Irish adventures at their very best!

 This weekend was filled with more adventures than can possibly be written about!  On Thursday we headed south to the County Kerry. Co. Kerry is know for its magnificent scenic drives filled with mountains, cliffs and gorgeous overlooks. We toured the 15th century Ross Castle after we arrived at our hostel in Killearney.   Unfortunately, pictures were not allowed in the castle.  The castle sits on a beautiful lake in the basin of two mountains and is  an absolutely astonishing. On Friday, we were able to tour the Victorian Age Muckross House in which the Queen of England had stayed at along with many other Irish scholars. The rest of the day we drove around a scenic "highway" called the Ring of Kerry. The road carves its way through the sides of the mountains and brings you across the entire county of Kerry. It is so narrow that there is an unwritten rule that coaches only travel clockwise around the Ring because it is not wide enough for two buses to pass side by side.  For all you Glacier fans, imagine the Going to the Sun road except a lot more curvy, a few less goats, one lane wide and sheer drop offs into the sea crashing below. At one overlook we stopped for pictures and a few of us decided to scurry up a near mountain for a better picture. We crawled hands and knees to the to and while the prickly bushes were not a pleasant experience-the view from the top was amazing!

Top of the world!

View from the Ring of Kerry

On Saturday night we attended a traditional Irish musical called, Clann Lir. It was an amazing show filled with Irish dancing and  traditional music.  Check out this video from youtube,  it was absolutely amazing! Clann Lir

The most exciting adventures were on Sunday as we ventured to the Cliffs of Moher-the tallest cliffs in all of Europe and the most popular tourist place in Ireland. The cliffs are also made famous as there is a scene from Harry Potter that is filmed on the cliffs. We took a boat out into the ocean to see them from ocean level first.  And it was not a calm day!  We all were holding on for dear life! You couldn't sit on the benches because one wave would sending you sliding across the boat.  Standing was only possibly by holding on to a railing, a friend or usually both!  Appreciate the pictures as it was quite difficult to stand, hold on with one hand, take a picture with another and protect the camera from crashing waves on the boat deck. It was a great ride and even though we were soaked and cold it was worth it!  Afterwards, we went to the top for another view.  The ocean looked so calm from up top-but we were not fooled! It was a beautiful view!  All the adventures of this weekend topped those from last.  I am excited for what next weekend has in store!  We are leaving for Northern Irleand on Wednesday morning and Belfast on Friday.  Hopefully, I will be able to meet up with Courtney for the night!  

Cliffs of Moher