May 31, 2018

Ireland, Ring of Kerry Backtrack

What do you do when plans change?

Roll with the punches. (And don’t argue with mom! Haha)

As I mentioned in my Killarney + Where I Came From post, our plans changed about two-thirds the way through our “tentative scheduled” plan. This is when we were diverted back to Killarney instead of heading north to the Aran islands and beyond. This decision was made based on some family things and thought it was a good compromise. Plus, it meant I got to hang out with that very, very attractive Irish man I met again 😍

That morning after the decision was made, my family piled backed into our tiny car, with groceries in tow and headed for the backtrack to the Ring of Kerry. For those who don’t know, The Ring of Kerry is about 110 miles circle around County Kerry. And that is exactly what it was – driving and stopping wherever you want. Sound familiar? You got that right! It’s exactly the same as the Dingle Peninsula, except twice or three times bigger!!!

OMG! Too much for me!!!

Please keep in mind, when I told people I was going to Ireland, this was the most recommended tourist land mark!! What in the world? Seriously! Maybe because we did the Dingle Peninsula first, everything started looking the same. I found that the The Ring of Kerry was unnecessary. But for the sake of the family, we did it. Can’t say that I would do that drive again. It was a long and dragging day, through the winding roads of County Kerry. We ended up going counter-clockwise, starting in Killerglin and ending back in Killarney. We did skip Kenmare and cut through Sneem…which got us back sooner. I was dying to get out of the car – the delirium and hysteria was seriously kicking in!

I suggest leaving early in the morning, if you do decide to drive the Ring of Kerry. Then again, if you want to skip, I highly recommend and suggest Dingle instead 🙂

We did manage to see a lot on our drive, though. We did the following:

Walk around stone forts: Cahergall Stone Fort and Leacanabualie Stone Fort
Visited The Old Barracks in Cahersiveen
Stop by the Valentia Lighthouse
Saw more sheep and held another lamb (this one smelled wayyyy better)
Stopped by more beaches
Take a ferry to Valentia Island
And ended our drive with some good fish and chips

With the completion of the drive, it out us back in Killarney for round 2.0. And this is where it gets fun. After itching to get out of the car so bad, I made plans to hang out with my new Irish friend. Little did I know I was about to go to some of the coolest spots in Killarney that I didn’t even know about (or at least didn’t know were open at night!)

Killarney 2.0

The second night I got to hang out with my friend might have been the best night in Ireland. He ended up taking me to two landmarks that only locals would know were open after sunset.

First was the Ross Castle. Down a dark street to a small parking lot sat a castle that takes on a whole different look and feel at night, than it does during the day. All lit up at night, the castle was a sight to see! While there was definitely a lot of history, I couldn’t read the signs because it was too dark! But besides knowing the history, the view was absolutely gorgeous. We walked around the perimeter and up on the first level. We couldn’t go inside, but it’s possible you can go inside during the day (worth going back to Ireland to find out!). Another part I loved was there was no ambient lighting around, so we could see all the stars in the sky and the bright, full moon. Can’t help to call this location “romantic”.

Our second stop was to a very old church within the Killarney National Park. I can’t guarantee this landmark is actually open at night – I’d say check it out during the day, though. From what I could tell, it was really, really interesting. We had to use our cellphones to be our guiding light throughout our walk. There was a little graveyard in the back, a huge old tree in the middle, and lots of ways to get lost in the church. Super exhilarating! I didn’t get any pictures, but would love to go back and visit this landmark again.

Both landmarks were the perfect ending to our stay in Killarney and wouldn’t have changed a single thing about it. There are many reasons why I loved Killarney and one main reason was the amount of fascinating things we got to see there. It also didn’t hurt that is where I met my Irish friend 😉

Since my brother wanted to have the buffet from the B&B we stayed at the first time, that’s where we bummed it for our second stay in Killarney. We filled our bellies with food and then we got the road again to find the Cliffs of Miner before getting to Galway for our final night in Ireland. Side note, the breakfast was pretty amazing – they even had gluten-free scones and bread AND dairy-free items, like butter and milk. AMEN KILLARNEY! You rock.