The Most Beautiful Part of Ireland- The Ring of Kerry

In the national park

We had another early start the following morning. It was optional, but if we wanted to take a horse-drawn buggy ride through the Killarney National Park, we had to be at the buggy pick-up area by 0730.  

We had a quick breakfast and headed out into a drizzling rain. After everyone was loaded up, Ned, our driver, cracked a crop on Billie’s behind (the horse’s ass) and off we went. The park comprises some 27,000 acres and, like most national parks, has a diverse ecology, and has been designated a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. Within the park one can find oak and yew woodlands and Ireland’s only native herd of red deer.

Ross Castle

Lough Leane

We rode through some heavily wooded sections and finally came to Ross Castle, a 15th-century tower house on the shore of Lough Leane. We exited the carriage to tour the castle, but the viewing was very limited as access to the upper levels was closed.

St. Mary's Cathedral

Another view of the castle

Our driver headed us back toward Killarney where we passed by the beautiful St. Mary’s Cathedral, one of the best examples of the Gothic Revival churches of the 19th century.

Riding through the park

View from the Ring of Kerry

The bridge to Valencia

Fishing seaport village of Portmagee

Skellig Islands in distance

We boarded our bus and headed west toward Killorglin which would start us on the Ring of Kerry. The Ring of Kerry is an approximately 110 mile circular tourist route in County Kerry, southwestern Ireland. We proceeded along the route to the small towns of Glenbeigh and Cahirciveen. We wish we could have stopped to explore these delightful little burgs. A little ways past Cahirciveen we crossed a bridge that put us on Valencia Island (pop. 665, 2011), one of Ireland’s most western points.

Looking out to the Atlantic

We have no idea!

Valencia was the eastern terminus of the first commercially viable transatlantic telegraph cable. The island is also host to a heritage center which tells the story of the geology, human, natural and industrial history of the island and a group of four small islands that lie approximately 7 miles offshore, the Skellig Islands. These islands jut up abruptly out of the sea creating sheer pinnacles that would seem to be uninhabitable merely by the imposing geology.

Coastal view on the Ring of Kerry

A sandy beach

However, one of the islands, Skellig Michael, served as a monastic outpost of the Early Christian period. Founded between the 6^th and 8^th centuries and abandoned in the 12^th, the complex created by the monks, literally carved out of the mountain, presents an image that is incomprehensible.

The site is very well preserved and is a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Coastal Ireland

A real thatched roof

Our tour did not allow time for us to actually visit Skellig Michael, but we were able to watch a remarkable film about the island and the monastery at the Skellig Experience Visitor Center on Valencia Island. We arrived at the visitor center at lunchtime, and the first order of business was to eat. Capt. Larry had Irish lamb stew and a local beer, while Jane settled for a less gastronomically challenging quiche lorraine. After lunch we toured exhibits on the cable station, and another about a marine radio station that was once in use.  We viewed another exhibit about the Valentia lifeboat station that had performed a number of rescue operations since its opening in 1864. After the exhibits, we were ushered into a theater where we watched a film about Skellig Michael and the monastery. We went outside to take some pictures of the shipping channel that leads to the Atlantic and the surrounding settlements.

Church on the Ring of Kerry

We boarded our bus and headed back out on the Ring of Kerry towards Waterville and Caherdaniel. The scenery was stunning. In fact, we felt that the images we had to take of the countryside would be so unworthy of its natural beauty, we refer our readers to a Google image site for some fantastic views at this link: Ring of Kerry .

View near Sneem

We drove on along the coast to the village of Sneem where Charlie Chaplin and his family spent a lot of time over a number of years, and some family members still return annually. We fell in love with these little villages and would like to return and rent a condo for a couple of summer months, probably around Sneem (if it's good enough for Charlie...). We left Sneem and drove on to Kenmare, another beautiful little town, before ending our Ring of Kerry tour back at our hotel in Killarney. We had happy hour with Frank and Carol Ann, had a light dinner, and called it a day.