I just got back from my one week holiday in Ireland. Well, last night actually. Gosh...I had SUCH an amazing time there! I spent a full week in Killarney. It's a small town, though not too small and it's supposed to be super touristy, but actually, it's not too bad. I love Killarney, the town has a great atmosphere and then of course there's this fantastic national park attached to it with great mountain ranges, beautiful lakes etc...etc...
My first plans were to travel to Galway, then visit the Aran Islands and Connamara, and then travel on to Killarney by taking an early bus which would take the tourist route. But all that didn't work out too well when I planned the trip and in the end I decided to fly to Cork instead and spend a full week in a B&B in Killarney. After all, that town is pretty much my second home.
It was a good decision. The B&B was really nice, with friendly people running the place. The only thing that really bothered me was that all doors had a spring attached to them. It means that the doors were really shut at all times, but it also meant they were making the loudest noise closing. And while I tried to manually, and thus softly, closing the door, most people just let it fall back by itself. Which resulted in loud bangs very often, which was a little annoying. But oh well...shouldn't complain too much, since the rest of the holiday was perfect.
Being back in Killarney really felt like being back home. I loved it. On my second day there I of course went straight to the National Park where I took loads of pictures with my new camera and even ended up taking a boat tour on the lake. The weather was supposed to be amazingly wet, but I was actually lucky. The sun even came out a couple of times and the guy from the boat told us that we were really lucky, cause it was supposed to rain later that day. It did rain, but only just when the day started to come to an end.
On my second day I decided to take the bus to Dingle. Last time I had been there has been six years ago: the first time I went to Ireland. I really wanted to take the bus which would take me straight to the Dingle Peninsula, which has some great views. Again, the weather was nice. There were clouds one minute, and even some splatters of rain, and then the next minute the sun would come out. Really lovely!
Something I also always had wanted to do was to visit the Ring of Kerry. It's not that easy to do so when you don't own a car. The only two options are taking a guided tour, or take the regular bus that will only leave once a day. Now, i'm not really a tour kind of person, so I took the regular bus instead. Which was really interesting. I've got to say that the Ring of Kerry is really, really impressive. There are parts where you can almost see no houses for miles. And then all of a sudden there is a house, build on an eerie mountain, overlooking even more eerie looking mountains. But there were also the parts where you could overlook other peninsulas, small islands in the ocean etc...
The weather again was lovely. Pretty much cloudy the entire day, but you could still see for miles.
I also managed to take a long walk to the other part of the National Park, including bringing a visit to the waterfall again.
I didn't meet too many other people this holiday, but that wasn't my intention either. I really just wanted to be outside and breathe in nature again. Relax, getting in touch with myself again etc...And I did. Cause life in Ireland is so much more relaxed. There are practically no high ways there, only small, bumpy roads. The people seem to be more laid-back. When I arrived in Amsterdam last night I really had to adjust to the speed, all those buildings etc....And I've only been away for a week.
My first plans were to travel to Galway, then visit the Aran Islands and Connamara, and then travel on to Killarney by taking an early bus which would take the tourist route. But all that didn't work out too well when I planned the trip and in the end I decided to fly to Cork instead and spend a full week in a B&B in Killarney. After all, that town is pretty much my second home.
It was a good decision. The B&B was really nice, with friendly people running the place. The only thing that really bothered me was that all doors had a spring attached to them. It means that the doors were really shut at all times, but it also meant they were making the loudest noise closing. And while I tried to manually, and thus softly, closing the door, most people just let it fall back by itself. Which resulted in loud bangs very often, which was a little annoying. But oh well...shouldn't complain too much, since the rest of the holiday was perfect.
Being back in Killarney really felt like being back home. I loved it. On my second day there I of course went straight to the National Park where I took loads of pictures with my new camera and even ended up taking a boat tour on the lake. The weather was supposed to be amazingly wet, but I was actually lucky. The sun even came out a couple of times and the guy from the boat told us that we were really lucky, cause it was supposed to rain later that day. It did rain, but only just when the day started to come to an end.
On my second day I decided to take the bus to Dingle. Last time I had been there has been six years ago: the first time I went to Ireland. I really wanted to take the bus which would take me straight to the Dingle Peninsula, which has some great views. Again, the weather was nice. There were clouds one minute, and even some splatters of rain, and then the next minute the sun would come out. Really lovely!
Something I also always had wanted to do was to visit the Ring of Kerry. It's not that easy to do so when you don't own a car. The only two options are taking a guided tour, or take the regular bus that will only leave once a day. Now, i'm not really a tour kind of person, so I took the regular bus instead. Which was really interesting. I've got to say that the Ring of Kerry is really, really impressive. There are parts where you can almost see no houses for miles. And then all of a sudden there is a house, build on an eerie mountain, overlooking even more eerie looking mountains. But there were also the parts where you could overlook other peninsulas, small islands in the ocean etc...
The weather again was lovely. Pretty much cloudy the entire day, but you could still see for miles.
I also managed to take a long walk to the other part of the National Park, including bringing a visit to the waterfall again.
I didn't meet too many other people this holiday, but that wasn't my intention either. I really just wanted to be outside and breathe in nature again. Relax, getting in touch with myself again etc...And I did. Cause life in Ireland is so much more relaxed. There are practically no high ways there, only small, bumpy roads. The people seem to be more laid-back. When I arrived in Amsterdam last night I really had to adjust to the speed, all those buildings etc....And I've only been away for a week.
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