Killarney, County Kerry, Ireland
Today we were back on the typical drinking from a firehose
pace that we typically have encountered on Insight Vacations tours, but this
one, up until today had been pretty laid back.
Not today! This morning we were
packed, breakfasted, and on the bus by 8:00AM.
We have a busy day today, starting with a visit to the Irish National
Stud and Japanese Gardens. We arrived
about 9:00AM and were met by Claire, our local guide.
The Irish National Stud is home of several champion
stallions, mares with folds in the first six months of age, and a few retired
champion jump horses, who as geldings, have very little to do. Claire is a complete horsewoman, who is
obviously dedicated to the horses, and who obviously did not attend tour guide
slow walking classes. Most tour guides
learn to walk extra slowly so that some of the tour group with mobility issues
can keep up. Claire was no-nonsense and
walked quickly as she explained the inner workings of raising horses. Jody and I had little trouble keeping up, but
there were a few of our group who looked exhausted before we were even halfway
done.
Clair explained that the main business of the Irish National
Stud is to provide champion stud service to the race horse community. They are state owned but independently
funded, collecting stud fees, typically in the 2000 to 12,000 euro range. During the European season, from February to May,
the stallions is expected to “cover” a mare three times daily, every day. Then he gets a few months off, is flown to
Australia for the Australian season from September to December, then gets flown
back to Europe. Their current prize
stallion, Invincible Spirit is still going strong at 27 years old.
Once the mares are ready to give birth, they also provide a
birthing center, and follow the folds through their first six months of life
until they are weaned. Colts and fillies
are given initial training to see if they have the speed and stamina necessary
for flat surface racing. Some of the
colts who don’t make it through the flat track training may be chosen for
“hunt” racing, which just means they are trained to jump over the fences.
For some reason, “hunt” racers are then
castrated, as “hunt” racers are always geldings.
Clair introduced us to three retired “hunt” racers, and it
was obvious by the deterioration of their bodies, and even in their faces that
they have led a much harder life that the stallions. It was a really interesting insight into the
intricacies of horse breeding. Along
side the horse area there is also a beautiful Japanese Garden. The original founder of the Irish National
Stud, Colonel William Hall Walker, back in 1900 was also a lover of the
Japanese Garden. The garden is still
maintained today, and we were given time to explore. There are two paths to take in the garden:
The Path of Life and The Easy Path.
Since Jody and I have never taken the Easy Path in anything we do, it
was obvious that we should choose The Path of Life. It really was a beautiful garden, and the
steps and stairs on the more difficult path made it even more enjoyable.
Our next stop was a rest stop about an hour away, just a
Circle-K gas station along the highway.
But the unusual thing about this rest stop is that it is called the
“Barak Obama Plaza”, named after our 44th president. It turns out Barak Obama’s maternal
great-grandfather is a guy named Falmouth Kearney(1831-1878) was from nearby
Moneygall, Ireland. The plaza was named,
and a picture presented to Barak Obama in 2015.
In front of the plaza is a life-sized bronze statue of Barak and
Michelle Obama welcoming visitors to the plaza.
Of course we needed to take a picture of Jody with them to mark the
occasion.
After morning snacks with the Obamas, it was time to get
back on the bus to head to our next stop, the farm to table lunch at an
authentic Irish farm. The Brookfield
Farm, located on the shores of Lough Derg (Red Lake), is the sight where we met
the owner Ailbhe Gerrard and her father, whose name he said, but in such a
thick brogue, I couldn’t possibly understand, and her dog Rikki. Ailbhe farms mostly organic hay, with some
potatoes and a few lambs, but the main product is her bees.
She makes honey from Irish honeybees, along
with beeswax candles and lip balm. She
is a former Project Manager who quit her lucrative career to return to her
roots and buy a farm next to where she grew up.
Brooksville Farm is an artisan farm, growing an teaching workshops on
sustainable farming using organic techniques.
She must be good, she won all kinds of awards.
Lunch was a series on locally grown bread, cheese, salads,
along with some quiche pies with local egs and ham. Most everything was delicious, though some of
the way the greens were prepared tasted a little odd. Dessert was some sort of fruit tart that I
liked more than Jody. All through lunch
her father kept us entertained with stories of the history of Ireland. At least that’s what Ailbhe said he was
talking about, but I’ll be damned if I understood a single word. Meanwhile, her little dog Rikki was just
running around greeting everyone with a stick in his mouth looking for someone
to play. He obviously was a farm dog,
who ran all around the farm, and got particularly excited when a tour bus would
arrive.
After lunch, Ailbhe walked us up the hill from where we had
eaten and looked down the beautiful valley to Lough Derg, showing which parts
were her farm, and what else was going on in the valley. The said the reason why Lough Derg was given
the name Red Lake is that since the sun sets over the lake in the west, when it
reaches the horizon, it casts a red glow across the entire lake and that is a
beautiful site to see.
They did have a
little gift shop and Jody managed to get a small sample of her honey and a tin
of beeswax lip balm.
As we bid farewell to Ailbhe and her unnamed father, we
boarded back on the bus to our next little stop in a town called Adare. Adare’s claim to fame is that it is the home
of the most expensive golf course in Ireland: The Golf Course at Adare
Manor. With greens fees at 450 Euro, and
mandatory caddie at 95 Euro, with tip it costs 600 Euro just to play a game of
golf! For us, it’s just a rest stop, but
it does also have a lovely town garden and some famous thatched roof houses
that were originally for workers at the Adare Manor. Unfortunately, there is a main thoroughfare
running through the old town with bumper-to bumper traffic spoiling what was
left of the old world charm.
We did manage to take a few pictures, and at last we were on
the final leg of our journey to Killarney.
We are staying at the International Hotel in Killarney, built in 1906
and right in the center of town.
The
hotel is large and rambling, and even though the rooms are a little small, the
charm and location more than make up for the size. After checking in to the hotel, we are on our
own for dinner tonight. As we headed
down the main street, we realized that the entire main street is lined on both
sides with nothing but restaurants, pubs, and souvenir shops. We picked out what looked like a good one
called Marguerites, mostly because they had what looked like a good burger, and
also cottage pie.
I was looking for shepherd’s pie since we got to the UK, and
never found it in England. I looked it
up, and I’m glad I did. It turns out
that shepherd’s pie is mostly Irish, but in Ireland, shepherd’s pie is made
with lamb – duh – it’s called shepherd’s pie.
But what we call shepherd’s pie in the US that is made with beef, they
call cottage pie. Sure enough
Marguerite’s served cottage pie, and after a healthy lunch, Jody and I were
more than ready for a little comfort food.
They served it with coleslaw and French fries, so we concentrated on the
cottage pie and just nibbled on the rest.
On the way back, we stopped in at a few of the souvenir
shops and managed to find some Killarney t-shirts and a magnet. We also stopped in at the ice cream shop
recommended by Cam. We never want to
miss the opportunity to try another ice cream place. This one was called Murphy’s and the caramel
honeycomb and the butterscotch ice cream were delicious.
By now, with our bellies full, you would think we would be
heading back to the hotel for the night.
Somehow, we were signed up for an 8:30PM Irish dance show. Luckily it was within walking distance, so we
joined some of our tour group and headed over.
We again had really good seats on the front row, right up against the
stage. But when they started to perform,
we realized that most of the songs and even some of the dances were exactly the
same as we had seen last night in Dublin
The show was good, but we inevitably began comparing the shows between
this one and the one in Dublin. Some
were better here, some were better in Dublin, but in the end it seemed like a
rerun of last night.
In the end, after an hour, it was time for
intermission. We realized it was already
9:30PM and we probably wouldn't be back at the hotel until 10:30 and we had to
be up at 6:30AM for breakfast. We looked
at each other, and decided that since we could walk back to the hotel, let’s
just sneak out of hear at the intermission and get to bed. Looking out the window of our hotel room a
few minutes later, we spotted Bob and Nancy heading back as well.
Tomorrow, we have horse drawn carriage rides in the morning
and the Ring of Killarney drive in the afternoon. It should be great!
2025-05-23