Today was to be a driving day. The morning dawned cloudy and occasionally a little wet, but this is Ireland so we were off on the next leg of our journey. Our route today took us from our B&B in Milltown, about 20 kilometers west of Killarney, to Blarney, which is about 10 kilometers NW of Cork. Our route would take us through Killarney, south to the coast and then along the coast to Cork and Blarney.

Our first stop was at St . Mary's Cathedral in Killarney. Building began in the early 1840s, but construction stopped for five years during the great famine. How thoughtful of the powers that be to stave off construction of a massive cathedral while the masses were starving! St. Mary's was finally finished in 1912. So, in Euro speak, it is brand new, but it is big and impressive and that is the goal after all. The dust has hardly been polished off the Madonna. Dayna lit three candles; hopefully one was for good luck driving. 

We drove around Killarney National Park and learned that it is more like Central Park in NYC than one of our American national parks. The area is really lake country so it was beautiful, but the weather was drippy so we didn't spend much time.

The rest of the day was mostly driving through very hilly countryside as we skirted the SW coast. Some obligatory stops to "stretch," which is polite talk for take a pee and shop in some gift shops . We stopped in Skibbereen for pub grub, but the town turned out to be the least impressive we have seen so far. It just seemed to be run down. Maybe just me.

About 3:00 we realized that we would hit Blarney about 4:15. We have become a bit expert in avoiding the bus gaggle so we decided to press our luck. If we hit Blarney Castle about 4:30 (it's open until 6:30) we might just miss the crowds and it would leave all day tomorrow to see Cork and other sites. Also, the weather had cleared up, and weather forecasting is not a science over here, just a guess, so who knows what tomorrow may bring weather wise?

So there we went. And, what Ho!, not a tour bus in sight! In fact, there were hardly any tourists at all! Those three candles did work!  Blarney Castle is about 60 acres of gardens, walks and, of course, the Castle . . . with THAT stone! It is a pretty well preserved place considering Cromwell and his English ISIS predecessors did a pretty good job of demolishing nearly everything in Ireland's past . We climbed throughout the castle and Dayna kissed the Blarney Stone, with automated pictures taken of course (pick them up at the visitor's center). I took free pictures and passed on kissing the stone. More Blarney and a case of lip fungus I don't need from kissing a dirty old stone. But the view from the top of the castle (unless you are hanging upside down kissing a rock) is really nice.

Davmar Country House B&B is where we are tonight. A nice home, cluttered like a house should be, run by a nice lady who hasn't checked her hair in a mirror since high school. There is a taxi parked out front that we think she might drive for her "day job." Our room is very nice with a huge shower that Dayna fell in love with, for whatever reason.  

Tomorrow, we explore Cork.