IRELAND DAY 5 - THE RING OF KERRY

We’re out of the hotel before coffee service, jumping into one of our most anticipated days.  We’re headed to Kenmare for the Ring of Kerry drive, but damn we need some caffeine.  It’s impossible to get a cup before 8, even in the active factory towns.  We blessedly find a quaint Irish diner next to a gas station just opening for business.  The brew is strong and fresh and the efficient women behind the counter indulge us when we teach them how to make a proper bacon, egg and cheese sammy.  Pretty sure it hits the menu next week.

We’re in Kenmare by 9 and set the GPS for Sneem, a little town on the Wild Atlantic Way immersing us into the Ring.  The Ring of Kerry Drive, one of the most beautiful sections of the WAW, circumnavigates the Iveragh Peninsula in County Kerry and is loaded with history, charisma, grand seascapes and broad swarths or rolling Irish countryside.  Sneem radiates Irish charm with colorful buildings, babeling brooks and bold mountain backdrops, so we wander around for bit taking it all in.

Next stop is Darrynane Beach, a secluded stretch of shoreline down an even smaller offshoot road and our first chance to get toes in the sand this trip.  It’s crazy windy so we only make it out of the car for a few minutes, but the beach is beautiful just the same.  Before we get back on the Ring, we stop to check out the Darrynane House, ancestral home to Daniel O’Connell, one of the great figures in modern Irish history.  The house is fantastic and we definitely understand why they selected this stunning seaside location.  We’re especially taken by the gorgeously landscaped Fairy Trail and the Summerhouse, a diminutive detached castle tower built by O’Connell as a quiet place for contemplation and study.

The road back to the WAW is absurdly narrow even by Irish standards, and the blind turns up the steep mountain are the craziest yet.  We add the Ring of Skellig to our drive, a western lobe off the Ring of Kerry, often overlooked by tours because the roads are impassable to all but the best coach drivers, but home to some of the most amazing features in western Ireland.  We stop on the side of the road at the top of Coomanaspig Pass near Portmagee for some panoramic top-of-the-world pix then carry on to the very windy Kerry Cliffs for some edge-of-the-planet shots.

We lunch in Waterville, an historic fishing village nestled between the Atlantic Ocean and the fresh water lake Lough Currane.  It’s everything you’d hope an historic fishing village would be, the salty characters as colorful as the shops on Main Street.  And the water.  We didn’t expect it to be so, well, blue.  Blue like the Caribbean.  Crystal clear blue, all the way to the bottom.  Mesmerizingly blue.

We finish the Rings and make our way to the Muckross Park Hotel and Spa in Killarney.  We check into this very civilized inn and we’re asked if we’d like to book the spa this afternoon.  It’s included in the room and I’m a sucker for a good bargain and a good soak, so book we do.  Given that the word spa is now attached to every strip mall nail joint, we’re just hoping for a nice Jacuzzi, and are VERY pleasantly surprised when we walk into…

Dinner is at Mad Monk, well reviewed, but in overreaching in our opinion.  When the seafood is that fresh, it should be the star of the dishes, not heavy sauces or novel presentations.  The atmosphere was nice, though.  We end the night at Teddy’s, a pub we wander into when we hear the songs of a very talented duo emanating from the front door.