The In-Between Time

The weekend between leaving Galway (on Saturday morning) and arriving in Greystones (on Tuesday evening) was a very, very busy time. We were travelling all around for the entire duration of it. Our base was a hostel in Killarney called Neptune’s. We were told that the place was really sketchy, but it turned out that they’d just built on a brand new section three weeks ago with rooms nicer than those in a hotel. The boys ended up in the old, shifty section, but the girls were in the brand new section, and it was WONDERFUL. Such a relief after the apartment…

So, anyway, I could tell you every detail of everything that we did this weekend, or I could name the places we went and show you pictures. I think that’s what I’m going to do, because a picture is really worth a thousand words, right? If you want more information about any of these places, feel free to look them up.

Just to give you a basic sketch of our travel path, on Saturday we left Galway and went down around Limerick, into Cork to see Blarney Castle, and then into county Kerry to our hostel in Killarney. On Sunday we went to Inch Beach – Elisha may or may not have fractured his wrist in two places playing Rugby – and then down into the Dingle Peninsula, which is the most southwesterly point in Europe. Driving around the Dingle Peninsula is an alternative to the vastly more tourist-popular drive called the Ring of Kerry, and actually Brian likes the Dingle area better. It was definitely beautiful. Some of the time we were driving right on the side of a mountain looking down at the ocean. He can do amazing things with our bus, let me tell you. In Dingle we stopped at one point where there were these rock hill things on either side of the road which we could climb. One was more difficult than the other – it was like scrambling up almost vertically over boulders and stuff. I climbed both, in case anyone wondered. 🙂

From there we moved on to the Gallarus Oratory, which is possibly the oldest stone church in Ireland. That night we grilled hamburgers at Ross Castle, which is absolutely unbelievable in the dark.

Monday we did drive a bit of the Ring of Kerry, stopping first at a famous overlook called Ladies’ View (because it was a favorite of Queen Victoria’s ladies-in-waiting.) After that we hiked the Gap of Dunloe, which was one of the most beautiful hikes I’ve ever done. It was absolutely Ireland at its best. There were sheep in the middle of the road! We finished up on Monday at the Muckross House, which is a beautiful Victorian estate with unbelievable gardens. Queen Victoria herself once stayed there (they spent three years preparing for her two night visit.). There’s a waterfall which you can climb up to behind it. We climbed up a basically vertical hill made mostly of mud beside the falls just for fun.

Tuesday was Cahir Castle and the Rock of Cashel. I did a ton of book research! In a beautiful little green pasture surrounded by a stone fence behind and below the Rock of Cashel, was the ruins of an abbey. It was like something out of a movie.

So…here we go!

Note: Yes, Elisha did fracture his wrist in two places. He’s all right now, though, he’s just learning to write with his left hand!

Blarney (The room is the young ladies’ bedroom. Where I would have lived! There’s an arrow slit in the wall…somehow I feel that the young ladies were not unable to defend themselves.)

 

 

 

 

Our Hostel Room

 

 

 

 

 

Inch Beach

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dingle Peninsula/Climbing

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gallarus Oratory

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ross Castle

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ladies’ View

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gap of Dunloe

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Muckross House/Waterfall

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cahir Castle

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rock of Cashel

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Abbey