Don Wiss has a detailed travelogue of his trip to Ireland (June 2006). Of particular interest to you will be the section on Kerry. Don’s travelogue is, admittedly, low on detail about Killarney but its good general purpose reading that will help inform your decisions on where to go (and not) and what to do (and not.)
There are some gems in here such as:
“I drive back on N71 through the Killarney National Park. I stop at all the laybys along the way. As I approach Killarney I pull into the Muckross House. I take a quick picture of it. More of it will have to wait until I return to Killarney for a few days and bicycle around. But while there I count 14 coaches! This is the same number that I saw the entire day on the Ring of Kerry (though half were parked, or I was parked, so I didn’t have to pass that many).”
The alternative title for Don’s trip could be ‘gluten-free Ireland’; because Don is celiac (aka coeliac) he maintains a careful diet free of wheat, so he does a great job describing his search for pubs, restaurants and B&B’s that cater (and don’t cater) to special diets.
“I stop in a family fast food restaurant and ask what they have. The younger woman says her mother is celiac. (I hear comments about celiac relatives often.) They suggest a restaurant which has no sign. Their alternative suggestion is the Black Rock. I can’t find the one with no sign, so I go to Black Rock. I ask what they have that if gluten-free and dairy-free. She comes back and says only the chicken salad. Often restaurants think we celiacs will be happy eating a salad. I ask what’s wrong with the burgers. She saus it wouldn’t have a roll. Like so what! I start asking what else is cooked on the burger’s griddle. What else is fried with the chips, etc? A fellow replaces her. Was he the manager? After several trips to the kitchen to ask the chef (and a long delay each time) we figure I can have a burger, and the fries will be cooked in their own pan and oil. I ask for medium rare. Nope. They are not allowed to serve them medium rare. The food comes. The burger is well done, but all-in-all a nice meal. I head on’ It’s now 2:00. As I leave I see that Ballybunnion has cliff walks, but not in the steady rain!”
Also, of interest is the fact that Don is an avid photographer so his piece mentions lots of places where he stopped to take photos. Don’t miss his rendition of the time he forgot to use his camera in the valley of blooming rhododendrons in Tipperary when his car got stuck in a ditch.
One thing I would add, is that some tourists go a little bit too far in their efforts to capture Ireland in photos. Most often this happens when photographing people. Don tends to cross that border from time to time:
“As I leave the B&B I see an old man along the side of the road, plus the xxx church. So I turn around. I go past the old man and pull into a driveway. It seems he saw me in the distance. He kept looking the other way.”
I know its a bit of a sensitive subject, but a bit of respect would go a long way. What do you think?
