The one where Sandy had a little lamb

Thursday was our last day trip for Ireland, around the Ring of Kerry, a beautiful stretch of land through County Kerry known for its coastal awesomeness and green lands.  While we did get to enjoy the coast, we missed out on a lot of the green.  We were too early this year.  Europe is having a weird year with LOTS of precipitation and a much colder Spring than usual. Because of this, we experienced no rain on our whole trip, but there was some snow almost everyday.  The scenery was beautiful, but not the green you normally see in the pictures, just to warn you.  Before we even started the trip, we had to make our way to Killarney, collecting people at various stops and even switching buses.  Finally around 11, we began the 112 mile loop that makes up the Ring of Kerry.  

The first town we drove through was called Killorglin, known for their summer festival known as Puck Fair Festival.  It is the oldest traditional fair in Ireland.  The festival involves going up into the mountains and getting a wild mountain goat to bring in to town, put a crown on his head, and name him the King for three days.  The origins of the festival are rather interesting.  Way back when, there was a shepherd who would come into town telling tall tales (kind of like the Boy who Cried Wolf).  One day, he was out herding his sheep when he came across some men plotting to attack the town.  He knew that no one would believe him and so he riled up the wild goats, causing them to stampede into town.  The townspeople came up to the hills to figure out what was going on, learned of the plotting men, and were able to prepare the town, ultimately defeating the invaders.  And so to this day, they celebrate and thank the wild goats for helping them.  I don't know if it is true, but it is a cute story.  

Next we made our way up and around the Kerry edge of Dingle Bay.  Today it is known for its diving, which is popular because of the many shipwrecks in the area.  Dingle Bay is a treacherous area because it has so many sunken islands, and historically, it was nearly impossible to navigate it safely.  It also holds Inch Beach, a large draw for surfers.  But as pretty as it was, my favorite part is pictured to the left.  At one of the stops, there was this old man with adorable baby lambs!  It was the best.  Marissa and I talked about it, and if I could have a baby lamb, I would name it Sam because Sam the Lamb sounds good, but so does Sam the Sheep.  We also had a great time because our driver, Michael, explained how the sheep farmers of the area know which sheep belong to which farmer and also how the farmers know the mommy sheep is expecting baby lambs.  It was a little graphic, but also downright hilarious. And now I know where baby sheep come from; according to our driver it involves "an interview" between the mommy and daddy sheep, lol.

For lunch, we stopped in the coastal town of Waterville.  It was a pretty little town, known for being popular with Charlie Chaplin.  That is me and him hanging out on the beach to the right.  He wasn't feeling particularly funny on this day, but we had a good time hanging out anyways.  We stopped in a fun little pub for some sausages and chips, as well as some good warming tea.  Just to clue you in, this is the hardest day trip to talk about, not because it wasn't worth it or beautiful, but because most of what we saw was countryside, without a real name, and the pictures didn't do it justice really.  Of all of the day trips, this one I felt would be most appreciated in the later spring or summer when the countryside would really be at its best.

By this point we were wrapping back around to head back in towards Killarney, so we drove past the three lakes of Killarney and Killarney National Park.  We got out and did a little hike over to the Torc Waterfall, pictured below.  The trees were all covered in a pea green moss that was actually really mystical and beautiful.  I can only imagine how green and breath-taking this area would be with all the flowers in bloom and trees covered in lush foliage.  Looks like I am going to have to go back.  Back in Killarney, we had a bit of a wait before our bus came to pick us up, so we roamed the streets and ended up in a Candy Shop.  We caved and bought some fudge but were disappointed by its flavor and texture, sadface.  By the time we were back on the bus to Cork, I have to admit I was looking forward to coming back to Zafra.

The one with the Cliffs of Moher

Wednesday was the day trip that I was probably most excited for, to the Cliffs of Moher.  I will get to its awesomeness, but first things first...First stop on the trip was Limerick city.  We nearly stayed here, but ultimately decided against it because it didn't have many hostel options.  It was a pretty city, but I think we made the right choice.  Cork, being bigger and closer to more things, was better suited to our needs, and staying in Cork the whole time meant one less time switching hostels, which was nice. Mostly we were in Limerick to pick up more passengers, but it also included some nice views of King John's castle, situated along the River Shannon.  The castle was constructed in the late 1100s and played a big role in the Catholic/Protestant conflicts.  Nifty!  

Then we  moved on to another of those dolmens I told you about, this time called Poulnabrone Dolmen.  In Gaelic, the name means "hole of sorrows," and it dates back to 3000 BC.  People used to believe that, by passing the bodies of the dead through the dolmen, the dead would move from this world to the next.  Maybe you don't care about all my little facts and such, but this is what made my trip awesome, that and the baby calves and lambs we saw everywhere :) 

Next we drove through an area of land known as the Burren.  It is difficult to describe its vastness, but it essentially a ginormous area of limestone that extends for something like 80 square miles.  Most of the area is used for beef cattle grazing because it isn't fit for much else, at least in terms of farming.  Legend says that Oliver Cromwell, when invading from Britain, said, "Not enough wood to hang a man, water to drown him or soil to bury him," about the area.  Coming down from the rocks, we hit the coast and stopped to check out the Baby Cliffs.  Marissa thought it was funny but I was terrified about how close to the edge they let you get.  I was envisioning one of us having to inform the other's family of a terrible accident.  Luckily, we all made it back onto the bus safely, and we headed on to lunch in a little seaside town called Doolin.  It was a cute town, and lunch was good, especially this soup I got that may have been a potato soup, but I don't know.  It was good for sure!

After lunch, we hit up the Cliffs of Moher. In case you haven't heard of them, this awesome bit of scenery is featured in almost every movie taking place in Ireland (this may not be true, but it is in Leap Year) because of its sheer awesomeness.  It is as Irish as NYC is American. And it is not all hype.  It is everything that you would imagine.  They are nearly 700 ft in height, complete with walking paths in both directions at the top.  The visitors center has some interesting tidbits about the cliffs and the surrounding wildlife.  From the top, you would never guess that there are sharks, blue whales, bottlenose dolphins, sea urchins, puffins, and all sorts of marine life swimming below the waves so far down.  It is pretty out of the way of most big cities in Ireland, but I highly recommend it.  I would even go so far as to claim that no trip to Ireland is complete without it; yep, it is that good!

The trip was more or less over after the Cliffs. We drove through some cute towns with interesting histories.  One of them was the birthplace of the inventor of the first U.S. submarine, Joe Holland, for whom the Holland tunnel in NYC is named for.  Last stop of the day was at Bunratty Castle for a quick picture and bathroom break.  The castle dates back to the 1400s and was a typical square fortress of the time.  One of the interesting things about this type of castle is its entrance.  Usually there was an arched door at the entrance, and when being invaded or attacked, once the first door was breached, the soldiers would find themselves in a very small entrance hall in front of an even stronger door.  Above the hall would be an open area for castle occupants to drop boiling oils, shoot spears, and other weapons at the invaders, allowing them protect their castle for longer.  If I ever build a castle, I am definitely including one of these.  It was a long day in all, but I am sooooo glad that we went!

The one full of Blarney

We started off Cork right, let me just tell you.  We walked over a mile to get Fish and Chips from the famous Jackie Lennox Chip Shop.  Never heard of it, you say?  Well, you don't know what you are missing, because for a decent price, you can get some AWESOME fish and chips. And it is totally a local hangout, based on what I saw.  This time we switched things up and got haddock (instead of cod).  It also came with tartar sauce (YUM) and traditional mushed peas.  They were...interesting?  I don't know; I heard that they are an acquired taste.  Many people eat them on their chips, but I don't know why you would want to "ruin" your chips.  Anyways, it was soooo delicious and so much food that even I couldn't finish it all, and that is saying something!  To make it even sweeter, we got a great discount on our three other Paddywagon tours that we booked through our hostel, Kinlay House.  I highly recommend both, if you are asking!


Tuesday we had our first day trip from Cork, to Kinsale, Blarney, and Cobh.  It was a good way to start this round of tours off because it was pretty relaxed and did not involved too much travel or sitting on the bus.  First we hit up Charles Fort, built in the 1600s to protect Kinsale from attack.  The weather was not very good, with wet snow falling severely reducing visibility.  We weren't supposed to stay long, but we left even earlier when someone came out and told us the fort was closed. Oops!  Evidently, you are supposed to pay for admission...maybe on a good day it would be worth it, but this way not that day.

So we headed down the road to Kinsale, which was a compact, cute little town.  It is known as a leisure town, with fishing and water sports in the summer, but in the winter and at low tide, it was quiet.  We were only there for an hour, but it was difficult to know what to do with ourselves.   The weather was not nice at all, so it wasn't much fun to just walk along the waterfront, but we did that for a little while.  The best was sitting in a small cafe with a big cup of steaming hot tea.  The owner came out and chatted with us for a bit, which was nice.  I would definitely say that as a whole, it seems that the Irish are a very friendly lot, definitely willing to help someone out and give advice.  After a little more time, we got back on the bus and moved on.

Next stop was the much anticipated Blarney Castle.  Let's be real, this is the main reason why people do this tour, and it didn't disappointment.  If you go, don't get distracted by the castle.  While it is really neat to see, there are caves, gardens, and paths to be walked and explored.  Those are what I enjoyed more than anything.  And I know,  you are wondering, did I kiss the stone?  The answer: a mostly okay with it, no.  You can't see from the picture of Marissa doing it below, but it is really high...and you can see that you have to lean backwards while looking down to do it.  The idea of it sounded painful to my joints, and let's just say, heights are not really my thing these days.  Supposedly, kissing the stone will give you the gift of gab.  The story originates from a time when English landlords were supposed to collect rent and taxes from areas in Ireland for Queen Elizabeth.  Well the one in Blarney always had a persuasive excuse for why he didn't do it, and when discussing the matter with a subject the the Queen said something to the effect of, "that is a load of Blarney," hence the expression and the superstition of the stone.  Below you can see the difference between blarney and baloney, which I thought was pretty funny.

As I already suggested, we spent a good hour or so checking out the gardens, such as the Fern garden above and walking the Lake Path.  It was absolutely deserted; we saw only one person along the whole path.  I imagine that it is positively radiant with green plants in the later Spring.  Luckily the weather had turned relatively pleasant and much warmer for our time in Blarney, which made it much more enjoyable.

Next we traveled back down through Cork and out to the coast to the port town of Cobh (pronounced like Cove, it's Irish).  We stopped at a local cafe first things for some enormous sandwiches, which was perfect timing because a sudden snowstorm popped into town and made conditions outside miserable for about 30 minutes.  Once it cleared up, we headed up the hill to check out St. Coleman's Cathedral and the views of the harbor from the top.  What Cobh is most famous for is being the last stop for ships heading across the seas to England or in the other direction to the Americas. During the Irish Potato Famine in the 1800s, over 2.5 million immigrants left through this port on their way to the Americas.  Furthermore, Cobh was also the last stop for the Titanic, taking on around 110 passengers here, of which 42 survived.  Below, you can see the remnants of the dock that was used to load ships, including the Titanic.  Finally, we headed back to Cork, tired and done for the day.

Dock used to load the Titanic

As usual, we rested for a bit and then made our way back into town for dinner.  We found a good-looking Kebab place and settled in.  Let's just say that we did not get what we expected.  With a few accent problems, the guy gave us some sauce choices.  I could only discern "spicy," same with Marissa, so we both went with spicy.  As he made up our kebabs, the guy asked if we were sure.  We hesitantly said yes, and I think from that point, we were doomed.  Maybe the guy wanted to see us sweat (literally) or maybe he wanted to challenge us, but he definitely did both.  I HAVE NEVER EATEN SOMETHING SO SPICY IN MY LIFE.  My nose was like a faucet, my eyes were pretty much crying, the sweat was dripping, my face/mouth/lips were burning and every I looked at Marissa I couldn't stop laughing because she looked the way I felt.  But I made it through and finished almost every bite (it was also huge).  It may not be an experience that I am anxious to repeat, but it was an experience.  And it was actually really delicious, if you can get over the 'burn a hole in your stomach' spiciness factor.  What a day!

Before I knew what I was getting into...

The one with Bangers and Mash (Dublin)

We arrived in Dublin around dinner time, which didn't leave much of the day for us after we checked in to our hostel, Abraham House. I was less than impressed.  The room was dirty with trash on the floor, looking like it hadn't seen a vacumn in quite some time, but such is staying in hostels. We headed to the popular Temple Bar area to find something to eat. I have to say that it didn't bother me much at all when we ended up eating burritos again and getting a student discount as well.  We also stopped by another hostel to book a day trip with Paddywagon tours for Sunday and then packed it in for the night.

Sunday we started our day tour through Glendalough, Kilkenny, and Wicklow bright and early.  These tours actually ended up being awesome. How much you actually learned on the trip depended on your attention span and your driver, but there is no other way to see as much of the country short of renting a car, and neither Marissa nor I was up for driving on the wrong side of the road.  We started our day in Glendalough, a valley with two lakes and the ruins of a monastery dating back to the 6th century.  In the picture is the celtic cross, the circle dating back to the Pagan worship of the sun, with the cross as an obvious Christian symbol.  You may wonder what I am doing, hugging the cross.  Legend tells it that if your fingers touch around the cross, you will find love within the year (theoretically in Ireland).  Good news, my fingers touched, but this could also mean that I have long arms.  After checking out the ruins, Marissa and I walked down a cute path to check out one of the lakes before getting back on the bus and moving on.

Brownshill Dolmen

Next we headed up through Wicklow Gap, which has a reputation of waterfalls, fine views, and greenery that it really did not uphold.  A scene from the movie P.S. I love you was filmed here, and our driver told us that people come up looking for this magical waterfall that supposedly goes right by the road, but in the film, they super-imposed it next to the road to make it look better.  In reality, it is on the other side of the mountain and really difficult to get to.  What we saw was slightly snow-covered mountains and low-hanging clouds, but it was still beautiful.  We also passed by a field where they filmed part of Braveheart; I must admit it is still on my "must-see" movie lists, but maybe I will recognize it! Next we made a quick stop at the Brownshill Dolmen.  Ireland is sort of known for these random dolmens that are often just big rocks stacked in some way on little rocks, but they leave historians befuddled as to how the big rock got there.  This one was a megalithic tomb, dating back to as early as 4000 BC and weighing more than 100 metric tonnes.  Pretty neat I guess.

The big stop for the day was in Kilkenny, a cute little town known mainly for the castle, as you can see.  We grabbed some lunch at subway and roamed around the streets in search of interesting buildings and things to see.  We checked out the Black Abbey which dates back to the 1200s and is named for the black robes the monks used to wear.  The castle also has a history dating back to the 1200s, spending most of its history in the hands of the Butler family before being handed over to the government in the 1960s.  Many royals have been entertained here over the years and it has a fascinating history.

We got back on the bus, quite a bit colder and significantly more tired.  We had visions of going and finding a popular pub somewhere in the Temple Bar Area, but we were done.  So we hit up the closest place to our hostel, O'Shea's.  It actually ended up being perfect.  Marissa and I both got the local fare of bangers and mash, which is essentially sausage and mashed potatoes.  Mine was specifically sausage made from pork and leeks with mashed potatoes and covered in an onion gravy.  Oh My Goodness! It was so good that I have thought of it often since then, and my mouth salivates now just thinking about it.  I would return for this meal alone.  Afterwards, with our bellies significantly fuller, we turned in for the night.

Day 2 in Dublin was reserved for some sight-seeing before we caught the bus to Cork, where we spent the majority of the rest of our trip.  As is often the case with our trips, we wanted to see the city, but we didn't really want to spend much money to see it.  This was especially the case for this trip because we elected to do four of the Paddywagon tours.  Because it was Monday, the museums were all closed, but we walked to the area to check out the buildings anyways.  We wandered into the National Library, which ended up having this great ceiling.  The security guard was really friendly and gave us a recommendation for a good place to eat, not that we went, but I love it when local people are helpful and friendly.

Next we headed over to check out the Trinity College campus, one of the oldest Universities in Ireland.  It has a particularly interesting history surrounding the conflict between English Protestants and Irish Catholics.  It is also known for housing the Book of Kells, an ancient text with elaborate script and pictures.  We also went and found THE Temple Bar, though I am still not sure why the whole area is named after it. I think out driver said something about how they were going to demolish the whole area, but then preserved it because of its historic value, and then it became known as the Temple Bar area, but why?  We tried to check out the Dublin Castle, but right now, some Irish person is the acting European Union president for like six months and so the castle is closed the public, and you can't even see most of the outside, bummer.  We satisfied another craving and grabbed some burgers before catching the afternoon bus to Cork.  Dublin = Success!!