Ireland: Killarney National Park

My father is a master planner. He always lays out a killer itinerary. As he was planning this trip and considering the varied ages and interests of our group, he built a couple of 'free days' into the week. This proved almost unnecessary as we ended up doing everything together almost all day long everyday anyway! The company is just that great. So on the first of these free days, we all took a jaunting car tour into Killarney National park.

The park was, at its origin, an 11,000 acre estate. It was originally built by Henry A. Herbert. The Herbert's had the great honor of hosting none other than Queen Victoria. They made lavishly expensive preparations for her visit, developing parks and gardens as well as the great house. Not to mention all the preparations that were made for her entourage - she traveled with a full military compliment, a fire brigade (she was terrified of being burned to death) along with her crowd of servants and court people. Sadly her visit was cut short by the death of her husband, Prince Albert. She stayed just one day. The queen plunged into mourning and never gave the estate the publicity they were planning on. The family endured a great amount of financial difficulty as a result and ended up selling the estate. It passed hands through business tycoons and was eventually gifted to Maud and Arthur Rose Vincent as a wedding present. They lived there until Maud passed away in the 1930's. Her family decided to gift the estate to Ireland, and it became the country's first national park. The parks boundaries have gown to encompass over 25,000 acres. It was a fabulous tour.

For Henry A. Herbert- the original builder of the estate.

The first stop was the ruins of a church with an adjoining grave yard. The church was built around this Ewe tree, pictured below. The Ewe was considered good luck. Or rather, it was considered bad luck to disturb it.

We passed by the Muckross House on our way to our next stop. Good. Grief. This place...

Our next stop was at Torc Waterfall. It was a short walk up to a lovely 80 foot cascade. This country is so indescribably green.

Eden and Kevin have a special little bond. I never have to worry about where Eden is when Kevin is around.

And then it was back to Muckross House. We had lunch in the gardens and then enjoyed a tour of the great house. Sadly, no pictures were aloud inside. It is remarkable how people used to live as well as what was required by the people in service at these great houses. 365 windows. Over 50 fireplaces. Room after glorious room.

After the house tour, we took the shuttle up to the living farm tour. The living farm is a collection of restored farm houses that have been outfitted with furnishings and lovely people who demonstrate a little of what life was like back in the day. We ate some hot soda bread, pet on some ponies, and crowded into a smokey blacksmith shop.

It ended up being a fun, full day. Dad got us a ride home on a double decker tour bus. We sat up top, baby!

Ireland: The Gap of Dunloe to Ross Castle

Once we landed in Shannon, everything came together really quickly. We met up with our driver, our luggage was waiting at baggage claim, and then just like that we were on the road headed south. We weren't sure if we were going to be able to meet up with the rest of our group for the day's festivities or not. But our drivers got it worked out and the group waited a bit for us. We went straight from the airport to the jaunting cars. What a happy reunion in that parking lot! I had not seen my brother in over a year- and his travel story rivaled ours, for sure (he came all the way from New Zealand). Our guides got us divided and situated into the traps and we were off. It was a terrific way to kick off what would be a magical week.

We took the horse and trap tour through the Gap of Dunloe. This is a narrow, winding pass that snakes between the Macgillycuddy Reeks and the Purple Mountain. There are several lakes along the way all connected by the River Loe. It is wild and beautiful countryside - full of craggily rocks and lush grass. Two of the trappers that drove our group are brothers and it was very entertaining listening to them holler at each other in a language that was half English and half Irish (Gaelic). The jaunting car ride itself was quite... jaunty. I like to think it helped me pass my kidney stone that much faster. But the views along the way were breathtaking.

The road that goes through the gap is only slightly wider than a single lane. It is not restricted to any kind of traffic. We were headed up late in the afternoon- probably one of the last groups- and got to pass by everyone coming back. It got a little crowded one or two times.

The purple color on the tip of that mountain comes from the slate-like rock that is there as well as the heather that grows all over the peak.

This is the actual gap. It was slow going up that pass. A lot of the adults got out of the traps and walked a bit to give the horses a break.

 The gap from the other side.

Once through the divide, we were headed down into the Black Valley and then into Killarney National Park. Going through the Black Valley, we drove past a little village of about 60 people. It is where most of the trappers live who drive the Gap of Dunloe tours. Cori and I both have strong feelings that we could be completely happy living in such a place.

Once inside Killarney National Park, we disembarked the traps at Lord Brandon's Cottage for the next leg of our journey.

The miracle of jet lag. It was the bumpiest ride and that baby boy fell right asleep!

Two of our three trappers. The third carriage was being pulled by a stubborn pony who had decided he was done for the day. They came in a little behind the rest. But we enjoyed waiting for them at the bridge.

At Lord Brandon's Cottage we jumped on a boat to tour the lakes. The bikes at the bow of the boat belong to a couple who had missed their bus ride back to Killarney. They struck it up with our boatman before we got there and crashed joined in our little tour. They were very nice kids and we actually spotted them later in town, which was fun.

It will come as no surprise that this little girl spent most of the tour hanging half way out of the boat with both arms dangling in the rushing water. But there were no rules against it so I just kept a hand firmly wrapped around one of her ankles.

The boatman has lived his whole life here and his father owns the little business that runs these tours. He knew so much about the history, ecology, and geology of this beautiful piece of the planet.

Jeffery figured out how to blow the emergency whistles on the life jackets. It made the last 20 minutes of the tour festive.

And then there it was. Ross Castle! 

Ross Castle is a tower house and military keep that was built in the late 1400's. It was one of the last strongholds to fall to the Cromwellian forces during the Irish Confederate Wars. It is in ruins and pretty locked up. But it was interesting to wander around and the children found lots of things to climb on.

We met up with our driver and made the short drive back to the Priory for dinner and an early bed time. It was a perfect first day in Ireland.