Escape to Eire - Wednesday

Other parts of this series:
Escape to Eire - the beginning
Escape to Eire - Monday
Escape to Eire - Tuesday
Escape to Eire - Wednesday (this post)
Escape to Eire - Thursday
Escape to Eire - Friday
Escape to Eire - Saturday



For all the rain that Ireland gets, we really only had one half of a day where the rain impacted our activities and that was Wednesday morning.  It was just misting after we left our B&B and headed to our morning activity, Muckross House.  As we walked toward the entrance we were asked if we wanted to go on a jaunting cart ride.  After inquiring we learned that was a two-wheeled cart pulled behind a single horse.  We hopped aboard and the driver gave us a bit of history about the property, which was beautiful and massive, and took us out to see one of the waterfalls.  By the time we were done with the jaunting cart it was raining pretty steadily so it was time to tour the house.

The house was built in the 1840s and has 65 rooms. In 1855 the owners were given 6 years’ notice that Queen Victoria would be visiting. The advance notice was so they could get the estate up to royal standards. The queen visited for two nights. The money spent preparing the estate was so substantial that it virtually bankrupted the owners who eventually had to sell the property. The final owners received the estate as a wedding gift from the bride’s father and when the bride died at a young age, her husband and her parents donated the estate to the country. It became the majority of what is now the 25,000-acre Killarney National Park.

We'd yet to see the west coast of the island so it was time to visit one of the peninsulas.  We'd thought about the more famous Ring of Kerry but were concerned about tour buses and such so we opted for the lesser-known Dingle Peninsula.  The good news was that the closer we got to the coast, the more sun we saw.  So the drive went from gloomy to sunny as we went from National roads to the smaller, narrower Regional roads.  Our small car suddenly seemed much larger.


We arrived in Dingle town and were immediately charmed.  Vibrant colors are everywhere, from the buildings to the boats. It's an artistic haven and the influence is evident. This region of the country is also heavily Gaelic and that's the only language you'll see on signs.

We checked in with the helpful tourist bureau and decided to drive the peninsula, hoping to make the full loop.  They pointed out the Famine Cottage and Beehive Hut as a place we should stop.  These were mortar-less buildings where farm families lived during the Great (Potato) Famine of the 19th century which had such a devastating effect on the country.  I'm glad we stopped here as I learned a good bit but that stop did put us behind schedule a bit as we needed to make it to Tralee in time to check into our next B&B.  We drove just a bit further where there was a nice place for a photo op.  The wind was blowing like crazy but it was beautifully green and sunny.

Driving back along the peninsula road we again marveled at how narrow they were - basically one lane - and how close the stacked stone walls were to the non-existent shoulder.  We had a bit of a scare as we whipped around one corner and found a sheep between the wall and the road.  Fortunately she didn't try to cross or she could have done serious damage to the car.  As much as we loved the coast, we were happy to get back on the wider National roads that now seemed 30% wider than they did before!

Our B&B in Tralee was quite nice but we can't say much for the town. We actually had to go to the next town for dinner though we really enjoyed that meal.  Our vacation was halfway over, sadly!