Ireland, Killarney + Where I Came From
Because we spent most of the day learning about Vikings, we didn’t get on the road to Killarney until after lunch. So, we jumped back into our tiny rental and made our way.
Before I get too far, I should mention that my brother got me the Ancestry DNA packet for Christmas. One of the coolest things if you’re interested in knowing where you came from. All you have to do is spit into a tube, shake and send! Piece of cake! With getting my results, I found out that I’m very European, and even more specifically, 17% Irish ☘ So going to Ireland was an added bonus.
Funny thing is I read my DNA chart a little wrong and thought “Munster” was a town/city. What we came to find out was that Munster is a province that covers a great deal of Southern Ireland. When I looked a little more carefully at my chart, I found out that while I WAS from Munster, I was specifically from Cork. With this information, I HAD to visit. I told my family (and probably anyone who asked)
…“We have to go!”
Cork
So….we went! And basically drove right through it! 😂 Cork is a bumping city – a city that had what appeared to be “business buildings”, lots of people, a major port and pretty packed in with STUFF! It is not what I was expecting at all. Nothing stood out enough for us to stay…let alone stop.
I can say I’ve been to where my DNA said I came from, but not quite sure I’d stay. (There are many more beautiful places in Ireland, in my opinion.) When I do a little more research about my family history, I may reconsider going back to Cork, since I will DEFINITELY be going back to Ireland – no doubt.
Now for my favorite town…
Killarney
Killarney was by far my top pick for favorite town that we visited. The town was precious and romantic, yet had its bar and music scene at abundance. Anddd the lovely land of the Killarney National Park (part of the Ring of Kerry). I could easily live there! It’s just perfect! ❤
We ended up staying in Killarney for two nights, but not consecutively. I think we would have easily stayed there back to back, but the B&B we were in didn’t have any rooms available for our second night. (My mom tended to want to have things set ahead of time; a battle not worth fighting.) After staying in Dingle for a two-night stay, little did we know, we would end back up in my favorite spot. And I was so happy!
In this post, I would mention the “Round One of Killarney” and keep things in order to loop back to “Round Two” later this week 🙂
First Dose of My Favorite
After making our way from Waterford and through Cork, we eventually ended up in Killarney – LATE! Didn’t really matter since the sun didn’t set until after 9pm, but we were starving. We set out for food immediately and got the night-life feel of the town right off the bat. Lovely. Cute. Quaint. Wow, just love reminiscing about it!
Luckily, we found a nice restaurant that was still open AND had live music. Because they ran out of lamb, I had this dish called “Bacon and Cabbage”. I originally thought it would be like cabbage rolls or something but it wasn’t. And it was delicious! With food in our bellies and live music ringing in our ears, we made our way back to our B&B for a good night’s sleep. We had a big adventure the following day – Killarney National Park, Torc Waterfall and Muckross House.
[And, no, that is not my beer. Those who know me know I don’t drink! My brother and dad handled the drinking!]
You should know that Killarney National Park spans 26,000 acres! Unbelievable! Captivating! Gorgeous!
Since the park spans so vastly, there was plenty to see, but we were set out to see Torc Waterfall and visit the Muckross House. These are must see’s! You can use your Heritage card at the Muckross House, which I think is a pretty good investment if you plan to see a great deal of tourist locations and landmarks.
Find out more about the Heritage card in a future post called “Ireland, The Knows & Lessons Learned”.
So, the Torc Waterfall was first on the list…we actually didn’t have a plan, but thanks to talking to some kind strangers, we established a plan pretty quickly. Come to find out, you could walk a path from the parking lots to Muckross House. To get the fullest experience, that’s what we did. Thankfully, we were where we were at just the right time – you’ll see what I’m talking about in just a second.
Right before we made our way down some really steep hills, my dad made a comment to me. “I know you travel a lot, but I don’t find these people really friendly.” After engaging in a conversation about this, my dad decided to return to the car, since the hills were a little too strenuous for him (he isn’t in the best of health, but so thankful he came with us!) My mom, brother and I made our way down the hills to the bottom of the waterfall. But right after he left us, we met some friends traveling together from Oklahoma, talked to the ladies who gave us instructions…and I met a very, very attractive Irish man. (My dad would later call me a magnet. I guess that is good, right?) Crazy how the world works.
As I’m taking in the beautiful waterfall, that very attractive Irish man I mentioned runs by…kind of shows off, but not for my sake. Let me tell you – I have never stared so hard in my life. And I guess, thankfully I did because we started to engage in a conversation shortly after my stare down! I won’t share all the details, but I will say that I did photo-bomb his waterfall picture and he plays a role in our Dingle adventure and returned trip to Killarney. I also admit to forgetting his friend’s name because I was so distracted – LOL #truth.
Word of advice: TALK TO LOCALS; they know the hot spots and places you wouldn’t know about! Seriously, look up from your phone and ENGAGE! I am so thankful I was looking up when he came by.
With my mind spinning a mile a minute after that lovely interaction, the three of us (mom, brother and me) made our way onto Muckross House. It was about a mile walk from the base of the waterfall. The fields, mountains and lake were totally worth that walk. I wouldn’t have changed that for the world. Once we arrived to the house, I actually did a trail run back to the car to get my dad to drive him over to the property. There was a guided tour at the house – no pictures were allowed. The guide shared the history of the house and the families that lived there. They even had a white crow – “Winter is Here” for all my Game of Thrones fan followers out there 🙂
After exploring the Muckross House, my family was off onto their next adventure – a two-night stay in Dingle. Stay tuned next time, featuring Dingle Peninsula and our pub/live music experiences.