Ireland - Ring of Kerry

We are in County Kerry, which is in the south-west corner of Ireland, and today's adventures begin with a drive around the Ring of Kerry, with its scenic views of Ireland's unspoiled coastline, said to have the cleanest beaches in all of Europe, and gorgeous landscape including views of Macgillicuddy's Reeks, the tallest mountains in Ireland, with peaks towering upwards of 3,000 ft!!!  I know, I know, to us these are just little hills, but to the Irish, these are mountains!!!  We only made a few stops along the way, so most of my photos were shot through the window of the moving bus . . .

Dingle Bay

The remains of an old railroad bridge

Valencia Island

This island has historical significance because it was from here in 1866 that the first Transatlantic Telegraph Cable was run, first to Newfoundland then on to the USA.  Communications via Morse Code continued for 100 years, until Western Union shut down its cable operations in 1966.

Charlie Chaplain Statue

Charlie Chaplain was a frequent visitor to this part of Ireland, and his daughter owned a home here.  The blue sign in the background is announcing that the circus is in town . . . we saw many circus tents in little towns and villages throughout Ireland and the UK, so I'm guessing the circus is as popular here as it is in the USA.
 

A very important name in Ireland's history is Daniel O'Connell.  In the late 1700's and early 1800's, he gained recognition by working hard to change some unfair government practices.  At that time Ireland was under British rule, and if you were Catholic (which almost all Irish people are) you were not allowed to vote or become a member of Parliament unless you had a lot of money and owned a lot of land, which most Irish people did not - most were peasant farmers who worked for British Land Barons.  O'Connell, who was Catholic himself, worked for many years to get these laws changed and eventually succeeded. So he is quite the hero, and lots of streets, places, and other things here are named after him.  At one time he lived in this house, which is now pretty much crumbled.

Daniel O'Connell's Residence

In the 19th century, coal was an important industry in Ireland.  But after many many years, the coal mines were dug out so deeply that for safety reasons, the Queen shut down production altogether.  Today farmers dig up “peat” which is actually young coal and if left alone for the next 30,000 years or so it would eventually develop into coal.  The farmers dig up the peat and pile it in bogs and let it air dry for nine months or so until it’s hard enough to burn, and this is what they use for a lot of  their fuel today.  You would think all the rain here would keep the peat really soft and prevent it from hardening, but somehow the wet weather actually helps it to harden.  I really wanted a picture of a peat bog but it was hard because we either passed by too fast or the bogs were on the other side of the bus.  This is the best I could do  . . . 

A peat bog

 Continuing with our drive around the Ring of Kerry, the scenery just got more and more beautiful . . . 

Coastline along the Ring of Kerry

More Coastline

As you may have noticed from the very gray skies in a lot of these photos, it was very overcast and raining most of the day.  But because of that, we were rewarded with this . . . 

An official Irish Rainbow!  And I just know there had to be a pot of gold at the end!  But sadly, the bus driver wouldn't stop the bus so we cold find out! 

I don't know who this statue is, but what caught my eye is the ring of rocks around it.  They are just stacked there, no mortar at all.  We saw a lot of these kinds of walls throughout Ireland.

We made a brief stop at an overlook to view Scariff Island and to stretch our legs.  The scenery was so pretty . . .

Overview of Scariff Island

The Irish Heather was just starting to bloom, and here we were able to finally get up close to it . . .

Irish Heather

The Heather flowers are gorgeous

Alongside the Heather were these plants with huge leaves, maybe Elephant Ears?  I asked Ruth to stand next to them to give perspective. 

This is the "flower" of the big leaf plant

There were two flags flying over a building nearby . . . one we knew was the flag of Ireland, but we didn't know what the other one represented . . .  Steve explained . . .

National Flag of Ireland - used in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.  Green represents the Gaelic Tradition of Ireland (the Catholics), Orange represents the followers of William of Orange (the Protestants), and the White area in the center represents a lasting truce between the two cultures and living together in peace.

The European Union Flag, of which the Republic of Ireland is a member.  Each star represents one of the nations in the Union, or at least it did in the beginning.  There are many more nations than stars now.

We passed over this rushing river

And through the little village of Sneem, which is said to be the most colorful in Ireland.  They do love to paint their buildings with bright colors, very happy and cheerful.  They also paint the front doors of their houses in bright colors.

Continuing around the Ring of Kerry peninsula, more gorgeous scenery, including those very high mountains I mentioned earlier . . .

Scenery in Ring of Kerry with Macgillicuddy's Reeks in the distance

The highest peak is covered in mist, so you can't really be dazzled by its amazing height

There are three lakes in this region, commonly known as Higher Lake, Middle Lake and Lower Lake - catchy, don't you think?  We stopped to take a closer look at Middle and Lower Lakes . . .

Middle Lake

Lower Lake

And lo and behold, suddenly the sun came out and the skies brightened . . . I had to snap a photo of the pretty blue sky . . .

So happy to see that there still is a sun! 

We finished our drive around the Ring of Kerry and arrived at the town of Killarney . . . again you can see the colorful paint on the buildings.  And check out how narrow the street is.

Killarney, Ireland

Killarney

While in Killarney we were in for a special treat . . . a Jaunting Car ride.  We had no idea what that meant, but we soon were introduced to . . . 

Our driver Michael, and his beautiful horse, Sally

A Jaunting Car is a horse-drawn wagon . . . and our ride took us through the beautiful Killarney National Park . .

Ruth and I got to ride up front with the driver

And we're off . . . past more colorful store fronts

And into Killarney National Park

Here are some of the things we saw as Sally trotted along pulling our "Jaunting Car" . . .

Thatched Roof Cottage - now used as a snack bar

Another look at that highest mountain - still covered in mist.

A pretty little stream

Wild Iris

This reminds me of the prairie grass in Kansas

Love the reflection in the pond

Swans

Lime Kiln

In the middle of the park is a castle - of course!  Ireland has lots and lots of castles.  This one is Ross Castle.

We made a stop at Ross Castle to get a closer look . . .

Ross Castle

The lake that Ross Castle sits on

And ducks swimming on the lake (I know what you're thinking - - - you're in Ireland and you're taking pictures of ducks? . . . Well, I like ducks!)

Vacationers enjoy canoeing and kayaking through the rivers in the park

While we were jaunting through Killarney National Park, Michael was telling us silly Irish folklore stories in his wonderful Irish brogue.  I was captivated and could have listened to him all day.  He also told us about the famine that devastated Ireland in the 1840's, and made a huge impact on Irish history.  We heard many references to the famine while we were in Ireland - it seems to be the dividing line in Irish history - time is described as pre or post famine.  

Ireland was a very poor country, the people were (and still are) mostly Catholics who married young and had many children, many of whom died in childhood.  If you lived to adulthood, the life expectancy was only about 40-45 years.  These poor people lived in small clusters or villages, in mud huts with no windows and no chimney.  Their main food source was potatoes, they depended on the potato crop and often ate potatoes for every meal.  Most of these peasants were tenant farmers, and there was even a class lower than that who had absolutely nothing. 

Most of the land belonged to rich English absentee landowners, primarily Protestants who hired "middlemen" to oversee the tenant farmers.  This allowed the landowners to have a steady income but no responsibility, and gave limitless power to the middlemen to exploit the poor farmers who paid the rent, worked the land, and were paid a minimal wage for raising crops and livestock for export. 

The main crop was potatoes, which were planted in the Spring around St. Patrick's Day, and were ready for harvest in September/October, and packed away in underground bunkers to be eaten over the Winter and Spring.  By the time Summer came around, the potatoes were almost gone.

In the Autumn of 1845 an airborne fungus that probably originated from ships coming into port attacked the potato plants and turned the potatoes black.  The entire crop was ruined, leaving the people without their main source of food.  The people managed to make it through the first winter, but the next year's crop also failed.  The people were starving.  They had relied on potatoes for their energy and strength and health.  They tried importing and eating corn from other countries, but it didn't provide enough nourishment.  The people were dying and over the course of the next several years, a million people died of starvation and/or disease.  Another 1.5 million left the country, emigrating to Liverpool, England and the USA.  Such a sad story and one that totally changed Irish history.  The battle between the Irish Catholics and the English Protestants has affected every aspect of life, and even Steve admitted that the English were not nice people!  

One last look at Sally at the end of our Jaunting Ride

Back on the bus, we drove north-east to the village of Adare, which is just outside Limerick  . . .   

Lots of the cute cottages in Adare have thatched roofs - the thatching is about 12" thick and is surprisingly waterproof.  Rain on a good roof will only penetrate about three to four inches.

This roof was in the process of being repaired

Yet another castle, this one in Adare and dating back to the 1300's

We continued on to Limerick where we spent the night.  Limerick sits on the Shannon River, and we had a wonderful view of the river from our room (quite a break from our usual view of a parking lot or a neighboring roof.)

Shannon River - Also notice the Round-About

Round-Abouts are every where in these countries.  Instead of making right turns (which would equate to our left turns if they drove on the correct side of the  road), they go through these round-abouts.  Sometimes five or six roads will lead into a round-about . . . I'm so thankful I didn't have to drive here, I'm sure I would still be going round and round and would never be able to get out!   

This evening we were treated to a special Irish dinner, and were entertained by a very musical and talented family - father and four sons - who played countless instruments and danced, putting "River Dance" to shame. 

By the way, here's a little tidbit about "River Dance".  If you've seen this performed, you notice that the dancers only move their feet, their heads and upper bodies remain relatively stiff and still.  The reason for this dates back to when Ireland was under English rule, and the religious persecution of the Irish Catholics by the English Protestants.  The English passed laws forbidding dancing . . . The Irish are fun-loving, happy people, even in the most dire of circumstances, and loved to dance.  The windows in the Irish houses were placed very high up, so when looking inside, if someone inside the house was in view through the window, you would only see their heads and maybe a portion of their upper bodies.  They learned to dance using only their feet, so passers by would not see the movement.  Pretty clever!

Our very talented and fun dinner entertainment

They got us involved too.  They taught some of our traveling companions how to play the spoons, had us singing along to some Irish (and Australian) favorites, and got us up and dancing an Irish folk dance, plus they entertained us with funny stories, lively songs, and great music.  What a fun evening!

More tomorrow . . . Stay tuned!