This was breakfast at Virginia’s Guesthouse this morning. Breakfast is the signature of the place.
Breakfast is what we do best at Virginia’s. Noreen is a dedicated “Foodie” and loves to cook. Therefore our varied breakfast menu is constantly changing from season to season, offering only the very best of produce and featuring lots of creative and personalised dishes, as well as the standard Full Irish Breakfast … Noreen’s signature dish is her award-winning “Blue Cheese, Pears & Bacon”.
Turns out the blue cheese on this plate came from the cows we heard mooing at the Rock of Cashel yesterday. They were just telling us we had something to look forward to.
I’d mentioned the narrow roads. This is common. If you convert this, that’s 50 miles per hour. You’ve no idea …
Today was a big driving day. This is our basic route:
The peninsula has several deep glacial lakes. People tend to bypass these if they aren’t careful, but they are peaceful and can offer some great views:
Here’s a brief video from there:
Ah, the old head-on-a-wall joke …
When was the last time you were at a glacial lake?
Evidence! I have it! She started the making-faces game!
We took several of these photos. My eyes are closed in all of them. Uncanny.
She’s showing off her ring, awww.
And now for some potty humor. We stopped at the Parknasilla Resort. The original place here dates back to the 18th century, and once included the Derryquin Castle, which was burned in 1922 by the IRA. The rest of Parknasilla’s history is … complex … and references Noah.
Anyway, I don’t think I’ve ever said this before, but you have to check out the bathrooms:
What was that logo?
Check out the handle.
Enough of that. Just outside of Parknasilla everything feels magical:
But then everything does here, even an hour in the car. You get great treats along the way:
There are wide spots designed for you to pull over every so often. Take advantage of them. Linger.
Or you could be like the typical tourist and hop out, snap a picture and then immediately pile back into the car. Be sure to take your time.
If you don’t you’ll miss a lot of little delights.
Our next stop on the Ring of Kerry was Staigue Fort. You turn off a country road and drive up what amounts to the loneliest private driveway in the world. There are two houses in this valley, and if not for the occasional tourist it would be the sleepiest place you’ve ever imagined.
Rick Steeves’ guidebook calls this a desolate high valley, but I disagree. This place has a lot going for it. Check out these next several shots before I finally show you the fort.
Staigue Fort is believed to date between 300 and 400 AD. It was a defensive fortification, a cultural center and perhaps had some religious significance. The walls are 18 feet high in places and almost as thick at the bottom. It is about 90 feet in diameter. There is no mortar, just stacks of stones, and is thus considered an impressive historical effort of engineering.
If you were standing where I am when taking this picture, you’d be surrounded by hilly terrain on three sides. Over my left shoulder, and down a long chute of this valley, is the sea. No one snuck up on Staigue.
And now to show you how quickly the light changes here, and to give you a slightly different view of the fort, here’s a 360-degree effort I shot on Photosynth. See how parts of the shot are over or under exposed as you move around in it? Cloud, sun, cloud, darker cloud, sun. The sky is very dramatic here:
Later we discovered, almost by accident and visited purely on impulse, the local Skelligs Chocolate factory. They give you samples, and it is delicious:
The next stop is “the best view in County Kerry” just outside of Portmagee. Check out these views:
Of course there is a video. It is the sort of place you could loiter at for a long time, after all.
A few animals we passed on our walk up to that view. There were horses and sheep, too.
And then we visited Cahergall Stone Fort. Some of this is still original, though the upper parts are a historical reconstruction. The sign says “It is likely that somebody of importance lived here about 1,000 years ago.” All of this must be frustrating for historians and archeologists. Some of these forts go back 2,500 years after all. Here’s The Yankee climbing the steps on the inside wall:
Adam demonstrates the height of this fort:
We arrived at Dingle, checked into our bed and breakfast — Eileen Collins’ Kirrary House and ventured out for dinner at John Benny’s Pub, I had a hearty, delicious beef pie. These guys were playing, and you can hear one of their songs in the slideshow below.
We had ice cream at the famous Murphy’s. I was not previously aware that an ice cream shop could be famous, but USA Today called it one of the best in the world. It was good.
Tomorrow we’re riding bikes.
