Follow the adventures of Paul Pitzers and Grace Pitzer

Irish Adventure

9/25/2019

Killarney

We are off on another adventure, this time to Ireland. Somehow along the way, we have never visited any part of Ireland, and this trip just looked very interesting. We are traveling with our good friend Melanie Morris. This is an OAT (Overseas Adventure Travel) trip with a maximum of 16 people, and it is full. The title of this tour is “Irish Adventure: Belfast, Dublin & Northwest Counties” but we are starting with the pre-trip to the southwestern part of the country, in Killarney.

As usual, we like to come a day ahead of the start of a trip, to give us time to adjust to the new time zone and catch up on some sleep. Our flights were fairly direct; Portland to JFK (five hours) then JFK to Shannon, Ireland (seven hours). Even though we had upgraded seats, they weren’t that comfortable, and there were some very bumpy sections, especially past Chicago and Iceland/Greenland. As it turns out, the Shannon airport is about a two hour drive to Killarney, the start of our tour. After some research, I found the Silver Bus company that does that kind of transportation, and booked them to meet us at the airport and drive us to Killarney. It was a beautiful drive through the country and some small villages.

It was about 12:30 by the time we arrived at Abbey Lodge, our accommodation for four nights. Our rooms were ready so we checked in and then walked into town, about five minutes away, to get some lunch. Hannigans Restaurant was recommended, and we had very good lunches. The next on our agenda was to get Vodafone SIM cards for our phones so we can call and text and even get email while we are here, outside of wifi areas. That took a little doing, but eventually we walked away with new phone numbers.

In the afternoon we met our guide, Joan Greene, and had a nice visit. By early evening, Paul was headed to bed, and Melanie and I headed back into town to get a little bite to eat. We ended up at Quinlan’s Seafood Bar where we enjoyed a bowl of seafood chowder. It was just the right amount. I think we were all in bed by 8:30, having managed to stay up all day without naps, and slept until a reasonable time in the morning.

Breakfast was served at 8:00 and we had the “Full Irish Breakfast” of an egg, bacon, sausage, broiled tomato and some potatoes. It was very good. There were other offerings on the menu we may try on another day. Melanies oatmeal, for instance, was served with a drizzle of Baileys. Yum.

We got organized and our guide got us on the 11:00 tour of the Ross Castle. We took a taxi to get there. It is a reconstructed castle that was originally built in the 1400s. The hour tour took you up four levels on a very narrow circular stone staircase. The castle was built as a fortification so the family could protect against invaders, and those who would steal their cattle.

Next we took a taxi to St. Mary’s Cathedral to be able to see inside. It had beautiful stained glass windows. It was built in the mid 1800s. It has been added on to and extended a number of times, including modern AV installations in 2005 for the 150 Anniversary. From the cathedral we could walk back into town and ended up at Murphys Bar for lunch. It is a traditional Irish Pub and the food was good. It seemed popular with the locals.

At 5:00 we were to meet with our guide for a short briefing about what we will be doing, especially for tomorrow. Most of the group eventually gathered. It seems like a very friendly group. Afterwards, we walked back to the center of town, back to Quinlan’s Seafood Bar for dinner. Bob and Helene and eventually David and Claudia joined us.

It was another early night to bed. This has been a very smooth adjustment to the time change. I managed to sleep until almost 4:00, which is normal at home. At about 5:00 the fire alarm went off. Other than waking people up, there was no problem. It seems that even the steam from the showers can set it off, so they ask us to keep the bathroom door closed for a little while after showering. For me, I was fully ready for the day and went down to the lounge at 6:00 to get started on writing for this blog post.

Now that we are all here, today starts the beginning of the tour. We will be driving around the Ring of Kerry today. More about that on the next post.