Ireland 2019: Ring of Kerry and Sheepdog Trials

We had a great night's sleep after all of our travel woes and awoke to a slightly drizzly (but normal Ireland) day. We took a ride this morning in a Jaunting Car. This is a horse and buggy that rides you into and through Killarney National Park. A highlight was a peek at Ross Castle and the Killarney estate. It was a beautiful ride and we really enjoyed it. We stopped to meet up with the tour bus but quickly ran inside St. Mary's Cathedral before we did. It was beautiful. I am a sucker for Cathedral architecture and try to stop into as many as I can! After our little peek inside, we boarded the tour bus for a ride along the Ring of Kerry. This is a scenic driving tour in Southwest Ireland that is very popular. We saw beautiful scenery along the way with several stops. We stopped for a mid morning snack at the Heather Restaurant and Cafe. We stopped at Dooley's restaurant and Public House for a wonderful lunch. One of our stops was at Commikista Pass where we had a beautiful view of the Atlantic as well as of a giant statue of the Virgin Mary.  From a distance we saw the Skellig mountains, on one of which was filmed a Star Wars episode. We passed through Waterville and the village of Sneem before stopping at Kissane Sheep Farm. We watched a demonstration of how the sheep are sheared and then watched a demonstration of a sheep dog rounding up the sheep from the hillside. We also stopped at "Ladies View", a beautiful area named from when Queen Victoria's Ladies in Waiting stopped there during the royal visit of 1861. From there we made our way back to our hotel to get ready for dinner. Our dinner was delicious and was eaten at Rozzers restaurant at the The Killeen House Hotel. The Killeen House Hotel was originally built in 1838 as a rectory for the Archdeacon Nathaniel Forester. It also served as a farmhouse, a dower house, a home for the elderly and a maternity ward before becoming a hotel. The dinner was absolutely delicious and I would love to go there again sometime!