We had a lie in until 8 and went to breakfast a few shops over from our hotel called Jam. I got pancakes with berry compote. We packed up the car and headed north through the mountains and Killarney National Park to Muckross House and Gardens. We toured the manor, built in 1843, but sadly could not take pictures inside. Killarney is known for its inlaid furniture. There were a lot of beautiful examples of it all over the manor. Queen Victoria visited the house also. It was used as a hunting manor afterward. After our hour tour, we wandered the gardens and then ate sandwiches at the Cafe on site.
We then walked 1.5 km to Muckross Abbey. The guide talk us 20 min to get there, the girl in the gift shop said 10. They were both wrong, it was closer to 25. We had known not to believe estimates given by Irish people after the Ross Castle guide told us so wrong.
The Abbey was a neat ruin to explore and is still used as a family cemetery. We then hired a jaunty cart to bring us to Torc Waterfall and back to Muckross House. It cut our time down and helped Ciara’s ankle/knee feel better. Our driver’s name was Jimmy and the horse’s Molly. He was a local and his family has been running carts for generations. Molly was an Irish Cobb mix. The views of the lakes and grounds was gorgeous. We then piled in the car and headed to Limerick.
The journey to Limerick was uneventful. We drove through a bunch of small towns and even saw a few wedding parties. We arrived to our Air B&B early and used the internet to find local beverage establishments. We found that Hurley’s Pub was 900 some feet away so we walked there. Ciara and I tried the Mixed fruit Kopparberg Cider which was way sweet and yummy.
We met our hosts and got the keys and then went grocery shopping for our next 6 meals. Our host gave us great food and restaurant recommendations. We were happy they had everything we needed at the store; we tried to get as much local, or Irish/UK food as possible. Some of our accommodations had breakfast included but still eating out for 2-3 meals a day adds up. We are looking forward to packing lunches and saving some money.
We also got wash going right away. The washer is tiny and there is no dryer. We actually hung cord and brought the drying rack from outside in to hang stuff on. We only had one load but Brad and Ciara had 3. Hopefully our stuff dries in a timely manner. Thankfully we have two extra bedrooms to hang stuff in. The house is really nice, kitchen with cutlery, pots, glasses, all the essentials, plain bedrooms, but really all that you need. You have to pull a cord for hot water, but apparently only for the shower because it doesn’t work for the sinks.
We made tacos and the boys tried Bushmills whiskey that they had bought (where we are heading in 2 days). Hopefully we didn’t get too much food like Brandon and I did in Australia and end up having to leave it. I guess we can always save it for the next Air B&B. We then decided to try out Irish TV and ended up watching the movie Red 2. We hit the bed and are looking forward to another sleep in til 8 tomorrow.
