Tralee

On the Saturday of our week-long break, we headed to Tralee for the day. The views as we drove through Killarney National Park were divine!

Valleys and lakes of Killarney...

Can we stay here and play, or do we have to get back into the car again???

Ah, we finally got to Tralee! It was festival weekend in Tralee. No, not the Rose Festival!!!, ahem!.... but the Bumble Bee Festival! Ideal for the kids :)

We got new hats for the occassion ;)

And had a picnic lunch in the park!... and went to the International street market... and did some shopping on the main street... and played in the playground...

... and then headed into the town centre for some street theatre (can you find Liam and Malachy sitting in the front row? And Jaime holding Locan amongst the standers?)

The Fanzini Brothers put on a hilarious show of magic, humour and audience participation :)

After that, we had some ice-cream in Tralee Square and headed back on the road to Kenmare...

easter bunny

The arrival of the Easter bunny was a little disputed but the chocolate was more than welcome and the egg hunts (yes we had several!) were a laugh.

Glengarriff

We stayed in the lovely town of Kenmare, a growing nucleus which is a perfect starting point for sightseeing much of Kerry and West Cork.

Our first excursion was to Glengarriff in County Cork.

The 27km stretch of winding road between Kenmare and Glengarriff is a beautiful scenic route through the hills until Bantry Bay comes into view.

The lads were great passengers (most of the time!)... although they did perhaps subject us to the songs on Granddad's Lazy Town compilation CD once too often... aaahh!

Half way along the winding road to Glengarriff is Molly's farm...

The visitor centre only opens in the summer but the farmer was around and let us have a snoop :)
He gave the boys an animal farm postcard each!

Then we continued on down the road... (stopping from time to time to gree the sheep, of course). Doncha dig our wheels?

Glengarriff crossroads

Snack time in Glengarriff mmm

It was another beautiful day and Glengarriff harbour and Bantry Bay were so sunny and peaceful.

We visited the beautiful botanical wonder of Garinish Island (also known as Ilnacullen), taking a peaceful boat trip there and back- complete with a visit to the seals on the rocks in the bay.

Our little blue boat :)


Hey, sailor!

Garinish Island / Ilnacullen is famous for its beautiful gardens...


The views of the bay are spectacular too...

We snacked here on some peaches... mmmm

A really lovely afternoon.

Before my camera battery died, I got these other nice flowery pix too :)

Cashel

5 April 2007: Kerry here we come! So we hit the road (some looking more hyper than others) planning to stop and visit the the town of Cashel and it's famous Rock at lunchtime.

No, that's not it! But you'd be amazed how many castles (or castle-type structures) you pass on the road from Dublin to Cork or Kerry!

That on the other hand is indeed The Rock of Cashel, seen from our moving car as we approached Cashel town in County Tipperary.

And a very quaint town it is too...

We headed straight for "the rock" and parked at its foot.

It was a beautiful clear day... look at that blue sky!

Part of Cashel town, facing east from the rock

The boys, particularly Malachy, is enchanted by all things castle related! He spent the entire holiday asking: "Are we going to see a castle today, Mummy?" EVERY day!

The view westward from the Rock is breathtaking!

"Look how far away we can see, Daddy!"

Even Lorcan was excited by the beautiful scenery :)

As much as Malachy insists on calling it a castle, on the Rock of Cashel there are in fact a combination of buildings, none of which are (or ever were) really 'castles' at all. There is a chapel, a cathedral, a round tower, a vicars' choral hall and a cemetery.

Ruins below in the distance.

Celtic crosses.

We're on our hols :)

Me too!

Lorcan and the round tower...

Lunch in the old graveyard on the rock.

tower and jets

light streams out.

light streams in.