Kenmare, Killarney, and Dingle

Erin and I decided to explore a bit of the surrounding area in Southern Ireland these past few days. We have orientation at the university tomorrow and Friday, then classes start on Monday, so we figured we'd take advantage of some of this time off before then. Monday morning we took a bus from Cork to Killarney. Killarney is a very cute town just west a bit from Cork. It's especially nice because there is a large National Park that has entrances right from the city. After talking to a woman at the tourism office in Killarney, we decided to take the 2.6km hike to Ross Castle. We didn't want a very long hike, as we were both carrying normal backpacks that aren't really designed for long walking trips, and so a 45 minute walk to a castle sounded grand. Granted, we didn't know anything about this castle going into this hike, but hey, castles are cool, right? And indeed, we weren't disappointed. Ross Castle is quite cool indeed! It was a castle built in the 15th century, and although we didn't pay to take the tour of the inside, the outside is quite spectacular. It has a great view over a lake too (great place for a picnic, too bad we had eaten our packed sandwhiches in the parking lot at the tourism office).

After our lovely walk, we wandered back into the town center and looked around a bit. We were debating where we wanted to stay the night, and Erin suggested we go to a town south of Killarney called Kenmare, since I had been wanting to visit a town on the coast. On the bus we went again. Erin had been to Kenmare last week with her parents, and we discovered that Kenmare is probably more fun if you have a vehicle to get to all of the cool scenic spots. We did however take a nice walk down to the pier (well, it was nice aside from the fact that we got a bit lost trying to find it), and we enjoyed the view of the ocean (actually called the Kenmare River at that point since the land causes the ocean to narrow so much). We also visted a stone circle, which, for two euros, isn't as exciting as you might think. Yes, it is literally a circle made out of stones, in this case, 15 tones with a diameter of about 10 meters. Apparently, it is a 3000 year old structure that was used by people as a means of tracking the solstices and other calendar events. We found a nice pub to eat at that night (I had the "traditional" fish and chips) and we found a nearby hostel. We met two German girls who were hiking the Ring of Kerry and made us feel like whimps when we found out they had just been walking for nine hours!

In the morning we left Kenmare and headed to Dingle, the most western city of Ireland. Dingle was another place Erin had been with her parents, and we were hoping to get into contact with another American student she had met there last week, but we were unable to get into contact with him. All the same, we had a really great time in Dingle. After having a rather frustrating conversation at the tourism office with a woman who kept telling us about all of these amazing spots you could get to only by car, (even after we had told her we did not have a vehicle), we eventually found out about a nice foot path you could take along the coast. We found the path surprisingly easily (despite the fact that the term "path" is used very loosely to describe fields of grass with a faint line where the grass is slightly smushed down), and had a really great walk. We found a really neat old stone structure (an old tower or something?) and just enjoyed the amazing views of the ocean. The town itself is very nice as well, with lots of cute shops designed for tourists. After having a picnic of Subway subs for dinner, we found a really great hostel that was cheap, friendly, cute and cleanly, and even included a free breakfast of cereals and toast! Later that night we headed back to the main street and had the privelege of listening to some really great live traditional music. I also got my very first Guinness there (not my favorite thing in the world, but fairly tasty).

This morning then we once more caught a bus and made our way back to Cork. All in all, a quick, but very nice trip I think. I took quite a few pictures, and am trying to get them up, but both this site and facebook are not being very kind to me tonight! So I'll get them up as soon as I can. :)