Ireland’s reputation as the “Emerald Isle” may seem overblown if one just stays in Dublin and the closely surrounding areas. A trip to the Ring of Kerry will quickly disabuse anyone of this notion; however, small and windy roads, coupled with large and lumbering tour buses, makes the trip more exciting than perhaps it should be.
A view from the road. We took this picture while (very) slowly going around a turn.
Hills, meadows and valleys go on as far as the eye can see, and even in the rainiest of weather, the verdant landscape boasts some of the deepest greens imaginable. Nowhere is this more apparent than at the Gap of Dunloe, where Dana met her new best friend, Bobfred the Horse. The Gap was by far our favorite part of the Ring of Kerry, and we were there on a disgusting rainy day. Just imagine it with the sun shining! There were wildflowers everywhere, and the scenery was just breathtaking. There’s a one lane paved road that winds through the bottom of the steep-sided valley, and you can rent little horse buggies to take you through it, or just hike it yourself. We regretfully didn’t have time to walk far, so if we ever make it back to Ireland that will be on the top of our list!
The Gap of Dunloe looks like it was pulled out of a storybook. These pictures don’t really do it justice.
The majestic steed, known as Bobfred.
Our travels on the Ring led us to the small town of Cahersiveen, where we explored the dry stone ring forts still standing from about 600 AD.
A dry stone wall is simply a wall without any sort of mortar - essentially, all the rocks are cut to fit into one another.
We spent Wednesday night in Killarney, and visited the Shire Bar, a Lord of the Rings themed bar, for burgers and their ridiculously named cocktails: “hobbit juice”, “smeagol on the beach”, and “gandalf ale” were our drinks of choice.
John, enjoying a sign perfectly constructed to evoke nerd-rage
Thursday, we unanimously agreed, was the best day of our time in Ireland. We woke up bright and early, drove through a misty dawn to a small dock on Valentia Island, and hopped on a tiny boat that would ferry us for 8 miles across choppy seas to the island of Skellig Michael. This rugged island is most recently known as the setting of Luke and Rey’s meeting in Star Wars, but there is so much more to see here than just a movie set.
It’s somewhat friendlier than it looks from the front…
This utterly inhospitable place was home to a group of monks for several hundred years, and they have left a singular mark on the island. Between the sixth and eighth centuries, they constructed a winding flight of steps from sea level up to their monastic settlement perched like a bird’s nest at the very top of the peak.
Starting our trek to the top
This is one of the spots where Rey is training in the trailer for The Last Jedi .
It was an incredibly surreal experience to climb these steps, placing your feet ever so carefully on each uneven and hand-hewn step. Even Justin, who has never had an issue with heights, admits to feeling just a tiny bit apprehensive as we climbed, with a sheer drop of hundreds of feet always looming on one side. It felt like at any moment the wind would come pluck us off the cliff face and hurl us into the ocean, but we made it up (and eventually back down!) after a lot of white knuckles and pounding hearts! The monastery at the top, with its beehive buildings all built with stacked dry stone, just added to our dreamlike impression of the island. What an insane place for humans to live!
Pictured: A lovely view from the top. Not pictured: the sheer, 200 meter drop to the ocean
A view from the top from Skellig Michael. You can see Little Skellig, another island in the chain, in the distance.
Structures on top of Skellig Michael, where the monks ate, prayed, and yes, loved!
Note - There are way more pictures of Skellig Michael which didn’t make it into this post. Check out the Ireland gallery, which has all of our pictures to date, including everything that didn’t make it into the posts.
After taking the boat back to shore, we made the four hour drive up to Galway, which would be our last stop. There we enjoyed some great food, including the tastiest oysters we’ve ever tried. Justin’s previous oyster experience had been overwhelmingly negative, and he was unable to figure out why anyone would eat these mollusks willingly. His opinions quickly changed after sampling some from an oyster stand in Galway, and they are now rightfully in the Pantheon of the Yum.
We caught a maginificent rainbow on the way to Galway. Unfortunately, no pot of gold was to be found.
Pie from The Pie Maker . One of the most delicious dishes we had in Ireland!
Galway’s got its priorities sorted.
As we write this, our airplane to Prague is boarding, one of the Ryanair flights which has fortunately been spared from the widespread cancellations. Czech Republic, here we come!
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