Day 5 in Ireland - Killarney
Arising early this morning we packed, fed our gullets and loaded in the car ready to explore the Killarney National Park, Muckross House, the southern coast of Cork County. If time allowed we hoped to make it to Blarney Castle all before finishing the day back in Dublin.
That was going to be a busy schedule! But first we had to navigate the seemingly impossible alley way again to get out of the Enviston Hotel parking lot. We began by repeating the same process as the day before. Having me Marshall the little SUV through the narrow passage. Mirrors folded in and only inches to spare.
We traveled out of Killarney and turned onto N71 one of the three roads that make up the ring of Kerry N70, N72 being the other two roads, and made our way into Killarney National Park, Ireland’s oldest national park. It was overcast that morning which had been a bit of a let down after all of the amazing weather we had had so far. Nonetheless we enjoyed the countryside and shortly found ourselves at the Muckross House.
Muckross House & Gardens
Upon Miranda’s request we stopped at the Muckross House and gardens located a few kilometres inside the Killarney National Parks off of N71. It’s considered the heart of Killarney National Park nestled on a lovely estate next to Lake Muckross. The house was built in the early to mid 19th century and offers a look into the lives of the extremely wealthy aristocrats of the time. Also on the grounds are preserved traditional farms and buildings of the era and examples of the poorer farmers’ and laborers’ lives from the 19th and early 20th centuries.
I apparently did not take any pictures of the house, rather I had filmed with my GoPro. Well yet another reason to bring a proper camera. Bad Joel! Luckily I found some rather nice stock images below for your viewing pleasure.
After exploring the grounds and house we made it back to our car to continue our adventure only to find a new obstacle to our travels.
Hmm… well the Mercedes didn’t give us much room. It was a bit of a trick backing the car out enough so that we could all get in, but nonetheless we were not going to let someone’s inconsiderate parking stop the fun! We continued onward along the western leg of the Ring of Kerry.
The Ring of Kerry (Lite)
We made several stops along the way including Derrycunihy Church and a little cafe for a bit of caffeine. Driving through the rolling hills our journey along this small portion of the Ring of Kerry would come to an end as we made it to Glanerought, the turn off onto N70, the continuation of the route South and West along the coast of County Kerry. We stayed on N71 taking us through Kenmare and headed into County Cork.
County Cork and a race against time
After passing through Kenmare and over the Kenmare bridge into County Cork we had a decision to make. Take the quicker hour and a half drive to the Blarney Castle along R569/N22 or make the decision to take the longer, hopefully more scenic, route to Blarney along the southern coastline.
We chose to stay on N71, an hour and twenty minute longer route, knowing the added distance would have us cutting it close to the 5pm cut off for daily admissions. We managed a few peaks of the southern coast, but ultimately the poor weather and the longer route made for little time to stop along the way.
Soon enough our deadline was approaching, the question of whether we would make the last call for admissions to Blarney Castle was on the forefront of our minds. Nearing 5pm we made it through Cork and en route to our destination. Driving what seemed erratically through the crazy windy streets with oncoming traffic mere inches away we were now racing the clock, it was 4:56pm.
Blarney Castle
I’ll chalk it up to the luck of the Irish, but we made it through the busy town square, dodging cars pulling out in front of us. James utilized his maximum velocity technique to maneuver skillfully around our obstacles and to our parking spot. 4:59pm we approached the ticket counter at the Blarney Castle and secured our tickets for the equivalent of about $20 dollars each.
We made it! With my adrenaline finally waning from the frantic events of the last 30 minutes or so we hurried across the grounds. The grounds are quite large and if not for our limited time, we could have spent several hours exploring. One big factor in our favor was we were visiting in the off season, March 16th. If not for that fact alone I fear we still would not have had the time to make it to see the famous Blarney Stone.
It was a few minutes walk to the entrance of Blarney Castle. I clocked us at about 15 minutes. Winding through the Castle and its myriad of stairwells each with little rooms opening up out of nowhere was fascinating. I was transported to my youth once again, imagining what it was like in the mid 15th century when the present version of the castle was built.
10 minutes later we arrived at the infamous Blarney Stone, which according to legend is half of the Stone of Scone. With no line and nearly the entire Castle to ourselves, we quickly kissed the Blarney Stone. I was ever hopeful the legend that kissing the stone grants you the gift of eloquence was true.
Eloquence: “fluent or persuasive speaking or writing.”
Well, I don’t think it worked for me. Let me know if you feel otherwise.
With our remaining minutes we explored the Poison Garden, one of several gardens on the 60 acres of property. The Poison Garden sits next to the Castle ruins and contains a variety of poisonous plants from all over the world. Apparently this garden is a newer feature, but I found it fascinating as most of these plants have been used as a form of holistic medicine in the past. Of course not all of them have had the desired results like the 18th century expression warns “It can either kill you or cure you”.
Back to Dublin
Having Kissed the stone and now with our new gifts of eloquence, night began to fall and we crammed back into our rental car for the final drive back to Dublin. This bit was a blur as we drove through the night three hours along the M8 expressway. We made our way back into Dublin and found ourselves back at the Blooms Hotel in Temple Bar for our last night in the county and the eve of St. Patrick’s Day.
Temple Bar for St. Patrick's Day Morning
We were determined to not let a long day of exploring and hours of being crammed into our little SUV put a damper on our late night plans. After getting settled back into our rooms and freshened up we made our way to experience St.Patrick’s day celebrations which had already begun in Temple Bar.
I like to think we started St. Patricks Day off right. We made it to a very packed The Temple Bar before midnight and proceeded to enjoy a few pints into the early morning hours of St. Patricks Day. Okay more like 2 am. We did have a plane to catch at noon! Honestly, we behaved ourselves but I have to say I’m not too keen on being in such tight quarters as we were stuffed in there like a bikini on South Beach (google it, it is not pretty).
Day 6 & Leaving Ireland
Our long day and late night (early morning) celebrations in Temple Bar the night before firmly over, our last and final task was bittersweet. We must now leave after only 6 days of exploring Ireland. Far too few enough days to even begin to do this incredible Island’s beauty and history any justice. We made our midday flight on Aer Lingus back to Nashville easily enough, but I left still longing for more.
Last thoughts, advice.
I’ll leave you with a few of my thoughts and some may even be taken as advice for when, not if, you make your way to Ireland.
If you're short on time and have only a week or less then pick an area and explore it
I would not recommend a trip like we took, not to say I didn’t enjoy it, but rather so you can truly explore all the area has to offer. We saw so many wonderful places, but really only just scratched the surface. We missed out on many other fascinating and beautiful places nearby due to our limited time.
Pack your best camera!
This is the biggest failure of the entire trip and it’s all my fault. Made worse since I am a photographer. I have no idea what I was thinking, but a GoPro ffis not a travel camera as you can see from my images.
Document Everything
Sticking with the photo theme, be sure to take photos of everything to help you remember the little moments. I often did not take pictures unless I thought the scene worthy enough, but in doing so I failed to document some of the great pubs, food, and seemingly insignificant things that I now only wish I could recall.
Pack Lite
As I talked about in the first post of this series, rental cars are quite small by American standards, even the “big” ones, and fill up quickly with your luggage. If you’re traveling by car on a road trip through Ireland or even by rail, which is another great way to get around, there is not a lot of space to be had. Pack light and try to keep it to one suitcase and a small backpack.
Thanks for taking the time to read this series. I hope my experiences from my first time traveling to Ireland can offer a bit of insight on your future travels. I would love to hear any further thoughts or advice I may have missed in the comments.
If your curious, I did take my own advice on my second trip to Ireland a couple of years later.
3 Comments
Lynne
I just love to read about your travel experiences. Can’t wait for your next posting. Cheers!!!!’
Joel Hartz
Thank you.