September 2024, Part 02

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September 2024 (Part 02)

Ireland Trip (Day Five): Dublin to Killarney (County Kerry Craic)

After breakfast we headed out to a tour of Ross Castle then a visit across Lake Leone to Innisfallen Island. Ross Castle is a 15th century tower house and keep which is the ancestral home of the Chiefs of the Clan O'Donoghue, later associated with the Brownes of Killarney

We then loaded up into several small boats for the ride across Lake Leone.

The view back to Ross Castle was fun.

You could see the steeples in Killarney just off the lakeshore.

Here we are arriving at, and later departing from, Innisfallen Island

The Innisfallen Monastery dates to the 7th century when lepers were isolated and confined to the island, while the monks sought isolation and peace. The Vikings attacked the island in many times, as did the O'Donoghues, in the 12th century. The monks repaired the monetary each time, but there are no remains of buildings from that time. Augustinian canons took over the island at the end of the 12th century who knew it as the Priory of St Mary where it became a center of learning. These are the ruins which remain, along with a 12th century Hiberno-Romanesque church near the shore. Inside the church is a small stone Celtic cross which was found in the lake.

The ruins of the monastery were pretty neat.

There was a carved face in one of the rock walls.

The small chapel was really neat.

We had time to circumnavigate the island on a small trail along the shore.

Some fun views back across the lake at different spots.

Loved this small cove.

Came across a small herd of deer. Several of the other groups saw the big buck.

Our next stop was at the Muckross National School within Killarney National Park, where we were treated to a a discussion of how the local schools worked back at the turn of the last century and a discussion of the Irish language.

This was followed by a butter making demonstration

That was followed by some traditional Gaelic music and dancing. We then were treated to a great family-style lunch.

So enjoyed this.

After returning to our hotel we again had time on our own to wander around Killarney. One of the great stops was at the Aryn Sweater Market, which turned out to have several products knitted with clan patterns, including both Byrne and Scott. We also had a lot of fun at the Irish Pub Shop, which was the only store licenses to sell Star Wars themed shirts from when the first two films of the last trio were filmed on the Skellig Islands off the southwest coast. Finally, we enjoyed a nice dinner at the Laurels Pub before calling it a night.

Did we mention we found a rubber duck store? This was fun. Had to call Cathy to see if she desperately needed anything.

Had to take a picture in front of Salvador's Italian restaurant for our neighbor Sal. Enjoyed listening to a band a bit from outside a pub, then admired the church windows on the way back to our hotel.