Day 26 - Ross Castle and the Traditional Farms

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The morning started off with a scrumptious breakfast a the B&B. This was by far the best breakfast we had and the kids really enjoyed their food.

After breakfast, we packed up and headed towards the Ross Castle, which is in the Killarney National Park. 

The Castle, like every other Irish castle we have seen so far, is a tower house. We walked around the castle and enjoyed the outdoor scenery. Kian had fun climbing on one of the outside walls. We planned to go inside to see the rooms, but you cannot get in without a guided tour and the next available tour was not for another hour. 

Instead of waiting around, we checked out the exhibition room, which provides a bit of history on the castle. It turns out that the majority of the castle was actually ruined at some point, and they worked hard looking for older materials/stones to match whatever was remaining to use in the restoration project. 

After our visit at the castle, we headed towards the Muckross House and the Traditional Farms. We asked if a guided tour was required to see inside the house, and since the answer was yes, we once again opted for the outside view and walked towards the Traditional Farms. 

There is a path that takes about an hour to walk, where you go through multiple farm house replicas, and get to see a small farm house, a large farm house, a school house, and farm labor cottage, and more.  The purpose of these houses/cottages/stables is to show you how the traditional Irish farmers lived in the early 1900s. 

We were told that all the houses we saw were replicas built for educational purposes only and that no farmers lived there at any point. 

The walk was very interesting and the kids had fun going from house to house. In each place there was a person who talked about what sorts of things would go on in the house.  They also had fresh baked bread and invited everyone to take a bite of the buttered bread they had on a platter near the door.  Unfortunately we missed the milking demonstration, but did see a lady making butter.

The walk around the farms/farm houses took us more than 1 hour since we made a longer stop at the baby animal petting section and the little bounce house.  As you walk around the loop, before reaching the visitor, there is small playground area called the "Woodland playground". 

Hannah had been waiting for a long time to get to the playground, so despite being hungry, everyone took off their cranky pants and played for a bit. 

After the playground we headed towards the Muckross House just to see it from the outside. Remember what I said about our cranky pants? Yah, they were back on!  But the house and the grounds were beautiful, and if we had time I would have liked to see the inside. 

We did grab a small and quick bite at the Muckross House cafe before getting back in the car to drive home.

We knew the drive home would take around 4 hours.  We left Killarney at 4PM, and along the way we stopped for a quick dinner in Galway.  We also stopped and got milk and cereal for next day's breakfast :) 

We reached the Killary Fjord around 9PM as the sun was just starting to set over the mountains. The breathtaking views reminded us of how much we missed Louisburgh and the surrounding areas. 

Killary Fjord at sunset 

Killary Fjord at sunset 

It really is incredibly gorgeous here. I am not sure there are proper words to describe how beautiful the sunset looked over Doolough Lake. But I guess that's why they say "a picture is worth a thousand words."

Sunset over Doolough Lake

Sunset over Doolough Lake

We reached "home" with 2 very happy kids and the gorgeous pink sky over the ocean was just a bonus as we unloaded the car and headed inside to get ready for bed. 

Day 25 - Inch Beach & Festive Killarney

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We all woke up very well rested and happy knowing that we did not have a far drive ahead. We left the Kerry Ocean Lodge after breakfast, once again without having a place booked for the night. We figured we would take a risk and just go to Killarney and find a place later in the afternoon.

We started off by driving towards the Dingle Peninsula, since we wanted to check out Inch Beach. 

On our way, in the town of Killorglin we came across a statue of a goat wearing a crown. Otherwise known as King Puck. According to a sign near the statue, "For hundreds of years, a male mountain goat has been enthroned as King of Puck Fair in Killorglin town. The Puck Goat reigns over the fair held on August 10th, 11th, and 12th of each year. King Puck is a symbol of a vast traditions whose origins are lost in the mists of time."

King Puck

King Puck

A view of the Killorglin town

A view of the Killorglin town

We made it to Inch Beach not too long after. The beach is really very beautiful and definitely deserves its blue flag status. We all had a great time running around and playing in the sand. 

The kids and I also decided to do a little bit of yoga. I even attempted a handstand transitioned into a bridge/wheel. I did think about it for a while and wondered whether or not I could pull it off, but then I decided I wouldn't know unless I tried. 

Seeing my warm up exercises, Kian wanted to try a handstand too, and with a bit of help from me he succeeded and thought it was the funniest thing to see everything upside down :) 

After lots and lots of playing, in the early afternoon we decided to just eat at Sammy's, a restaurant that is right on the beach before heading to Killarney. 

After lunch, we got in the car and headed towards Killarney. The kids fell asleep in the car, which was perfect because they were quite tired from playing on the beach.  The drive to Killarney was only about an hour or so, and once in town we realized there were some festivities going on.  It was the last day of the horse races in Killarney, which is also known as "Ladies' Day".  On Ladies' Day, the women who want to take part in the competition dress up, and the best dressed lady wins. They also have other categories like best hat, etc. 

We saw lots of fancy dresses and very, very high heeled shoes.

There was also a bike race in town the week before, so there were no lack of decorations on the streets as we drove through in search of a bed and breakfast that could accommodate a family of 4 on such a busy night! 

Thankfully, after only asking a few places, we found a lovely bed and breakfast called Kingfisher Lodge within walking distance to the center of town, for a very good price.  It definitely didn't hurt to be spontaneous with this one. 

After resting for a little bit, we put on our shoes and got out to see the city. We were given a piece of advice by the B&B owner to be inside a restaurant before 6:30 PM since everyone from the races would likely be arriving around 7 to eat. 

We found a restaurant called "The Flesk" and luckily they were able to seat us right away.  The restaurant was packed, but everyone around us was so sweet. 

The kids were busy with their coloring pages as we ordered some delicious food. 

Kian and his coloring page at the restaurant :) 

Kian and his coloring page at the restaurant :) 

We had conversations with a couple from Pennsylvania who were in Ireland with a tour group. Then we talked to an Irish couple who were really sweet to the kids. We also chatted with a couple who were sitting behind us who had travelled to Ireland from Sydney, Australia. 

It felt like we were out to dinner with a few acquaintances :) 

Then our dinner arrived and it was perfectly delicious.

As we left the restaurant, we could hear music not too far away and then we saw that everyone had gathered on the street and there was some sort of dance competition going on. The music was so upbeat and fun, and even if you weren't in the dancing circle you couldn't help but dance a little bit to the beat.

Kian dancing on daddy's shoulders :)

Kian dancing on daddy's shoulders :)

On our way back to the Bed and Breakfast we stopped at Murphy's, an ice cream shop with lots of interesting ice cream flavors. I got the Irish Oats which was yumtastic! 

With our bellies full and our legs exhausted we went back to the B&B for a much needed night of rest.  So glad we arrived into town on such a festive day. 

Day 24 - Cave & Cliffs

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Ok, so we did it to get it out of our system... We slept at a hostel. Will we do it again? Probably not, but they say never say never! The kids loved it, but I didn't really get that "we are all travelers let's share stories" vibe. It likely has something to do with the fact that we were a family, and had a private room. Most of the people at the hostel were alone and I overheard some of them trying to have conversations with others. I have no complaints about the hostel. It was clean and quiet and comfortable, but I think I had made up this super fun, let's make friends atmosphere in my head! 

The view of Shop street from our room in the morning

The view of Shop street from our room in the morning

A light breakfast was included as part of our stay, and we had to wash up after ourselves. After eating, we headed out to check out Eyre Square, but as we often do we got distracted by a mall on our way. We went in to have a look around and ended up window shopping for so long that it was advisable to eat something before getting back on the road. The shopping mall was close enough to Eyre Square, so we stepped out to take a look before eating lunch.

Eyre Square

Eyre Square

After lunch, we continued our journey down south along the Atlantic Wild Way.  This time we actually made a reservation at a bed and breakfast in the Ring of Kerry (in Glenbeigh). The goal was to make it there around 4 or 5 PM (I'll save you the suspicion and let you know now that we didn't make it until 9:30 PM!! Ha!)

On our way, we drove through some very neat landscapes in an area of Ireland called The Burren, where we decided to make a stop at the Aillwee Cave.  The kids were really excited, it was their first time being in a cave. There was a guided tour that taught us a lot about the history of the cave.  Hannah's favorite part was the waterfall and Kian's favorite part was the lair where the bear(s) supposedly would sleep during the winter, about 2000 years ago when there were still bears in Ireland.

Kian also enjoyed his head lamp, as it made him feel like Martin from Wild Kratts. 

After the cave, we stopped at the farm shop on our way out where we could sample freshly made cheeses and fudge. Mmmm Mmmm...

Next stop was the Cliffs of Moher. Unfortunately for the tired kids who fell asleep in the car, the ride was not very long, and so they weren't very happy at first. 

The Cliffs of Moher are magnificent, but the admission price is a bit ridic! I continue to be glad that our kids are under 6 and can get in almost anywhere for free. The entire site is very touristy, with big buses pulling into the parking lot and lots and lots of people walking around. 

Nonetheless this wasn't a view we were going to pass up. We did not walk all the way to the end, just up one way to a little tower, then we turned around towards the main cliffs and went half way to the second cliff before heading back. We took the "safer" path, which is barricaded by big stone blocks. On the other side of the blocks you can walk on the edge of the cliff if you would like, and we saw quite a few people doing it. They do have big "DANGER" signs to let you know, you walk the edge at your own risk!

Also, for the Harry Potter enthusiasts, such as ourselves, it was fun to see the film location of one of the scenes from Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.

It was getting pretty late, and we still had a very long drive to the B&B where we were going to stay for the night.  It really isn't that far of a distance as the bird flies, but in Ireland the roads are not exactly super highways, or even remotely straight, and there is a big river in the way with no bridge, making the only driving route something that would take us significantly out of the way.  We knew that there is also a car ferry that can take us across the river and make our drive much shorter, but we did not know when the last one would leave. Around 5:45 PM, the Atlantic Wild Way brought us into a town and we decided to ask a shop owner if he knew more information about the ferry. 

He did! The last ferry would leave at 9:30 PM and we were only about 45 minutes away. We took the 7:00 PM ferry across the river.

Hannah kept saying that we could not drive on a boat with our car. "The car is too heavy", she kept saying, and would fall off. She was definitely surprised when she saw the number of cars on the ferry.

The ferry took us across the river Shannon from County Clare to County Kerry. 

The kids looking at the Shannon River from the ferry

The kids looking at the Shannon River from the ferry

We grabbed dinner from Alma's Takeaway in Milltown, a little shop that served pizza, burgers, chicken nuggets, and the likes. It was good food, and I loved that the shop was run by two women. Since everyone was quite exhausted, we all went to bed shortly after arriving at the B&B, the Kerry Ocean Lodge. 

Tomorrow is another day :) 

Day 23 - Road Trip...1st stop...Galway

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We hopped in the car after breakfast, and no this was not early in the morning. We seem to be taking our time getting out of the door these days, but we are totally loving the pace. We did, however, pack our lunch to eat on the way to Galway. 

With no real itinerary in mind and no place booked for the night, we headed out to see what the day would bring. 

About an hour or so into our drive we got to the city of Oughterard and saw signs for the Aughnanure Castle.  We decided to stop and check it out. The weather was perfect, and the castle was completely uncrowded. With plenty of green grass surrounding it, the kids played a few rounds of tag before we headed inside.  There was also a very friendly dog that just pranced about the grounds and liked to chase after the kids.

We had fun exploring the castle. There is no furniture, but perhaps this was better as we were able to go through all the rooms and check everything out. 

After our visit, we figured that to keep everyone happy we better eat our lunch. We have this characteristic in our family that when we get hungry, we get very very cracky!  It somehow applies to every single one of us, without fail :) 

Since we couldn't eat on the castle grounds (there was a "NO PICNIC" sign), we just hung out and ate in the parking lot.  Clara (the dog) was very interested in our meal and really wanted to share with the kids.

Picnic lunch in the car :)

Picnic lunch in the car :)

With everyone's stomachs filled up, we continued our journey south on the west coast.  We arrived in Galway around 4PM. We parked the car and started walking. From what we saw (and we happened to be there during the art festival period), Galway is very lively around Shop Street and Eyre Square. We saw lots and lots of street performers with good quality acts and music.

We enjoyed our walk, but remembered that we had no place to stay yet, so we started back towards the car and got side tracked by an Irish Tea House. A cup of tea was just what we needed.

We headed out of the tea shop and started our walk back to the car...this time suddenly the sign of the Barnacles Hostel grabbed my attention. Just to check it out we went inside and I asked if kids were allowed to stay and they said yes. Ok then, let's try out a hostel stay just to see what the big deal is. 

The best part about the hostel was that it is right on shop street. Shop street is a pedestrian only street with lots of shops and restaurants. So we were right in the center of it all. We got a private en-suite room with 2 bunk beds. This amused the kids greatly!! 

Barnacles Hostel (the green building) on Shop Street in Galway

Barnacles Hostel (the green building) on Shop Street in Galway

After we dropped off our stuff in the room, we walked a bit more and then decided to go to Thai Garden for dinner. 

The atmosphere was very authentic and the food was very good but admittedly the prices were much higher than we expected. In the end, though, we were really in the mood for some Thai food so we enjoyed every bite :)

After dinner we walked around a bit more and saw more street performers and checked out a few stores.

Irish viking hats

Irish viking hats

And we wrapped up the night with 2 chocolate ice creams for our little traveling companions. 

Kian trying Hannah's ice cream since they had different sprinkles

Kian trying Hannah's ice cream since they had different sprinkles

Mmmmm Mmmm....A delicious end to a wonderful day of sight seeing.

Day 22 - Little Swimmers & Delicious Desserts

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Unless you have a wet suit, swimming in the Atlantic Ocean, around Mayo, is not really feasible unless you plan on freezing. 

Fortunately the family we are staying with are incredibly sweet and gave us a few vouchers for a swimming pool for rainy days. 

Since we woke up to a rainy and windy day, we decided to head out to the pool. The kids were extremely excited. In Ireland, it is a requirement for everyone who goes into the swimming pool to wear a swim cap, even children. Hannah totally enjoyed this. 

Hannah posing in her swimming gear

Hannah posing in her swimming gear

After swimming, we went to the Westport Harbour for some food. We looked at a couple of restaurants and decided to eat at the Creel, mainly because of the airy and family oriented atmosphere.

We all enjoyed our food, the delicious desserts, and the fast Wi-Fi :) 

It was still very windy and rainy, but Hannah really really wanted to go to the playground.  Kian was too tired so he stayed home with Daddy.  Hannah lasted about 5 minutes on the playground before she asked to go home.  She had a great time for those 5 minutes.

After playing at home for a while, we made a quick dinner of carrot sticks, marinated sweet chili chicken wings (purchased marinated, baked in the oven at home), and home-made cheesy bread.

Chicken wings, cheesy bread, carrot sticks

Chicken wings, cheesy bread, carrot sticks

We sent the kids to bed fairly early, since tomorrow we are going on a 3 day road trip down the west coast. We are very excited to see some castles, caves, cliffs, and more. A good portion of our drive will be on the Wild Atlantic Way, so I am excited about the views!

Day 21 - Louisburgh Horse Race

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On Sunday morning, we woke up to rays of sunshine creeping through the windows. I decided to take advantage of this and go for a nice run. The pet lambs came to see me off, and I was on my way. I was able to go towards the the ruins of a stone church that I had seen from a distance before. It was a very uphill road, but it was totally worth it.

Church ruins near Devlin

Church ruins near Devlin

Once I got back home, Kian, I mean Batman and I decided to visit the pet lambs.

Batman visiting the pet lambs

Batman visiting the pet lambs

If you ever get a chance to pet a lamb/sheep, do it and don't hesitate for a second. They are so so soft and wooly :) After our visit, Batman, "glided" down the hill.

Batman "gilding" down

Batman "gilding" down

Then it was time to say good morning to Sam. I don't believe I mentioned this before, but Sam has two different colored eyes, one brown and one blue! 

Sam checking out Batman's cape

Sam checking out Batman's cape

We also went to visit Blackberry, the hen that is sitting on eggs now, but her bucket was covered and we did not want to bother her. 

After all our visits, we headed back inside as daddy also seized the opportunity to go for a run. While lunch, was being prepared, the superheroes and super villain had a battle around the house.

BLAAAAMMMMM....

BLAAAAMMMMM....

KA-POWWWW!

KA-POWWWW!

Lunch was served...chicken noodle soup with bread and lots of fruits.

Chicken noodle soup with bread and fruit

Chicken noodle soup with bread and fruit

After lunch, we all got ready and headed down to Carrownisky Strand for the Louisburgh Horse Race. Yay for sunshine and blue skies!

What a wonderful family event. There were bouncy slides, a face painter, balloon animal makers, food, ice cream, and more. There was also an area for people who bet on the racing horses. We found out later that the horses come from all over Ireland for this race. 

Batman

Batman

Hello Kitty

Hello Kitty

There was a small admission fee for adults, but a good number of the children's activities were free. 

Yay balloon doggies! 

Yay balloon doggies! 

It seemed that the races were on every 15-30 minutes. It was really neat to see horses race on the beach. 

Racers coming down the beach

Racers coming down the beach

Kian was also able to test out his driving skills on the go-karts. He only crashed a few times and had a blast :)

Vrrrrrrooooom...Vrrrrrooooommmmm

Vrrrrrrooooom...Vrrrrrooooommmmm

Back home, we continued enjoying the beautiful day and grilled some burgers for dinner, while trying to get some internet access.  The chickens were extremely interested in the laptop and hung about for a bit.  This picture would make for a great meme...caption suggestions anyone?

Chickens checking out the laptop

Chickens checking out the laptop

The cheese burgers were served with a side of home-made fries, or chips as they say here.

Cheese burgers & chips

Cheese burgers & chips

After dinner, Kian and Daddy played some soccer in honor of the final world cup game, as Mayflower continued her munching on grass. 

Kian catching Daddy's attempt at the goal

Kian catching Daddy's attempt at the goal

Then we all watched the final game and cheered for Argentina :( We were bummed out that they lost, but I was glad Kian stayed up and watched the whole game with us, even though Hannah didn't quite make it to the end before asking to go to bed.

Thank you sunshine! We had a lovely Sunday being outside.

Day 20 - What's in Castlebar Anyways?

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Oh yes! More rain!!

We did not want to stay inside all day again so once we got ready, which was after lunch (we just much rather eat our meals at home unless it's something special), we headed to a town about 40 Km from Louisburgh, called Castlebar. 

We had heard Castlebar is good for shopping, and although we have no desire to shop for anything we thought the shops would be indoor and we could just window shop. Yes we are from Jersey so we were thinking of our good old malls. 

That thinking clearly ended up being incorrect. There are definitely shops in Castlebar here and there but they are all off the streets.

We parked the car and headed towards a home-made ice cream shop.

El Vito's Ice Cream Shop in Castlebar

El Vito's Ice Cream Shop in Castlebar

The kids enjoyed their ice cream with marshmallow toppings. They shared a little bit with us and mmm mmm the ice cream was delicious, both the chocolate and the strawberry.

Kian and his chocolate ice cream

Kian and his chocolate ice cream

Hannah loving her "pink" ice cream

Hannah loving her "pink" ice cream

After ice cream we walked around a bit. It was drizzling but we had our raincoats so we didn't mind much. 

Street view in Castlebar

Street view in Castlebar

We found a cute book store and went inside to look around. I read a few books to Hannah and then we joined Kian and Daddy who were reading the Irish version of Where's Waldo? called, Where's Larry?

Where's Larry?

Where's Larry?

The kids had fun looking for Larry on a few pages.  It was a cute book that had Larry hiding in various Irish landmarks, including some we had been to.

The kids looking for Larry

The kids looking for Larry

Overall we were not very impressed by Castlebar as a town. We love Westport much more and we are grateful we live closer to Westport. It is also probably worth mentioning that despite the name of the town we did not see any castles, just a church. 

Kian and Hannah posed with the "Bronze and Stainless Steel artwork, evoking the 1798 rebellion and in particular the episode known as the  "The Races of Castlebar". The cloud of doves signifies the reconciliation after conflict."

Kian and Hannah posed with the "Bronze and Stainless Steel artwork, evoking the 1798 rebellion and in particular the episode known as the  "The Races of Castlebar". The cloud of doves signifies the reconciliation after conflict."

Once we got home, I started making dinner. Marinated chicken legs baked in the oven with rice and veggies made in coconut milk.

Marinated chicken legs baked in the oven with rice and veggies made in coconut milk

Marinated chicken legs baked in the oven with rice and veggies made in coconut milk

Mmm Mmm. The kids loved the chicken legs and they also liked the coconut rice. We are really hoping for some sunshine tomorrow since it is the day of the Louisburgh Horse Race.