Ireland: Cork, Killarney and the Ring of Kerry

Cork

After our initial warm stent in the southern portions of Europe, we were onto our cooler part of the trip.  The overall goal for us was to avoid winter but that didn’t mean that we couldn’t enjoy some spots that we love or haven’t yet been to.  So we decided to make Ireland part of our itinerary.  We both love Ireland.  We love the people, the culture, the food and drinks.   In addition, my Mom’s side has some Irish heritage so it is great to reconnect with those roots.   I had been to Ireland several times because of work and one of the times Marissa came to meet me in Ireland.  It was for St. Patty’s day a few years back.  We had a blast (duh!) but wanted to see some different parts of Ireland that we had heard and read a lot about.

Our first stop was Cork.  We choose Cork because we wanted to visit some of my former co-workers and get to spend some time with them.   Also, I wanted to show Marissa around the town that I had spent quite a few nights in 2012 for a project that I was working on.  We stayed with my former co-worker Abhi and his wife for 2 nights. Abhi and I worked closely together on a project in Utah and California for a few years, and it was great to see him again and catch up on everything.  Ireland is not the cheapest place to travel through, so him and his wife were lifesavers, letting us crash with them. Marissa and I really enjoyed hearing what it was like living day to day in Cork.

After a good night’s sleep we got up early (for us) and headed over to the local Stryker site that I used to work a lot with.  It was great to see the site so full of life and to catch up with some former co-workers.  I really enjoyed spending time with Sara, whose role at the plant was very similar to mine and whom I had worked very closely with in the past.  Marissa and I both really enjoyed the visit to the plant.  The strangest part of the visit was when we arrived in the lobby.  We had a difficult time not putting ‘Stryker’ as our current company since neither of us are employed there at the moment.  Instead I put “traveler” as my company name.  Later I was told that in Ireland the word “traveler” can have a negative connotation to it- something along the lines of calling myself a gypsy. Whoops!

Later that day Marissa and I hit the town.  We started at the English Market which is a very impressive market filled with everything fresh and local.  It is a point of pride and a place that you could get all of your grocery shopping done knowing it’s the freshest possible stuff.  The market even received a visit from Queen Elizabeth II in 2011 during her visit to Ireland.  The place where the market is currently located has been a market since 1788.  Very impressive considering it’s been a market since the US has been an independent country.

After our bakery treat and coffee in the market, our intention was to walk around the town and catch out some of the local sites.  Mother Nature had different plans for us…  It started pouring down rain. Coming down in buckets.  And did not stop. We heard over and over again from various Irish folks that we just missed some amazing weather. It was pretty cold and VERY rainy.  This however is Ireland and the place is the most vibrant colors of green that you’ve ever seen.   We thought we’d be good with our rain jackets, however they didn’t stand a chance in this kind of rain, so we ponied up the euros and bought an umbrella in the English Market.  We opened up what we thought was a clear umbrella, then saw it read…”We (heart) Rain!” YES!  We about died looking at it. Imagine what the Irish must have thought of us as we walked (or ran) through the streets.

Instead of our day walking around enjoying the sights, we made our own tour.  In true Irish fashion, a pub crawl!  After going to a few pubs, it was still pouring rain, so we decided to go to the movies.   We hadn’t been a movie in a theatre in almost a year and being that it was rainy, it was perfect.   We saw “Gone Girl” with Ben Affleck.  I’m pretty sure we were the only ones over the age of 18 at the film – it was as if only high school kids went to a 5 pm show on a Friday night.  It ended up being a pretty good murder mystery and it kept us both interested and at the edge of our seats.  That’s a pretty hard thing to do for me, especially since it was a 2 ½ hr movie.  My attention span is about half that so that tells you how good it was.  After the movie, we met up with our friends at the pub and enjoyed the night.

The next morning, we had breakfast with Abhi and his wife and they so kindly dropped us off at the airport so we could pick up a rental car.  We didn’t book in advance because we figured the airport would have plenty of rental cars – right?

Nope – we were wrong.  Much to our dismay the first two rental car desks that we approached said they were sold out and stated that there probably weren’t any cars left at the airport. The next leg of our Irish trip required a rental car!  In a bit of a panic, we went to a third desk, and they said they had 1 car left; a tiny little Nissan car, and manual transmission only.  Crap, this was what we were dreading!  Ireland already drives on the wrong (err I mean left side of the road) if that wasn’t challenging enough, and I rarely drive a stick in the States.  The shift was on the opposite hand and felt totally backwards. And to top that off, the Irish LOVE roundabouts.  They put them literally everywhere.  Wherever there is typically a traffic light, insert roundabout. I knew it would be a challenge, but we needed a car, so I went for it.

After a few practice spins around the rental car lot, we were off (crossing our fingers)!  I’m pretty sure Marissa was more nervous than I was; she can’t drive a manual, so she was stuck trusting me to keep her alive as we navigated the streets of Ireland!

First stop: Barney Castle.  We had to experience the kiss of the ‘ol Barney Stone.  According to legend, kissing the stone endows you with a lifelong gift of eloquence (or flattery).   The stone dates back to 1446.

Blarney is something more than mere flattery.  It is flattery sweetened by humor and flavored with wit’.

Anyone that interacts with the Irish folks on a regular basis get a sense of that.   The castle and the grounds are beautiful and we really enjoyed our visit.  And yes – we both kissed the Blarney stone so watch out world!  (I’ve done it now twice!)

 Killarney

Next Stop: Killarney, which would be our base for the night.  It was the perfect spot to start our drive the next day of the Ring of Kerry.  It ended up being a much bigger town that we expected and much more lively.  Being a Saturday night might also have contributed, but it had an awesome selection of pubs all with live Irish music.  We both loved that!  What made it more interesting was all of the Stag (Bachelor) and Hen (Bachelorette) parties that were partying like rock stars at the different pubs.  The night was a lot of fun!

The Ring of Kerry

The next morning we took off for our drive around the Ring of Kerry.  This is a 179 km driving route in County Kerry in south-western Ireland which contains amazing sites and tourist attractions along the way.  I’d heard about it from numerous co-workers and always wanted to take the drive, so we decided now was the time! We did almost the full circle, then continued onto our next hub of the trip in Dingle.

We really enjoyed the route.  Our first stop was Killarney National Park, which was the first national park, created in Ireland in 1932.   From there, the ring continued to other key sites including the Muckross House,Torc Waterfall, a stone fort and several amazing viewpoints along the ocean.  The weather continued to act up with howling winds and bitter cold temperatures, but it was beautiful regardless.  We only did a little hiking along the way but enjoyed the beautiful scenery and quaint little villages along the way.

Our time in Cork and County Kerry was great.  We got to catch up with old friends, enjoy local sights and scenery, and really take everything in. This leg of the trip started to feel like fall with crisp temperatures, and changing colors of the trees.  It reminded us of fall in Michigan, so in some ways it felt like home.