Seriously Scenic Stuff

Alrighty then... What have I been up to you might be asking yourselves...

Scenery, scenery and more scenery. The last week and a bit of my stay in Ireland has been geared towards the prettier part of the country down South West way. Down there they've got all sorts of things to see, the most famous being the 'Ring of Kerry' in Kerry province and the famed 'Cliffs of Moher' in the Clare province.

On my way to the south-west corner of Ireland, I rocked on by the second biggest city in Ireland, Cork which is situated right on the South coast. Here I stayed at the nicest hostel I've stayed at in the UK and Ireland. It felt like more of a hotel than a hostel which was nice for the same price. I only spent a couple of days in Cork but whilst I was there I managed to have a little kick around town and even got offered 24 euros worth of gig tickets by the receptionist who couldn't attend it! So another Australian fella and I went to check it out. Had a ball.

The next stop out of Cork was a sleepy little town called Killarney. I stayed here because in a bit of research I did on the Ring of Kerry I found out that it was a good place to base oneself whilst heading out to tour the peninsula. After I settled in here I set out to the tourist information centre where I was able to book a Ring of Kerry tour for the following day. The tour was great.

I took tonnes of pictures which you'll all see when I get back soon but here's a few of the crackers (the first pic is of Killarney national park which I stumbled into accidently whilst waiting for check-in time). Not bad eh.

And yes, that is indeed a chiwawa sitting on a donkey... Don't ask me...

And this is me flying through the air like superman.

After Killarney and the Ring of Kerry, I caught a bus to Galway which is supposed to be one of the more happening cities in Ireland on the upper West coast. It is indeed a pretty cool city and there's this really nice walk you can do along the water on the edge of these green as green sports fields. And in case you're wondering, I haven't become an alter boy just yet. I was just playing dress ups in the hostel with that pope attire in the pic below.

After Galway I set off to check out this tiny little village (not even a town) called Doolin. The only reason I even considered going there was cause I heard that it was the heart of traditional Irish music. Having heard this, I thought they would at least have a proper place to buy food etc. but I would soon find out that my food was to be bought from another hostel that cooked Irish scones daily.. Needless to say, I couldn't survive here for long, not just because the only options for food were scones or 15 euro pub meals but also because the closest ATM was at the Cliffs of Moher.

And I was really running short on cash haha. The brief time I did spend in the town was cool though. During the day I took pictures of my hostel's neighbors (namely cows and horses) and during the afternoon I went to 'Gus O'Connors pub'. Here, my trip out to the sticks became worth it. At around 6pm a group of raggy looking musicians started to conjugate on one of the tables in the pub. One had a guitar, one had a flute, one had some form of percussion and two had instruments that I've never seen before (one of which sounded a bit like the bag-pipes). So after a bit of tuning and getting comfortable, these guys began to belt out the sorts of Irish tunes that induce an infectious knee-bounce. The place lit up and that's exactly what I came to see.

The next day I woke up early for breakfast and to check out the bus time table for buses to the cliffs. True to the spirit of the sleepy village, there was only two buses running that way all day and the first one was not for three hours so I headed off to buy some more Irish scones.. When the bus finally did come, I boarded it and enjoyed the 20 minute drive right up to the cliffs. When I got off I drew out some cash at the only ATM in and hours radius conveniently located in the gift shop before heading up to the top viewing platform. Check this stuff out!!

If I received a dime for every beautiful thing I've seen on this trip of mine, I wouldn't be sharing a bunk with some fella called Rico from Portugal tonight..