Completing the Ring

If there is such a thing as karmic meteorology, I may have experienced it in Ireland. Many efforts to visit the Skelllig Islands are thwarted by bad weather, but we had no problem. The rest of our visit was plagued by the wet and blustery clime I was told to expect (although locals say it is not usually this wet). Thursday June 20 was such a day (daughter Sofia's birthday too!), but we were off the drive the Ring of Kerry counterclockwise (or anticlockwise if you prefer). Stop one was Waterville, near which Florry's da Richie grew up. He told a somewhat expansive tale of how one Charles Chaplin arrived in town searching for anonymity, love the placed, summered at the hotel there with family. So they built him a statue.

Further along the road at a pull-out is an Ogham (pronounced Ohm) Stone. These monuments of mysterious purpose were put up 1500-2000 years ago and are inscribed with an early Irish script written in series of lines.

An Ogham Stone

Right around the corner in Caherdaniel is the country estate of Daniel O'Connell, the Liberator (covered in the prior posting).  There was a very informative film on his life and times, beautiful home and gardens, as well as the Golden Chariot he circled Dublin in after a release from prison.

Sneem is a cute village on the banks of a river with an artistic bent. Charles De Gaulle vacationed here to quietly avoid student protests in France. So they built him a monument. (Locals call it the Gaulle Stone).

Heading inland, we took a pass across the hills down into Killarney National Park and the Lakes of Killarney.

Despite drab weather it was easy to appreciate the allure of the place, and for our first time in Ireland we encountered forests.

Torc Creek...

and Falls.

There is the grand Georgian Muckross Estate on the lake where Queen Victoria and her ladies would vacation and nearby the 15th century Ross Castle on Lough Leane (the Lake of Learning, so-called because of an influential 7th century monastery founded by St. Finian the Leper on an Inisfallen Island). One thing we learned is that you can't stop at every castle in Ireland (there are too gosh-darned many of them). This one was worth it, however, as it is nicely restored and a classic example of a medieval tower house where local chieftains lived. Ross was one of the last to fall to and be ruined by Cromwell's armies.

Ross Castle

Lough Leane

Boats waiting to take you to Inisfallen

 The Ring was completed as we drove back to Tralee for one more night of O'Connell hospitalty. We dined that night in Ballybunion, a nearby seaside resort. President Bill Clinton once came here to escape the crowds and play golf. So they built him a statue.

Noted cheater at golf William Jefferson Clinton

As Bill would want it, with Sarah looking on enraptured

(Infinite thanks again to the O'Connells for their generosity, and to Florry and Sarah as excellent native guides.)