Irish: Ciarraighe, Ciarrai

On our second day on this weekend trip we left Cork towards County Kerry, some 70 kilometers to the west. Initially we headed to Kerry Airport where we got a rental car to then drive all around this beautiful region in Ireland. You will find all over the internet there is a specific name for a route that passes all over the best places in the area, this is called the Ring of Kerry, and that’s right, this was our aim for today and the reason why we needed a rental car.

I cannot imagine anyone coming here without a car, but is this is the case, (not everyone drive nor want to drive in their holidays), you can take a tour from pretty much everywhere else in Ireland. Those offer this as a day tour, and are available even as far as from Dublin. Other than that, you can only go point to point using public transportation as Killarney, Tralee or Portmagee to name the “largest” cities. I emphasize in “largest” as quite ironic, the size of the cities are more to a villa, being Tralee the largest at around 25000 inhabitants.

But again, this is not a region you come as part of city sightseeing, but for nature and landscapes instead. It is without doubt regarded as the most picturesque region in Ireland and renowned for its scenery and landscapes. Combining the Ring of Kerry with a larger city to the likes of Cork as was our case this weekend; or Limerick and Galway which are at the same distance, is perfect and will work great on a weekend trip. (more…)