Getting to and traveling around Killarney: Part One

Day 2: From Dublin to Killarney

So we woke up a little later than we meant to – I forgot my travel alarm clock was in military time when I set it. But we managed to get up, enjoy our first big Irish breakfast, and hit the road. After struggling to find the main road we needed, we did a few extra turns, tackled several roundabouts, and found the route we were seeking.

We enjoyed the green pastures and farmlands of the Irish countryside and noted the way shrubbery was used to separate plots of land, marveled at how medieval castles stood crumbling in the middle of pastures, and smiled at the fields of horses, sheep, and cows.

As per Chris and Ginger’s recommendations, we decided to visit the Rock of Cashel along the way, and were excited to find ourselves with a large hill and castle complex before us. The Rock of Cashel is the site where St. Patrick first converted and baptized the king around the 5th century and is supposedly the site where he first used the shamrock-trinity analogy. Since then, a cathedral and castle have been built on the site – during the 11th-13th centuries.

After touring and soaking in the castle grounds and lots of beautiful, mossy stone walls, we decided it was time to check see if the local town had any shoes for sale. Before leaving the castle we asked reception if there was a local shoe store and showed them Daniel’s shoes (which at this point were held together with hair elastics). The man’s reply was a quiet, polite “oh no.”

They proceeded to give us directions - and were given the opportunity to truly experience the long-windedness of the Irish. Daniel and I had a pretty good sense of where they were sending us within about forty-five seconds…so by the time the gentleman finished giving us directions over five minutes later, I was intrigued and Daniel was really ready to go.

We ventured into Cashel, a very cute and quaint Irish town, and beelined it for the nearest shoe store. Thirty minutes later - after much struggle from the shop owner who struggled to find Daniel's "enormous" US size 13 shoe, we were victorious - and emerged with a MUCH more attractive, MUCH more functional Clarks, sneaker cut, gore-tex laden, hiking book. We were all happy. We then went on in search of lunch and found a very cute little place that offered something delicious for all of us - tuna melt for Daniel, cajun panini for Emily, and the special of the day - chicken wrappen in bacon, stuffed with couscous, and drizzled with lemon butter sauce (delicious!!!!) for Beth.

And then we were back on the road, heading for Killarney - fighting the fall of darkness (we lost the fight). Because it's nearly December, darkness has been falling around four pm here...maybe four-thirty...and so, it's been hard to make it back to "home base" before dark. We had tried googling directions for our new hotel, but had been unsuccessful, so we were a little nervous heading into Killarney. Fortunately, our stop at a convenience store as we pulled into town was smart, because a woman at the counter gave good directions and we soon discovered that our hotel was smack in the center of the city and was within seconds of several strings of cute little shops, restaurants and pubs.

We had free parking, free internet, a huge room with a couch, desk, table and chairs, and an extra bed, and we were all set! We settled in and set out to check out the town and had a great evening exploring the city!