Today was a great outdoorsy day. Of course they said it wasn’t going to rain, and it mostly didn’t, but I caught a few light showers while out on the boat. But they say the weather in Ireland is so unpredictable and you can have all four seasons in one day! Crazy!!
So I caught the bus to the town of Killarney. Very quaint little town with a cool Main Street. I walked around there a little bit in the morning. Then went on a tour bus with a small group of people to both Killarney National Park and the Gap of Dunloe.
The Gap of Dunloe is a narrow mountain pass running north-south that separates the MacGillicuddy’s Reeks Mountain Range on the west from the Purple Mountain Range (you’ll see why it’s called that) on the east. I hooked up with three other people (a couple from Boston and a man from Manchester, England) and we rode thru the 7 mile long Pass in a horse and buggy (called a “Jaunting Car”). Our horse “Manhattan” was a hard worker and I felt bad when he was pulling us up some of the inclines. Twice we got out since the road was too steep for him to carry us up. The scenery thru the area was amazing as the road meandered along streams and mountains.
Once we got to the end of the pass, we stopped for lunch and then took a boat ride thru the 5 lakes of Killarney National Park. That was a 10 mile long trip that took about an hour. There too the scenery was beautiful (even though we got rained on a little) and parts of it our boat went thru these narrow passages and thru what felt like jungles. Our boat captain was a feisty little Irishman and very funny. He told lots of stories along the way. His name was Dermet O’Donoghue.
The boat ended at Ross Castle which was built by O’Donoghue Morin in the 15th century. Lots of O’Donoghue’s! Lol. Once we got to the castle they had buses waiting for us to take us back to Killarney. I then caught the bus back to Dingle. It was a long day but very fun!
The pics are as follows: Pic 1 is the town of Killarney.
Pics 2-9 are the horse ride thru the Dunloe Gap. Note on Pic 2 the purple sheep and in Pic 3 the purple hue to the mountain (thus it’s name). The owner of the sheep dye them purple to show they’re his and they belong on Purple Mountain.
Pics 10-16 are the boat ride across the lake. Look closely at Pic 12 and you can see a baby Sika deer. They were brought to Ireland from Japan in 1865 and have flourished here. Pic 16 of course is the Ross Castle.
That’s all for today. Hope everyone is having a great weekend!
The Wandering Italian 