The Ring of Kerry. It could be something from Tolkien that is to control all women named Karry. But what it actually is is the road that connects all of the towns in Kerry County, Ireland. The Ring of Kerry is famed for its natural beauty and charming villages, and it is our agenda for day 36.
On our way out of Killarney, we get a halfway decent picture of Killarney's largest church, St. Mary's Cathedral.
The first town we hit on the ring is Killorglin, and this is a statue of King Buck. It is said that a goat once saved this town from invasion, so each year a wild goat is taken from the mountains and placed high on a pedestal in town for Puck Fair. How did the goat save the town? Legend says it might have come running into town spooked by the invading army, and that was all the warning they needed. Like a medieval alarm system.
Killorglin's main street. It's a fun name, Killorglin. Say it out loud a few times.
Killorglin's church. Look, I don't know what to say. You drive through a town where a few thousand people live, and the sensible thing to do is take pictures of the main street and the church. Sometimes I take pics of the pubs if they have cool names.
Bunkers is a cool name.
After Killorglin you see Dingle Bay, a fun name for the sick and twisted as well as a beautiful vista.
We passed through Carrantuohill with no blog worthy pictures taken, but stopped just beyond the town for this view of the Atlantic. One thing about oceans, they mess with your perspective. There is no real way to grasp that if you touch the water in Florida, touch it Maine, and touch it here that it is all the same body of water. Then again, all of the oceans are connected, so...
She takes my picture as I take her picture and the finger indicates what we like to call a "Yasir Arafat Scarf" THERE.
The next two towns were Glenbeigh and Cahersiveen, so let us pretend that these hills are between the two. That way both towns get credit and I don't get angry emails from any mayors.
This be Waterville. It sort of represented our halfway point, and we had planned to eat lunch here, but a lack of hunger meant that we did not even stop.
But I did get a picture of the Waterville church!
Outside Waterville they had a concrete walkway into the bay, which walked down until I could walk no further.
The wind was very strong, and "someone" got back in the car to stay cozy.
No clue. Absolutely no clue at all. But let us call her the patron saint of baby animals. Because that would explain the next picture.
Beggar with baby animals, leaning against the wall that surrounds the previous statue. I gave him €2 for taking pictures of him and his baby sheep and two kittens, but if I showed you a close-up of the baby sheep and two kittens your heart your twist inside your chest as you ache to cuddle them. Another thing the photographer is not letting you see is the fact that this beggar's white compact car is a few feet from his knee and had his wife snoozing in a reclined front passenger seat. He may sit here every day with baby animals, his back against the patron saint of whatever statue, making €100 per day for petting kittens. How? Tour buses stop here all day. Hundreds of people see the kittens and sheeplet every day. Cased closed. For all we know this gentleman has a PhD in Economics and caught on that begging with baby animals is the way to go.
We then drove right through Ballinskelligs and Caherdaniel to Staigue Fort. Long before we arrived at Staigue Fort, I announced that it would be the best thing ever. Ever. Why? One book we had claimed it was 2,000 years old. Another, 3,000 years old. I was sure that awesomeness awaited.
Awesomeness realized. I shall re-type the highlights from the sign at the entrance:
This is one of the largest and finest stone forts in Ireland and was probably built in the early centuries AD before Christianity came to Ireland. It must have been the home of a very wealthy landowner or chieftain who had a great need for security.
A wall up to six meters high and four meters thick -- built entirely without mortar -- encloses an area thirty meters in diameter.
The fort was the home of the chieftan's family, guards and servants, and would have been full of houses, out-buildings, and possibly tents or to her temporary structures.
Do you feel informed? You'd better.
Checking for barbarians at the gate.
Barbie at the very top.
There she is, on the left.
It was windy, and to be completely honest, I wasn't going to stand straight up.
From above, you can see how the stairs worked. Basically, if bad people were outside, you ran up here with your bow and maybe some rocks, and you made the people outside the wall really dang sorry to be trying to raid the chieftain's fort.
Barbie shows you just how tall that wall is.
By the way, can I add that this fort was built around the time of Rome's Pantheon? Rome, the city with clean running water and sewage systems. Feel free to let your mind wrap around that one.
On the way back to the main road, a gang of sheep tried to pull off that scam where a few hang out in front of you to slow you down so that their buddies can come up behind you and pick your pockets. Barbie was wise to these sheep thugs and floored it, mowing them down in a cloud white fuzz.
Sneem, perhaps the best named village in the circle, is known for its multi-colored buildings. Pic proof! By now we were hungry. We couldn't find a pub with food, so we walked into this Irish kitchen.
By the way, day before yesterday we bought an iPhone car charger from the most handsome young man in Ireland, David at Galway's Eyre Square O2 store. It has taken Barbie two days to get over him. (He was wicked sexy. I can admit that.) Today, I was served soup and a baked potato by the most beautiful girl in Ireland, whose name I do not know. But one has to love how the universe balances itself.
I didn't get a picture of the most beautiful girl in Ireland, but I got a picture of the mushroom soup. We thought of telling her to go find David in Galway and make beautiful babies together.
My baked potato with cheddar and bacon, Barbie's Irish beef stew. Keeping it real, we are. Or keeping it Irish, I should say.
Between Kenmare and Killarney, one sees many beautiful sights. This is one of them.
There is a famous spot here called Ladies View, because Queen Elizabeth I visited with her ladies in waiting and they stood here and said it was the most beautiful view that they had ever seen.
We walked along some rocks for this view of Lough Leane.
Yours truly.
Barbara truly.
Lough Leane on the other side of the rock outcropping.
Irish clouds and a hint of the Irish sun.
And that was that, we had completed the Ring of Kerry and were back at our hotel. Barbie had a lot of work to do, and we can only have one computer connected at a time in the room, so I took care of some business of my own.
Summer Blockbuster. (That pic would be better if I could have gotten the row in front of me.) You see, there are these robots from outer space that can turn into cars and such, and then back. I was too old to ever see a cartoon, but I figured I should see this movie on a big screen while I had the chance.
As long as I was taking pics inside the theater... I can honestly say that this was the second best shape shifting robots from outer space movie I've ever seen. (I thought the first movie was great, and number two didn't compare, but it was still entertaining.)
Killarney at the magic hour. Beautiful. We went out for a bite to eat, and the entire town shuts down at 9 PM. Even the pubs stop serving food at 9 PM.
Next to the Häagen-Dazs next to the cinema next to our hotel is a pizza place. It saved us in a pinch, though you can see in the window there that teenaged Irish thugs were hanging out inside. Good thing I still look like an Italian football hooligan. They didn't mess with us.
The name of the pizza joint is Four Star Pizza. So this is a pic of Four Star Pizza in a Five Star Hotel.
Good night.
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