Ireland 6: The path to Killarney, through the Gap of Dunloe, more abbeys, and Japanese deer.

    We were ejected from the bed and breakfast at 9:45.  We began our journey to Killarney by stopping at a parking lot with access to two more ring forts.  In order to pass through to the first, the Leacanabuaile Ring Fort, we had to correctly answer the three questions of the sheep guardian, perched up on the rocks.

  Following another path from the parking lot is the Cahegall Stone Fort, which was more vertical.  From the top of both forts, you can view the Ballycarberry Castle in the distance.  Unfortunately, it has been closed off from the public for a few years now.

  As there was nothingof interest to see in the northern half of the Circle of Kerry beyond this point, I decided to take the Ballaghisheen Pass through the center of the Peninsula.  This slower road offered some interesting views through the mountains.

    Rather than continuing on into Killarney, we did the slow drive through the incredibly narrow, windy, and hilly Gap of Dunloe.  The Gap is often explored by foot or horse and buggy.  It was raining through the first half of the drive.  It was so bad at one point, that when I lowered the window, I was hit with a blast of sideways rain.

    Our hotel had a huge room, but no desk.  I had to commander a high end table to use as a makeshift desk.  The next day I dropped off most of our laundry at the local cleaners, to be picked up later in the day.  Our second day in Killarney was an easygoing one.  We drove right down the road to Ross Castle.  The only way to get inside was to join a tour.  When the receptionist saw my hesitation about the tour, she offered to have us join one that had started twenty minutes prior.  She even gave us a discount.  The castle was a tower with four floors.  Some of what the guide said was semi interesting, but most of it was forgettable.  In any case, we got to see the tower.

  Just behind the castle, boats lined up to bring people across the lake to Innisfallen Island.  The island housed a monastery from 640 AD.  One of the Irish High Kings received his education there.  The island is also currently the home to Sika Deer, imported from Japan.  The island itself was beautiful and peaceful.  I only wish that we were allowed more time to remain.

  The last stop of the day was to see the Muckross Abbey.  For some reason, I did not choose pictures of the outside of the Abbey to include in the blog when I originally sorted them, so I decided to keep it that way.  The inside was expansive, with a tree growing in one of the courtyards, a second floor, and a tower on the third floor.  There were also many tunnels to explore.