Ireland; Ballinskelligs to Doolin

{Wednesday October 8th}

We got up around 7a for breakfast at 8a again this morning. We were served a delicious pancake breakfast with fresh fruit at our table overlooking St Finans Bay. 

We left the B & B shortly before 9a, and headed around the southern part of the Ring of Kerry. We passed by Muckross House again, and decided to see if the timing for a tour would be any better today. 

Ring of Kerry Sights

It was, so we had a quick look around the gift shop and then began our guided tour of the house at 12p. 

The house was built in 1847. We started our tour in the Victorian-era Dining room. The elaborate drapes were a gift from Queen Victoria when she visited in 1861, along with a large hand-carved, commissioned head board. The dining room table measures 6m x 2m. 

All chandeliers in the house are Irish Waterford crystal, and many of tables and desks are traditional Killarney inlay furniture; they have very intricate designs inlaid in different woods. 

Muckross House

The chandelier in the main hall was commissioned to Waterford Crystal to celebrate the electrification of the house in 1970; none of the owners ever lived with electricity.

Next we went to the billiards room, which during the Queens visit was her private dinning room.  Before and after the Queens visit, it is home to a 3 ton oak billiard a table. 

After the billiard room, we went upstairs. In the main hallway, there are several large windows which are Old English crystal. 

The architect who designed the house, William Burn, foresaw the coming of running water, and included pipes for water throughout the entire home - although running water didn't come for another 33 years. 

Muckross House was named after "wild boar on the peninsula"; in the Irish language "Muck" means wild boar while "Ross" means peninsula.

We also saw the nursery wing of the house, and the Queens suite of rooms. 

Next, we headed downstairs to the servants hall, complete with 32 bells - each with their own ring. We saw the kitchen, scullery, cellar, and secondary kitchen. Since they have no ice in Ireland, ice was imported from Norway for keeping food and making ice cream. 

Cliffs of Moher

After our visit to Muckross House, we headed north towards the Cliffs of Moher. We thought we would take the ferry rather than going around through Limerick, however we discovered partway down the road that we we once ahead heading to the wrong place. We got the GPS reset and started heading in the right direction, but at that point we were going to miss the ferry anyway, so we stopped to get gas and lunch. We just got a sandwich, but it was quite tasty. 

We continued on and got to the ferry shortly after 3p, for a 3:30p departure. It costs 18 euros to take the ferry across, but it will save us about an hour of driving. 

It was a short 20 minute ferry ride across to the next peninsula. From there, it was about an hours drive to the Cliffs of Moher. 

We arrived at the Cliffs of Moher around 5p, and parked to have a look around. We decided to look at the visitor centre if we had time afterwards; we didn't realize that the park stays open and only the centre closes at 6p. 

We walked up to O'Briens Tower first, for stunning view of the cliffs. It rained briefly, but we were still able to enjoy the spectacular scenery. 

We then walked a little way towards the cliffs, along a path which follows the very edge of the cliffs. It was quite nerve-racking, but I didn't get too close to the edge and I was okay. The view was well worth it. 

By the time we finished admiring the cliffs, it was nearly 6, so we didn't get a chance to visit the visitors centre. We debated staying and watching the sunset, but decided it would be best to find where we are staying.

We headed into the town of Doolin, and found our hostel without any trouble!!! 

It's a very nice old building, located right on the river in the town. We decided it would be best to head to the Doolin Pier, rather than back to the cliffs, and went for a walk along the coastline there with a really nice view of the cliffs. The sunset was mostly blocked by clouds, but it was still quite nice. 

We then headed back towards the town, stopped in at Doolin chocolates (they sure like their chocolate around here..) and picked up some peanut butter fudge. Mmm. 

Next to the lovely chocolate shop, we found O'Connors, a pub which our B & B hosts suggested. I ordered pork with black pudding (some sort of Irish sausage thing.. it tasted fairly good); the main attraction was actually the wild mushroom sauce. Paul got a burger. 

Doolin is well known for it's music scene and claims to be the birthplace of Irish music. 

Since it was only 7:30p, we headed back to the hostel and I spent some time organizing, writing and looking through photos.

Shortly after 9, we headed across the river to Fitzpatrick's Bar to check out some local music talent. It's a cozy pub with a large bar and a central fire place. The artists set up fireside, with their Guinness and Whiskey within reach, and played their hearts out. The opening act, Jimmy Mac, was very good and almost country sounding. 

The second artists were "two-turds of dere tree-oh", and played some more traditional Celtic music. One man played an instrument like a large mandolin, and the other played Aullan pipes (similar to bagpipes that you don't blow). 

We enjoyed their music for a while, and then headed back to the hostel around 11p. 

J.

Design Life. Create Originality. Inspire Wonder.