October 30, 2005

The Emerald Isle

Date: Sun, 30 Oct 2005 14:34:49 -0800 (PST)
Subject: Ireland at its finest!

By the time I was "ready" to go eat dinner last night, everything was closed.
Macroom was worse than back home, where at least I can expect a Safeway to be
open 24 hours even though the MacDonalds closes at 8! I went out of the hotel
at around 9:30pm, looking for a place to eat. The good news is it wasn't
raining. The bad news is that except for one bar (that did not serve
sandwiches), everything was closed. I came back to the hotel, hungry, and made
do with 3 mints and the last box of raisins left over from my flight over here
as my dinner.

Then I woke up at 1 AM (before the time change). Then I stayed up until well
past 5 AM. After finally falling asleep I was woken up by the housekeeping
staff at 10:45AM. If they gave me the wake up call like I asked at 7, I did not
hear it. I also did not hear my cellphone alarm if it actually rang at 7:30 --
that's a first.

Waking up this late was not good. I had a long drive today, it was already 11,
I was starving and I had missed my breakfast at the hotel!

On the road at 11, a quick stopover at a gas station for a box of Shredded
Wheat, and praying that the skies would stay partly cloudy......

Prayers not answered, I found my way through the maze of backroads from Macroom
to the southwest corner of the country* (see sidenote in P.S.). I had a long
drive planned today -- that didn't happen thanks to my 3-day late jetlag! There
are three peninsulas that jut out into the Atlantic in the Southwest of
Ireland. Each of them has a scenic "ring road" through them, and I wanted to go
on each of them. Mitzen Head, Cod's Head, and Bolus Head. Well, I had to skip
the first two and go straight to Bolus, on the "Ring of Kerry".

National Highway N71 goes through some low mountains south of the town of
Kenmare. It had begun to rain (in spite of my prayers that today be a "good
day"), and the rain made the road a scenic one! There's just something magical
about driving in the mountains during a rainfall, as all the clouds hover just
above the roads, and every once in a while, you get to see a rainbow!

Reminded me of Hwy 11 in Switzerland.

It was so scenic that I even considered skipping Ireland's #1 attraction (Ring
of Kerry) in favor of Killarney National Park -- a mountain park. I hadn't made
any decision yet...

The road splits at the town of Kenmare -- N71 going north to Killarney National
Park and N70 going west to the Ring of Kerry. By coincidence I happened to be
in the left lane when decision-time came, so I went west to the Ring of Kerry.

A lot of roads on this trip have reminded me of other roads I've been on. Some
are like Hwy 11 in Switzerland, others like Highway 1 in California or Florida,
others look like North or South Carolina with all the greenery around. Or New
Hampshire in the fall... Or Tennessee/Georgia with all the sheep, cows and
horses! The Ring of Kerry (Highway N70 loop road around this peninsula) is a
mix of all of the above. There was even one spot that looked amazingly close to
"Going to the Sun Road" in Glacier National Park, Montana! As if they literally
picked up that whole road and dumped it over here!

There are fields, mountains, valleys, beaches, oceanside road scenery, and the
kind of road where you have to honk at every turn because you can never tell if
another vehicle is just around the corner coming your way! (Ref: Hana Highway
in Hawaii) It is beautiful, and no wonder its Ireland's #1 tourist destination!
There was rain off-and-on throughout, and very few places to actually stop and
take pictures. Most of the pictures I took were while driving. Best part about
this: It's all one long looping road, so there's no question of getting lost
anywhere!

It's a 180 km loop, and it took me close to 3 hours, but 4-6 hours is probably
a better and "more relaxing" estimate (for my next trip). By the time I was
done, it was starting to get dark and I had barely 1 hour to reach Limerick
before sunset. I was not about to try finding my hotel in the dark!!! Luckily I
made it while it was still light out and there really weren't any driving
problems along the way.

So here I am now, on the 7th floor of the tallest building in Limerick, with a
view of the Shannon River out of my window, and having just finished a huge
full chicken, potatoes, and tiramisu meal for a whopping 30 euros. But that's
become somewhat of a tradition on my last day of any trip, so that's ok. I
still have 80 euros cash left over for Germany next month!

And now the P.S.: I have AAA and Lonely Planet's maps of Ireland. I've noticed
some mistakes in both, which is expected -- no maps are ever perfect! There was
a T-junction in the road this morning where both of my maps were telling me to
turn left, my own instict was also telling me to turn left, and yet the sign on
the road was showing right.

I followed the sign on the road, and it was correct.

Sometimes having even the best of maps is not good enough!

Tomorrow I fly back home. All in all, 2 out of 3 "good days" is a pretty good
trip! Looking forward to the next one....

Around the Southern Coast: