Along the Coast and through the Mountains

Wednesday, May 16, 2012--Cork to Kinsale to Kenmare to Killarney

We were "Lucky Lads" again today with sunny weather as we transitioned and made interesting stops along the way.  First, we left Cork for the nearby seaside town of Kinsale.  It's a beautiful place with quaint shops set around a bay with a peninsula jutting out into it.  We parked the car and walked the streets.  There was a morning market with deliciously tempting cheeses, pastries, breads, honeys, etc., for sale.  We explored the back areas, walked along the seaside, walked out of the peninsula to see the small village at its tip, etc.   It's a delightful place that is known for its number of quality restaurants with Fishy Fishy (homepage link) being the best known and most recommended one.

We continued driving along the coast.  Then we cut up through the mountains as we headed for our next stop of Kenmare about 3 hours away.  The roadway was twisting and narrow.  Kenmare is another tourist town which is a hub for tourism to the Ring of Kerry.  Due to rooms there were so expensive and to Killarney being a more central location for the area, we made it a stop on our travels rather than a place to stay overnight.  Like in Kinsale, we spent about 1 1/2 to 2 hours exploring the town.  It has very nice architecture.  It also was having a Wednesday market which included flea market type stalls along with the food stalls.  Its Holy Cross Church is one of the best ones we have visited so far in the trip, especially for its nice woodwork on the ceiling.

We passed more mountains and came through forests on our way from Kenmare to our destination of Killarney.  Our hotel, the Arbutus, is right downtown, so it was difficult to find it and to determine where to park.  But that means we don't have long walks to get to the center like we had in Cork.  Most cities in Ireland require parking permits to be on their streets and/or have high parking rates unless you park in public lots further from town.  The bigger the city, the further it is necessary to walk.  Our hotel here has a free lot about 200 meters (200 yards) away.  And when we walk out our front door, we are on one of the 3 main shopping streets in town.

It was 6 p.m. when we got settled in the room, so all we did was explore downtown a bit and get a quick bite to eat.  We were too tired from the all-day driving trip to do more.  But we have 3 nights here so that we can explore the area before moving onward.  That will give us plenty of time to get to know the town well in addition to the area.