Last Day in Killarney

Our tour group split up today so that each of us could take in whatever we wanted to see.  Some walked into town to see the cathedral, some chose to walk and shop, Mickey wasn't feeling well so she holed up in the lounge at the International Hotel. David and John visited the Killarney Golf Club and then hung out at a pub. I joined Linda and Rebecca for a walk back to Ross Castle in Killarney National Park. We all met back in town for lunch and then a group activity.

We were not able to grab a tour of the inside of the castle as we had hoped but we did enjoy the two mile walk along one of the very many trails through out the park.  Instead of walking the two miles back to the main gate, we hired a Jaunting Car and enjoyed a pleasant ride with Pat, our jarvey (driver) and Rosie, the horse. St. Mary's Cathedral is just outside the park gate. Even though it looks old it is relatively new since they started building it in 1842 with a final completion in 1914. It was renovated in 1973 and the windows were restored in 1987. The spire in 285 ft tall and it seats 1400 people. We still had time to shop before rejoining VBT.

This afternoon we were invited to visit Denis Kissane's childhoon home and his current home and farm.  His family has owned this land for the past 6 generations.  He is retired now but he used to have 24 milk cows.  We toured his barn and milk room, walked around the cottage where he was born and then his wife invited us into their home for scones and tea. They are very nice people and it was informative to see how he lived 50 years ago which is indicative of the many Irish landowners in this part of the island.

Tonight we are staying in Kenmare on the Ring of Kerry road.  It started misting rain on our drive, the second time it has rained this trip.  We have been very lucky to have such good weather thus far.