This morning started slightly later than recent mornings, but not dramatically so. The reality is most of us have to get up pretty early every morning, so early mornings are pretty habitual.
We all met for breakfast downstairs. This was by far the most comprehensive hotel breakfast of this trip. There was a pretty full hot buffet and a cold one too. I think we had all added breakfast to our rooms when we booked and it was definitely worth it.
Laura and Dad were pretty done with time in the car, but Nick and I were not going to not explore the area, so while Laura and dad took it a bit easier this morning, Nick and I headed for the car. Admittedly, I was also tired enough with car time that I had modified today’s plans. My original thought behind staying in Killarney was to drive the Ring of Kerry, but I had decided the night before to change things up to just see a few of the more local highlights, primarily within Killarney National Park.
Our first stop was about 10 minutes away: Ross Castle. We both really enjoyed walking around here, and we both agreed that next time we are here, we should do one of the boat cruises on the lake here. It’s a beautiful setting.
Next stop was a few minutes down the road. Or, at least the car park was. From the car park it was probably a 10 minute, beautiful (and slightly misty rainy) walk to Muckross Abbey. It was well worth it. It was pretty incredible to see the architecture, and the general scenery. And even more incredible to realize just how old that structure is.
From here, we headed further down the road. We tried to stop at Torc Waterfall, but the parking lot was completely full, so we continued a few kilometers further to Ladies View. Even in the rain, this view was pretty impressive.
We turned around here and headed back towards town, stopping for more scenery along the way.
Throughout this whole morning, we marveled at how narrow and curvy this road is, with the knowledge that tour buses drive it. This certainly wasn’t the only insanely curvy road I’d encountered during this trip, but by now, my nerves were pretty well shot. And on one of the very last really tight curves, I took the curve slightly too tightly, and scraped against the stone wall on the side of the road. Hearing that scrape along the back of the rental car was heart wrenching…and frustrating. I’d made it until the very last full day with the rental car…a car that was absolutely not designed for the roads we were driving. But…I’d joined the ranks of the many that damage a car in Ireland. We pulled over pretty soon after when we found a parking area. The damage wasn’t as bad as I’d expected, but it definitely wasn’t within the parameters of “expected” rental car damage. Bring on the paperwork.
We headed back towards the hotel, because that was legitimately our plan even before I had scraped up the car. Back in town, there was no open space in the car park across from the hotel, so we headed for another nearby car park. Even here, parking was extremely limited, and the parking spaces were really tight. Add in the very sensitive sensors on the car beeping at me, and parking was an incredibly stressful experience. Nick got out to help direct me, and eventually we got the car parked. But, the parking space was pretty narrow, so while Nick went to pay the meter, I climbed out the back passenger side. That was by far the most tense part of the trip!
We walked back to the hotel and actually found dad and Laura in the lobby. They were getting ready to go for lunch. We agreed to put our stuff upstairs and then meet them back in the lobby.
Once we met back up, we walked just a bit down the street to Tatler Jack. Much to dad’s joy, here we were able to sit AT the bar, a rare thing in Ireland. Lunch was excellent, even if Nick and I were not in the mood to be social. Nick had bangers and mashed and I had a steak sandwich that came with an amazing pepper brown gravy type sauce.
After lunch, dad and Laura went back to one particular store so dad could get himself an Ireland jacket that he’d seen earlier and Nick and I walked around some more, stopping in stores we hadn’t been in yet. I was able to get an Ireland t-shirt as well as a Killarney post card for our life skills program, which is collecting post cards. Then we went back to the hotel to nap, research the rental car damage claim process through my Chase Sapphire benefits, and start the nightly dinner debate via text.
We all settled on O’Donoghue’s and met down in the lobby before walking into O’Donoghue’s. Dinner here was very good. I know dad had shepherd’s pie (with chips…aka fries…because it’s Ireland) because he posted a picture of potatoes and potatoes and I’m pretty sure I had a ham and cheese toastie. Not sure what everyone else had, but there were no complaints.
After dinner, it was straight back to the Pigs Lane. We had a couple rounds of drinks and enjoyed the cocktails, chatting with the bar tenders, the atmosphere and the creativity with the cocktail garnishes. Seriously, this place is great. I’m pretty sure it was THE highlight of the trip for my dad.
Once we were done at the Pigs Lane, dad headed up to his room. Laura, Nick and I did some picture taking nearby and then heard music coming from the Scotts Bar Courtyard, so we went to listen. This ended up being a highlight for me. The music was good and the weather was perfect. But also, the name of the bar/courtyard connected to our grandparents, who were big on watching an Irish singer (Daniel O’Donnell) on some rural TV channel every Saturday night. They always said, as images of Ireland were shown during the show, that they wished they’d made it to Ireland. Grampa was so glad to hear we were going to be going to Ireland when we told him last fall. So, although there was no more connection here than a name, it sure felt special, and right, to stumble upon music in that courtyard, and stand there and listen to it.
When the set ended, we continued wandering, enjoying the weather and the buskers around town. We checked out a couple more pubs, looking around, but not actually sticking around, and then we got ice cream at Murphy’s. I know I got strawberry and that sea salt ice cream I’d tried in Galway. Not sure what Nick and Laura got. But we all enjoyed.
Then it was back to the hotel to pack and call it a night.
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