5. week

On Monday we woke up early for a divine breakfast, where we ordered a plate of local meat on the menu and had some croissants and muesli as well. After breakfast we headed to our daytrip of Ring of Kerry; at the office where we started we met a lovely old dog, which was enjoyed the attention and affection we gave him. The other tourists were already in the bus, so shortly after we went in our driver came and we left. Our fellow passengers, apparently Chinese, took pictures nonstop. Out of the moving minibus. The windows were full of droplets, that is, when it was not raining, and there were bushes practically all the time at the both sides of the road. The first half of the trip was not very reassuring, since we stopped for 1,5 hours in a small village where Charlie Chaplin had spent many of his summers and the only thing there to see was his statue and one local pub to have lunch in. Needless to say that we were not impressed, especially since we just passed by of stopped for just a few minutes in the more picturesque places. 

Chaplin and his chap

Some of the places were lovely, but the stops were very quick

Towards the end the tour improved – we arrived into the Killarney National Park. We had a few moments to enjoy the breathtaking scenery at the Ladies’ View – a viewpoint for Queen Victoria and her ladies-in-waiting during their visit 1861 – and got to walk to the beautiful waterfall surrounded by the most magnificent forest green of moss. We could have spent the whole day in the National Park alone; we both were in awe with the nature. Even though the weather was not in our favor, we still enjoyed the scenery during the day.

Ladies at the Ladies view

Ladies view without the ladies

Back in Killarney we were a bit hungry, as we had not taken the opportunity to have lunch, but only eaten our own snacks. We asked a friendly shop owner for recommendations for a restaurant to eat in and proceeded to the Outlet before going to eat. After shopping we went to Hannigans, which was recommended to us, but they said that the dinner would only be served after six. We then just sat by the fire and eyed the menu, a bit cold and most definitely hungry as hippos. After six we were lead to our table and we ordered goats cheese as an appetizer – deep fried goat cheese balls, which were absolutely delicious. As a main course we had hamburger with fries and salad on the side. The food was very tasty and the service excellent – we were practically pampered!

On Tuesday morning we had breakfast as good as the previous morning (actually even the meat plate was same, except we asked the spicy salami to be substituted and got salmon instead). We had a quick tour in the Outlet, but decided to leave for Cork. Especially after Killarney Cork seemed more of a metropolis and our hotel didn’t really meet our expectations. The location was nice, sure, within a walking distance from the city center, but… Siru’s bed cover was stained and sticky and the room’s quality was no match to the Killarney hotel. Of course we didn’t expect it to, but it totally fell below our expectations. We had to pay in advance for our room and we were asked to pay the full price, even though Noora had paid a reservation fee before. When questioned, the girl in the reception said that this is how it works, but after a moment of controversy she promised to ask about it. Later on she gave Noora a receipt of the reservation fee having been transferred back, but we still though it was weird – the reservation fee’s purpose is, after all, make sure that the hotel gets something if the customers don’t show up, but if they do, the fee should be reduced from the total price. As for our dinner we went to Ristorante Rossini, where we had salad and pizza from their Early Bird menu.

Ristorante Rossini

On Wednesday morning we went to Amicus restaurant for the breakfast (we didn’t trust our hotel enough to dine there). The breakfast was good expect the tea – it was black and bitter as always. After our late and leisurely breakfast we went to the bus station, from where we headed to Blarney Castle. The bus we took was actually a double decker and we went to the very front of the top deck to see as much as possible. From time to time they alleys were so tight and small that the bus had to drive straight towards the brick walls and in the more remote areas the tree branches were banging the front window and the roof. Still, we managed to get there in one piece. In Blarney Castle’s area there is much more than just the castle itself, which is actually partially in ruins. We first visited the castle dungeons, which were so shallow that you couldn’t stand up straight. Siru’s first connotation was the Lord of the Rings’ Gollum’s cave. We saw the Poison Garden and other beautiful surroundings – we spent hours and hours just walking around the gardens and forest walks. We were fascinated by the enormous trees, spring’s first flowers and overall greenness. We walked by the Blarney House – spectacular enough to fit into Walt Disney princess movies – and into the forest again. There we saw places like the Witch’s kitchen and the Wishing Steps, which you had to walk down backwards and eyes closed – the wish you would think going down would then come true. We’re waiting for the results.

Is this the Stone of Eloquance?

Blarney House

After the day of circling the castle we finally went in. The story says that if you kiss the Blarney Stone at the top of the castle’s tower you would be granted a gift of eloquence. As we would have many presentations during the spring, we wanted to avoid being in loss of words at any times. The staircases were steep, but on the way we could stop and visit some rooms with information boards in them, indicating what purpose they had previously served. At the very top we admired the view for a moment before approaching the Stone itself. To kiss it you had to get on your back, hold on to metal bars to your both sides and lean back uncomfortably far. There was, of course, safety bars underneath and a worker helping you lean back and lift you up without ever needing to test the strength of the safety bars, but the distance still felt great. On our way back we went past a room, which had a hole in the floor, where rocks and boiling oil or water would have been thrown over the intruders to protect the castle – the murder hole.

Finally found the right stone

After the castle we were quite exhausted of walking around practically the whole day, but as our misfortune we just saw the bus leave. In the meanwhile we went to a grocery store to get some first aid for our hunger and enjoyed our bananas and pasties outside in the bench. Or we tried. The birds were soon gathering around us, and we’re not talking about cute little tits, but crows and such meaner looking fellows. We finished quickly and went walking – and as our surprise we found a charity shop, a local counterpart for our beloved and highly missed flea markets! Our misfortune turned out to be sheer luck, since Noora found a little something for her godson and some jewelry for herself. By the time we were content and finished we had already missed another bus and we had to hurry to catch the third. At Cork’s center, near the bus station, we found another charity shop where, in turn, Siru got lucky. She found an absolutely beautiful dress with fish and coral print – a dress so colorful she wasn’t at first sure whether to buy or not. After some successful persuasion we left happily with the newly purchased dress and instructions to other charity shops for the next morning before returning to Sligo.

The Dress

At the hotel we tried to look up some places to eat in and from the broad variety of restaurants we ended up going to the same place where we had had our breakfast. We decided to pamper ourselves as it was the last night of our voyage and ordered ourselves a 3 course dinner. For appetizers Noora had Caesar salad and Siru had the “best bruschetta” she has ever eaten – topped with tomatoes, pesto and feta cheese. She even said that it was even better than the steak we had as the main course, which is a lot coming from a meat-lover. As for the dessert we both ended up having a chocolate fudge cake with cram and a glass of milk – it was as divine as it was chocolaty. We had a great time dining out.

On Thursday morning we went to Idaho for a breakfast. It was a small place and it didn’t have so great variety of items on their menu, but our favorite restaurant would only open its doors late and we wanted to pay a visit to the cities charity shops. After having fueled up with some sandwiches we had a quick tour shopping before beginning our long journey back home. After numerous changes of the bus, one of which cutting our travelling time by about an hour, we arrived to Sligo. We had a simple meal and watched an episode of Revenge before rolling into our own, cold beds.

Noora’s godmother had arrived on Friday, but we decided to meet on Saturday morning and leave straight to County Donegal for the weekend. Before the departure we received greetings from Finland in a form of Finnish treats, such as rye bread and salmiakki. Siru had decided to stay home for the weekend as we had lots of projects going on, so it was just Noora with her godmother and her family going up to Donegal. As we travelled we would stop every now and then to admire the scenery and take photos, even though the weather was not embracing us. We drove to Letterkenny and had a planned detour to Portsalon before going on to Buncrana, where we had booked our accommodation. At the apartment we enjoyed our packed lunch before driving all the way up to the northernmost tip of Ireland in Malin Head. In Malin Head it was even windier than it had been during the day – naturally, as the peninsula was fully exposed to the strong winds coming from the Atlantic. We walked to the Hell’s hole even though the rain was getting us soaking wet. From there we briefly went to the Malin Head tower, but as the weather was rather hostile, we returned to our apartment.

On the way to Portsalon

On Sunday we visited Grianan Aileach Ring Fort not too far away and started return trip back to Sligo. We decided to pay a visit to Glenveagh national park on our way, but as we made our way to the car park, it began showering hail. In the meanwhile we ate our provisions and when the hailstorm ended, we continued to the visitor center. We took the shuttle bus to the Glenveagh castle, where we wandered around the gardens, watched an audiovisual presentation of the castle’s history and had a guided tour around the castle. There would have been a viewpoint somewhere in the vicinity, but we didn’t have too much time until the last bus going back and a new hailstorm hit the area. Instead we had tea and cake in the castle’s teahouse. On our way we tried to drive towards the Slieve League, but we soon noticed that we wouldn’t make it before dark, so we decided to leave that for the time being. Finally back in Sligo Noora bid goodbye to her company and took Siru to Lillies – she had spent the weekend inside four walls, so it was nice for her to get out at last.

Grianan Aileach Ring Fort