Onion Ring (Of Kerry)

Hello Readers!

Sorry for the cheesy title, I’m a little hungry at the moment haha. Anywho, I’m finally back on schedule with the blog posts! I’m sure that you all enjoyed my double post last week, but it’s back to normal Wednesday postings amigos. So without further adieu, let’s jump right in!

This past weekend, I went on the Ring of Kerry Heritage Tours. It was a Holy Cross activity, meaning it was already paid for through our tuition,  so all of the HC crew boarded a bus en route to Kerry. The Ring of Kerry is a peninsula in the southwest of Ireland about 3 hours away from Cork. Along the way, our tour guide Maura told us little fun facts about the landscape as we drove. Our first stop was Craig Caves- a series of caves that date back to millions of years ago. We went deep down into the bowels of the caves and admired all of the stalagtites and stalagmites, some of which were only 20 years old others were hundreds of thousands of years old. It was only our first day, so after the caves we headed to the Ring of Kerry Hotel, which would serve as our home base for the weekend. We got dinner and dessert (I gave up desserts for lent unfortunately!!) and then got a history lesson on Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) and Gaelic Football from a retired footballer. After this we got a chance to learn some traditional Irish step dancing steps (I wasn’t that good but I gave it my best shot).

The next day, we woke up early and headed to our first step of the day Valentia Island off the coast and soaked up the rays of sunshine (yes it was sunny in Ireland for once!!) from a stellar lookout spot. Next, we headed to a local farm where we met and pet some calfs (they were a little smelly but otherwise adorable). We then headed to our most strenuous task of the day: Geoukan Mountain. The HC crew and I began our hike up the mountain, which seemed like a straight vertical incline at times! It was a quite a workout (gotta get those killer calfs), but we finally reached the top of the mountain and admired the amazing views of snow-capped mountains, lush green fields, and atlantic sea. It honestly didn’t feel like we were in Ireland anymore, I felt like I was in a weird alternate version of Ireland that is so much better than the postcards. We then met up with another local farmer who allowed us to pet and hold his lambs (Yes they do actually baa). After a long day, we headed back to the hotel and chilled.

On our final day, we rose early again and headed to Daniel O’Connell’s historical home. For those of you who don’t know, Daniel O’Connell was a freedom fighter that was a key person to help Ireland gain its independence. We then hiked to some ring forts (where the fairies live according to Irish folklore) and then drove about an hour and a half to Killarney National Park and got some views of a Tuc Roc waterfall.  After a long trip, we headed back to Cork, arriving safe and sound.

I really had an amazing time on this trip. I got to know some of my fellow Crusaders a little bit better, ate some food that I did not cook, got some much needed Vitamin D from the sunshine, and saw a whole new side of the Irish landscape. The Ring of Kerry is simple breathtaking and I would encourage all of you to go if you ever get the chance. Until next time,

Keep Calm and Move Mountains

Elena

Pics still not working. Stay tuned.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 2nd, 2016 at 11:18 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.