July 1

July 1 – Blarney and Killearney

Click a picture to see a larger view.

Along the Ring of Beara

It was becoming increasing clear that we could not do it all. We had planned to spend one night in Killearney, one night in Galway, and then fly to England from Shannon. After studying the map and our plans, we dropped Galway and planned to spend two nights in Killearney. We now have unfinished business to bring us back to Ireland, and that is fine by us.

After a good night’s sleep and a hearty breakfast at the Glenorney B&B, we headed west towards Killearney. We first made a stop by Blarney to kiss the stone. First, we stopped in a café in Blarney for lunch and found a couple of computers hooked to the Internet. We couldn’t resist checking email. That’s when I saw one from my brother, not knowing we were away, asking if we had any water damage from the rain in Washington. Rain? What rain?

Ah, the bliss of being away from home. When I received the email, I went on the Washington Post web site. It was there that I found that the rain that delayed our plane Sunday was just the beginning. The Washington area had received eleven inches of rain in just three days. Seeing photos of people rowing around town caused me to fire off a couple of emails, one to a friend and one to a neighbor. Fortunately both responded within the half hour or so I was on line. Not to fear, said the neighbor, we were all untouched by rising water.

However, Ellen did receive the news that, apparently unrelated to the rain, that the main server in her office was fried and that the data on the hard drive seemed lost with no reliable backup. Once Ellen returned to work after vacation, she was able to work out a solution and all was restored. But this was vacation and we were having a great time. It was hard to be bothered with the workday world.

After the short return to reality and swearing not to touch another computer while we were away. We headed to Blarney castle. The castle is one large tower with a narrow spiraling stone staircase up and another one down. The key objective in ascending is to reach the Blarney Stone at the top. This is the legendary stone that is believed to impart powers of eloquence and persuasion to the kisser. Elizabeth I defined the term “blarney” as flattery designed to gain favor. Blarney is also defined as deceptive nonsense. Perhaps this last definition best depicts the stone kissing.

In any case, this writer’s fear of heights kicked in half-way up the steps. Odd in that there was no drop from the steps; but, nevertheless, I stepped out to a separate room while Ellen made her way up to the top where she clicked photos of the process. The stone is a part of the rampart wall and you must lean backwards over the drop to the ground to kiss it. Not exactly a task many want to undertake.

After Blarney, we headed to Killearney where we planned to spend the next day touring the Ring of Kerry, a drive along Ireland’s Southwestern peninsula reputed to have beautiful views. However, after studying the map, we decided to spend the rest of the day driving a lesser-know peninsula, the Ring of Beara. It was delightful. The roads are too small for motor coaches and some were just the width of our small car. The result: We were all alone in the most beautiful country side we have ever seen.

One benefit of Ireland in the summer, besides the pleasantly cool weather, is the length of the days due to its northerly position. We finished our trip around the Ring of Bear after 7 PM with plenty of daylight to spare. As twilight approached we drove the near deserted road leaving the ring. As we topped the hills, below us we saw the Lakes of Killearney stretch through the valley below. Beautiful.

Daylight was still with us as we entered Killearney and found our hotel, The Fairview. Entering the town, we passed a number of hotels, one after the other. We soon found that Killearney is a summer destination town for the Irish. It even had a fair replete with carnival attractions and a Ferris wheel.

Killearney is full of bars and restaurants and things to do. Our hotel, The Fairview, is a boutique hotel. It has minimal staff, modern fixtures, and a fine restaurant. Note: Many hotels in Ireland, such as this one, even though modern in appearance, are not quite hip to the Internet. When making reservations, you may need to exchange a few emails. Be sure that you have a final confirmation email from the hotel. When we entered the Fairview, we were greeted by a hostess seated at a table working the reservations from a book, not a computer. We did not have that final email confirmation. Although full, she found us a room, and quite a nice one at that.

We decided to call the hotel in Galway and cancel now that we found we could extend our stay at The Fairview to two nights. We went to a pay phone. Although pay phones are becoming scarce in the States, there are plenty in Ireland. All that we found take credit cards for payment via a card swipe reader. After figuring out the dialing codes, they are easy to use. Our decision not to rent an international cell phone was sound.

We dined at the hotel restaurant and found it to be excellent. The lamb was the best. It was as lean and tender as you could hope for. Guess Ireland does have plenty of lambs from which to choose.