What does Iss ma lum cocka millish mean? It means I like sweet cakes in Gaelic. A handy saying, as was told to us by our tour guide when looking to pick up a guy or girl, to strike up a conversation.Now, where are we up to... Killarney.
Killarney is a great place. The national park is incredibly green and wet. Apparently over the winter parts of the park flood which lends itself to the moist nature of the park. I was pretty tired so I had an early night when we arrived into Killarney. The next morning was exciting as we all loaded onto a series of horse drawn carts and went for a jaunt around Killarney National Park. There was a castle on an island in the middle of the lake. The guide told us that when they were renovating the castle they found a skeleton in a boarded up room. On the skeleton was a badge that said "World's Best Hide and Seek Champion". Teeheehee.
After a lovely morning of horse and wagon, we made our way onto Inch beach for a quick look then out towards Dingle. The weather was overcast and we were all hoping that the weather was going to improve for the afternoon so that we would be able to see much of the Ring of Kerry.
In Dingle we stopped and had lunch. I tried sea salt flavoured ice cream. I did not like it. It was salty and sweet at the same time. No thanks. Dingle is the home of the legendary dolphin called Fungie. We did not see the dolphin but we did have a ride on the statue, as you can see.
By the time the afternoon rolled around the weather had improved drastically and we began our journey out towards the ring of Kerry.
It is the most stunning coast I have seen. It is rugged and beautiful, green and blue.Mark the guide was great at navigating the twisty turny roads and he even let us out to walk along part of the cliff top road as it was such a beautiful day. It gave us the chance to stop and take lots of photos.
We also went to the Beehive houses on the coast. They were replica (and I think one original) stone 'houses' shaped like beehives. They were what the Irish used to live in. They were left overs from the Far and Away film with Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise in. This lovely, little old lady whose land it was that they shot parts of the film on, lets the public in to view them for 2 euro each. We had a look-see, admired the views as the houses were set on a hill side that over-looked the sea and coast line, then headed on further around the coast.
We stopped at a few different beaches and even made our way out to a fertility stone. The story goes that if you are needing to be fertile then you and your partner rub your bottoms against the stone at the same time and voila! There are some strange stories out there but all in good fun.That night we were in a wee town outside of Dingle. It was our last night together so we all headed to the pub where a round of kareokee had been ordered. It was good fun. The kareokee guy set it all up and was waiting and waiting for someone to have a go, trying to get some on up and I said, ya know what, why not!? So I walked on up, strutting my awesome self across the floor, requested a song and I was off. I sang 'One way or another' - pretty damn well too, just saying. After that, everyone was up and moving, making the most of the machine, requesting song after song.
I tried a new drink that night. It was called a car bomb. Kind of ironic for Ireland. Mind you, I think you can only get them in the South of Ireland. I don't think the Northerners would appreciate the name. The drink is a half pint of Guiness and a shot glass of half baileys, halt whiskey. You drink the head off the Guiness, then drop the shot in the glass and skull it back. It tastes surprisingly nice. Like a chocolate milkshake with alcohol. The problem lies in the next morning when your guts are twisting. Then it ain't so nice.The next morning we were off to Dublin. We did the Guiness Brewery and museum. There is lots to do and see there. I couldn't believe that the land has a 9000 year lease. Yes, 9000 years! While we were there we even got to pull our own pint. Great fun.
