After our lovely time in Kinsale we headed to a town south of Killarney called Kenmare. Kenmare is a cute town, but really this was our jumping off point for other places.
Ring of Kerry
Staying in Kenmare put us right on the Ring of Kerry without the craziness of Killarney tourism. Join us along the drive and see what the hype is all about. If you want to do it for yourself just pick up the trusty Rick Steve's Ireland guidebook and it is in there.
The small town of Sneem. What a beautiful country!
We visited many prehistoric sites when we were in Scotland and Ireland. This is the ring fort, Staigue Fort.
We visited the home of Daniel O'Connell called Derrynane House which looked out over this coastline
I wouldn't mind walking this path everyday
Along the drive we saw wonderful views like this one
and this one (but we had to pay 4 euros for this one)
and this one and no this isnt the Cliffs of Moher those come later
The drive around the Ring of Kerry is an all day or at least 5-6 hours. Driving this ring provided all the landscape I dreamed of Ireland looking like. Beautiful landscape and fabulous views. Definitely worth the drive if you are in County Kerry.
Muckross House and Traditional Farm
The Muckross House is a historical house owned by rich families in Ireland over the centuries. This was the surprise of the trip. I have been to many historical homes, but this one was awesome. It really felt like someone could still be living there. Full of artwork from around the world. The farms were my favorite part. They showed you what farms were like in the 1920's to 30's.
Justin's getting his pet on
A demonstration of how they cooked bread for a family.
There was wildlife everywhere which made it such a real life experience.
This is considered a medium farm house. Ireland is famous for thatch roofs like this one.
My mom and Terry along the farm trails
This was in the baby petting area. I loved the piglets!
And the baby sheep loved Justin.
Here is the inside of a large farmhouse
The view from the house, not bad huh?
The Muckross house and it's garden, Quite lovely the whole thing
Tralee
We made a quick stop in Tralee to trace our heritage, well not really, but we had to say we had been there. Truth be told, my great-great-great grandfather (or my grandpa's grandfather) did come to America from Tralee in 1897. We stopped at the Museum of Kerry.
They had a great photography exhibit of the life in Kerry in the 1950's
Dingle Peninsula
We were up for one more drive and this was around the small peninsula of Dingle. This one can be done in 2 hours and is well worth it for some of the prehistoric sites.
Here is the Dunbeg Fort. It literally looked like it was about to fall into the ocean
I was so impressed by the stonework and how much work must of gone into these things
Have you ever seen a rock igloo? Me neither until now! They were very tall inside I could extend my arms all the way up and still not touch the top
Check out the fog we enjoyed on our drive around the Dingle Penisula. I guess you assume this is what it looks like in Ireland
More views around the peninsula
This is the Gallarus Oratory built about 1,300 years ago...crazy! This is Ireland's best preserved early Christian church. This is a unique design that is waterproof.
12th century Irish Romanesque church
County Kerry is Irish through and through and I loved all the amazing scenery; I feel like I am saying that a lot, but it was just beautiful. We majored to jam as much as we could into 3 days in Kerry and I am glad we did. I feel like we got to see so much of what Ireland is famous for.
--Marisa
