Killarney (Ross Castle, Muckross House)
This was a day in Killarney without Michael. Walter’s Way had arranged a guided horse carriage tour of Killarney National Park in the morning and an evening show by the Celtic Steps Irish dancing and music revue. For the rest of the day we were on our own. The top options were for us to visit Ross Castle and Muckross House though we weren’t quite clear on where they were or how to get there.
We went down for our breakfast at The Ross and decided to simplify things a little: half an Irish breakfast for Barb, a small omelette for me. Also, I was starting to feel congested in my throat and started taking cold medicine. The breakfast waitress asked what we were doing this day and I replied, “We’re going on the clippy cloppy horsey ride.” She got a big kick out of that and told all her colleagues. For the rest of our time we were the clippy cloppy people.
After breakfast, we went across the street to the square where a number of carriages and horses were waiting. All we had for a contact was to ask for Damian which we did; Damian came well recommended per Michael, evidently requested specifically by Walter for us. One of the other drivers said Damian should be arriving soon and sure enough, in a few minutes, a strapping young Irishman in a pretty carriage pulled by his equally pretty horse, Daisy, came clippy clopping up. The proper name for these carriage rides was “jaunting.” I think “clippy cloppy” is at least as good. Damian was with McCarthy’s Killarney Carriage Rides, in case anyone wants a reference.
We started our hour-long tour of Killarney National Park, or at least the part closest to the heart of town. Damian rattled off a practiced spiel about the park. He explained that his forefathers had owned all the land sometime in the distant past but that was in the distant past. His father had started the jaunting car business in Killarney (a dubious claim, but fine) and was the first to put a roof on the cars, a notable improvement and more believable. Damian grew up with the business in Killarney but a few years ago lit for the greener pastures of San Antonio, Texas, where he also drove horse carriages. After a year he returned to Killarney — he didn’t love the Texas weather. Barb had no doubt he made a killing with the Texas ladies.
The jaunting cars were the only vehicles allowed in most of the park. Otherwise there were lots of trails and pathways for walking (and biking, I suppose). There weren’t a lot of pedestrians on this cool, gray day. Most of what we saw of the park were woodlands and meadows between town and Lough Leane, the lowest and largest Killarney lake. It was not very dramatic but the clippy cloppy ride was peaceful. I was able to identify the Aghadoe Heights Hotel in the distance and Damian seemed impressed.
We saw some Irish red deer and Sika deer and some nice views of Lough Leane and eventually Ross Castle. The Sika deer were evidently introduced in the 19th century for hunting but have nearly displaced the native red deer. They are now classified as an invasive species and there is much discussion about what to do with them.
The hour-long tour went by quickly and after some debate we decided to end at Ross Castle rather than ride the carriage back to town. Damian took a set of well-rehearsed pictures and I was glad he did. They’re some of the only shots we have of Barb and I together on this trip.
Ross Castle had a guided tour which we waited a short while for. There was a waiting room with some basic background on the castle, a long and complicated history dating to the late 15th century. The castle played a tangential role in the Irish Plantations, the holdings of Sir Walter Raleigh, the Irish Confederate Wars and Cromwell’s invasion, the Desmond Rebellions, ongoing struggles between the Browne, Desmond, and MacCarthy families and more. I was hoping the information panels, our guide or maybe Wikipedia would help clarify things but I’m still mostly confused. In truth, the tour and our visit was more about the architecture and ambiance of the castle rather than its history. Good thing, because the history is mighty convoluted and ultimately I don’t think much actually happened at the castle per se. But I could be wrong.
We toured all four floors of the castle which meant climbing up and down the narrow spiral staircase. Barb managed it very gingerly but she wasn’t happy. The castle was cold and sparsely furnished, even after its restoration in the 1970s. We all agreed that castles were not very pleasant places in which to live.
We ended up catching a taxi to Muckross House, about a 10 minute ride but much further than we wanted to walk. This was the home Queen Victoria and Prince Albert visited in 1861 for all of two nights, their only trip to Ireland. By reputation, their visit bankrupted the hosts, the Herberts, but others point out the bankruptcy was decades later in the wake of big stock market losses. In any event, the house was well appointed and Barb once again enjoyed getting additional information from the docents scattered around. I don’t think we were allowed to take pictures inside…or I didn’t find much I needed to capture. The Muckross Gardens are reputed to be quite lovely but not for us on a cool, late September day.
We taxied to the Killarney Park Hotel to scope out the big sister (mother?) of the Ross. The receptionist kindly gave us a tour. We looked forward to potentially spending time there on Saturday.
We did a little more shopping, picking up a wool scarf for Allie, after much texting to make sure we were getting the right one.
We came back to the hotel for naps to rest up for our evening activities. We had dinner at Bricin: a steak with mushroom sauce for Barb and a lamb boxty for me. Boxty turned out to be a sort of potato crepe. I enjoyed it but couldn’t eat half of it. Barb liked her steak.
We got a taxi to the Celtic Steps show, also a short ride but further than we wanted to walk, especially in the dark. We both quite enjoyed the exhibition of Irish music, dancing and singing. The performances were stronger in all respects than we had reasonably hoped. Even Barb had a good time.
After the show, we availed ourselves of the hop on hop off bus back to town by just walking on. Evidently Walter had arranged for us to use the bus all day but we never knew that. Not a big deal, as it turned out, but Walter’s Way could certainly have been clearer about the arrangements.
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