Kerry and Blarney

The last few days of our tour have consisted of very long bus rides. One of them took us through the Ring of Kerry, which was absolutely beautiful. We followed the Ring around the Iveragh Peninsula to see the mountains, cliffs and lakes. We ate lunch at a nice little restaurant near the top of one of the mountains and had a very nice view once the fog cleared away. Jimmy (our bus driver) did a fantastic job maneuvering the massive bus through the very narrow winding roads along the edges of the cliffs.

For dinner, we went to a working farm for what they called a Be My Guest meal. We toured the farm and saw the ducks, chickens, Irish Wolfhounds and Clydesdales. They also gave us a demonstration of how they make their butter. This was probably our most interesting meal. The appetizer consisted of a potato cake with a mustard sauce and a black pudding. In case you aren't familiar with black pudding, it is also called blood sausage and is made of congealed cow's blood and various other parts. We had traditional lamb stew for dinner, followed by bread and butter pudding with custard for dessert. COLLEEN MEAT ALERT: She wanted to have the full Irish experience, so she did take a few bites of the black pudding and ate the stew (but left the larger pieces of meat to the side).

The next day, we went to Blarney to visit the castle grounds and kiss the stone. We climbed all the way to the top of the castle via many narrow and winding steps. The stone is part of an outer wall, so we had to lay down and hold bars to lean backwards to be able to kiss it. We now have the gift of the gab!

Also on the grounds was a poisonous garden that was pretty cool. You are instructed to avoid smelling, touching and eating the plants for obvious reasons. The garden contained mandrakes, wolfsbane, cannabis, wormwood, etc. 

On our way to Waterford we also stopped in Cobh (pronounced cove), a port town which was the last stop of the Titanic before its voyage. Then we went to a thatched roof pub for some more traditional Irish music. The entertainers were very fun and did renditions of some American music, too.