I started our trek to the South driving on the left side of the road, trying to channel November/December when I had done it in Australia and New Zealand. It definitely takes some getting used to. Also, while in Dublin, Amanda had the great idea of buying a tin whistle after being inspired by our musical pub crawl. Luckily we agreed that she was only allowed to play in the car for a very limited amount of time as she had not quite mastered it yet.
Amanda and I both used Rick Steves guides for our planning. Pretty much every day we would say "Rick Steves for the win." He really knows the best things to do and see. Per his advice, on our way to the Southwest corner of Ireland we stopped at Kilkenny and Rock of Cashel. We didn't spend much time in Kilkenny but stopped at the castle which was just unbelievable! This turned out to be my favorite castle we visited in Ireland. The castle has been in existence for over eight centuries, so it had a great mix of different architectural styles. The castle was built during the first decade of the 13th century and then became the principle residence of the Butler family for almost 600 years. They presented it to the people of Kilkenny and the family sold almost all of the contents of the castle in 1935. The interiors have been restored to present different time periods in which it was lived in. All the detail in the decor and architecture was stunning. Across the street was an awesome arts and crafts area which was so fun to look through. From there, we stopped at Rock of Cashel which was a jaw dropping castle that when you turn the corner just came out of nowhere. Perched high on a hill top it was truly a spectacular sight to see. Unfortunately, due to poor planning on my part, we got there too late and didn't get to go in. But we salvaged the visit by basking in the glorious sunshine and Amanda took time to paint the breathtaking landscape while I frolicked around with the sheep.
Our landing spot for the next two nights was Dingle, an adorable little seaside village and we scored an Airbnb right on Main Street. A very quaint town, Dingle had a couple lively pubs with live music and Irish dancing. We had a fun time people watching and strolling through the streets here. We also had the opportunity to see the Harry Clark stained glass windows - the best stained glass windows I have ever seen! They had an incredible amount of detail and because of how the church is set up you have the opportunity to see them up close.
While in the area, we visited Muckross house, drove the Ring of Kerry and through the Gap of Dunloe and the Black Valley (a section of the Ring of Kerry) that looked nothing I would have imagined Ireland to look like.
The Muckross house was something we discovered on our Heritage Card (card that gets you into a variety of sights across Ireland). It is a 19th century Victorian mansion within Killarney National Park. It was built as a private residence but its claim to fame is that Queen Victoria visited the property in 1861. I didn't really have any expectations going into this but was shocked at what a good tour we had! Our guide was great (and had the kind of Irish accent we could actually understand) and she toured us through several of the rooms, where the Queen stayed, adaptations that had been made for the Queen's visit, as well as the kitchen and servant area. Man was hosting a dinner party back in those times a lot of work. Not only was this house sweet on the inside, it had the most beautiful garden - and the most massive rhododendrons Amanda and I had ever seen!
The Ring of Kerry is a scenic drive that takes about 3 hours and takes you through beautiful mountainous areas, coastal landscapes, and tiny seaside villages. It is quite varied with beautiful landscapes. We luckily asked at an info booth for suggestions (those people really know what they're doing) and the woman suggested a great hiking area near the Torc waterfall and told us which way to drive around the circle (crucial to avoid massive tour buses coming at you on single lane roads). The hike we did ended up being pretty difficult - we called it the incline of Ireland - but it was beautiful. It was essentially stone steps all the way up to the top of the mountain and then we had an overlook of a huge part of the Ring of Kerry and the Muckross property and gardens. We huffed and puffed our way to the top of that sucker but the views made up for it. Continuing on our drive we stopped at a cafe at a lookout point called Ladies View (me to eat and do nothing productive and Amanda to paint a beautiful picture). The name apparently came from the admiration of the view given by Queen Victoria's ladies-in-waiting during their visit.
The Gap of Dunloe and the Black Valley were, again, something we had heard on our Rick Steves audio guide so we decided to make the extra effort to get there. After our hike we continued on to find this little area of Ireland. Gosh was this worth it. Lots of one lane roads, sheep, horses, some rain, and a couple scary traffic encounters on very narrow roads we made it to this isolated and incredibly beautiful area of Ireland. The mountains were not something I'd ever seen before - so green, mossy, grassy, and rocky all combined. Definitely one of my highlights of Ireland!
Highlights:
- Gap of Dunlop/Black Valley - a must do if you are in the southwest of Ireland! It was extra driving, but so worth it to see these stunning mountains.
- Dingle - an adorable town with tons of charm.
- Muckross House - the tour really made this one!
- Kilkenny Castle - my favorite castle in Ireland due to the restoration of the inside - it really gave you a taste of different times in history.
- Rock of Cashel - even though we only saw the outside, it was worth it!
Lessons Learned:
- There's a reason the cars are small here. The roads are small. Really small. Sometimes it felt like we weren't going to fit with the cars coming at us the other way. Quite a treat when you are focused on staying on the wrong side of the road.
- Sheep, sheep and more sheep! They were everywhere.
- Listen to Rick Steves. Always.
- Guided tours can make all the difference - Amanda and I agreed if we had just walked through the Muckross house on our own we wouldn't have been as impressed. It was fun to hear all the stories!
The Rock of Cashel on a bluebird day.
Ladies View.
Adorable Dingle.