).

After dinner we went back to the B&B and prepared to say good-bye to Kenmare.

Kinsale (part 2)

After our tour we headed down around the bay and explored the star-shaped Charles Fort. It would have taken us about 45 minutes to walk to it, but we decided to drive to it.

It was a little chilly and cloudy, but as the day progressed the weather just got better and better.

Charles Fort from across the bay (later in the day):

 

The entrance of the fort:

 

 

After exploring the fort, we walked down the road to a place for lunch (the orange building) but it was closed so we headed back into Kinsale and asked the owner of the B&B for another recommendation on a place to eat. He told us to go to Cucina. I am so glad we went there. I had an awesome goat cheese sandwich with some sort of onion relish- soooo good!

 

After lunch the sun came out and we followed another recommendation and went to Old Head; an exclusive golf course and light house. We did not get into the golf course ( 300 euro a game), although we did ask, but we got to experience the views. It was gorgeous!

 

We saw these flowers EVERYWHERE and I found out they are called gorse and they smell like a sweet candy similar to butterscotch.

This commemorated the sinking of the Lusitania which occurred off of this coast.

Down the road from Old Head we found a beach. We walked along the water and enjoyed the weather.

 

 

Some typical Irish countryside:

 

Although the day started out cloudy it turned out gorgeous. Look at the difference in these pictures of Kinsale:

On the way home we turned down a different road and found our way to another beach and James Fort. (I love the colors in this picture.)

 

What an awesome day! For dinner we went to Max's (another great place to eat) and then headed over to The Blue Haven for some traditional Irish Music and some Irish dancing. I really enjoyed the music. It was played by three men. One man played a guitar and then another man played an instrument that resembled a bagpipe but instead of blowing into the bag he used his arm to "pump" the instrument. The last guy played an Irish drum and also the "spoons." He did some really cool things with those spoons.

Throughout the night the guys had some guest- some better than others. The best were the Irish dancers. I tried to get pictures but it was too dark and they were just too fast to get a decent picture. They also had a guy (he seemed very random) singing about the effects of the prozac factory up the street followed by a number about viagra.  The last guest played the violin and he was good, but at that point it was time for us to go. It was an entertaining evening.

Kinsale was a great little village. I would recommend spending time there. I don't know what it's like when  the sun isn't shining (we just missed a terrible hail storm and happened to experience the best weather they have had in 2 years), but if you had to stay in and eat for a couple days, Kinsale is the place to do it.