Today was the drive around the Beara Peninsula, which we read was even more spectacular and less traveled than the famous Ring of Kerry. More beautiful ruins all over the place.
This view is arguably the most well known in Killarney National Park, called Ladies' View. In 1861 Queen Victoria came here with her ladies in waiting, and they were so taken with the view it was named after them. Much of the landscape is not quite green yet, as we are here earlier in the season and it's been unseasonably wet. But it is stunning nonetheless.
Jon had read about the Uragh Stone Circle, and that was next on our stop.
Massive stones deliberately set into the earth are very compelling...why? What were they for? What significance did they hold for the makers?
Found on the north side of this beautiful Lough, Lough Inchiquin, imagination runs wild!
Further up the road, again randomly on someone's private property with a little box for the honor system fee, were some more ruins. First, though, we had to trek through these flocks of sheep. They cracked us up. They are very placid animals, but as we walked by, they looked up, and at the point this picture was taken, they had started to follow me up the road. Jon took the picture right as I laughed at the silliness. The sheep were super endearing with their little painted bottoms and sweet little faces. My favorites were the black faced ones.
On this particular property, they had ruins of a famine house, which would have housed a large family in its single room, and named such because it was forcefully abandoned during the potato famine, when there was no work, and no crops to eat. Landlords weren't getting rent from their tenants, so the tenants were evicted. It is estimated that between 1845 and 1852, upwards of 25% of the population of Ireland either died or emigrated, leaving their homes abandoned. Due to the superstitions about old constructions, they still stand all over.
Further along, there was a Boulder Burial site, where cremated remains would be buried near the stones. These stone monuments were often associated with Stone Circles.
The last point of interest was a Fulacht Fiadh, which was admittedly difficult to distinguish. This would have been a cooking site for whoever lived here, and surprisingly advanced. It truly is interesting to think about what their lives would have been like here on this hillside.
After leaving, we drove further to investigate these water falls we had seen from across the Lough. Apparently this is a park, complete with hiking trails, and activities...it seemed SO remote.
These little roads were just incredible. With the gloomy skies and vegetation it was truly just lovely.
As our drive continued out to the point of the peninsula, we noticed a cave off in the distance. Caves are also extremely compelling, and when we went to go see if we could access it, we found a walking trail straight to it!
This particular cave goes all the way through to the ocean on the other side of it, which made us wonder about how the tides would affect accessibility. We certainly saw limpets and other evidence that the water goes much higher than it was at that moment.
We drove along the narrow little roads all the way out to the tip of the peninsula as the weather worsened. Here there is the only cable car in all of Ireland that transports people from the peninsula to Dursey Island. There was no activity there today, even though it was supposed to be open. We assumed because the weather made it unsafe to operate. We debated getting out of the car, but the wind and rain was heavily dashing down.
Dursey Island is inhabited, but only by a handful of permanent residents, and it is a very remote place. We wondered what on earth the people do for a living, and shook our heads at how isolating it would be to live there.
This landscape was positively dotted with ruins. Little villages, they must have been, with families living in close proximity to each other.
One of the ways Ireland is so different from where we live and grew up in the United States, is these tiny narrow roads, barely big enough for two cars to pass side by side with one stopped and pulled to the side meander through gorgeous landscapes and then very suddenly you are in a tiny village. Few signs, but suddenly small houses, and sheep everywhere. Even the larger towns and small cities are just situated off tiny roads with no warning. But here in this tiny village, we saw probably the cutest thing the entire trip! There was a tiny little baby lamb that was WEARING AN ORANGE RAINCOAT. I have never seen something so adorable as this little spindly creature running after his mom all protected from the rain!
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