To Kenmare via Bunratty & Killarney!


We checked out of the Queen's Hotel after a Friday night blitzkrieg of music. Slept okay after the nightclub beneath us closed at 2 AM.

We drove about 20 minutes southeast to Bunratty Castle and folk park. It was kind of Disney-esque, but the castle was still wonderful. It had been restored by a rich Anglo-Irish gentleman and given to the country to celebrate its past during the 1960s. The grounds reminded me of Colonial Williamsburg in the US. We spent about 2.5 hours wandering around the site before the tour buses started to arrive. Most of the tourists were speaking German.

We drove from there to Killarney, arriving by 2:30 PM. We walked around the three main streets of the old town and market section. We ate lunch at a funky cafe called "Jam". Diane had a ham & cheese on Irish brown bread and I had an improvised jambon beurre. Most excellent.

We left Killarney around 4:30 and had an insane one hour drive to Kenmare through the mountains just south of Killarney. The road was about 1.5 car lengths wide (and small cars at that!), sheep in the middle of the road, and tour buses approaching at high velocity from the other direction. It was a beautiful, if scary, drive through the mountains and lakes.

Bunratty Castle:




Bunratty library on top floor:




Lakes of Killarney:


Posted: Sat - September 6, 2003 at 05:30 PM          

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