Heading to County Kerry

A few more photos from the Ireland trip. From the top:

A busker by the name of Katie O'Conner. The "O" before the last name indicates the grandson of Conner. The prefix "Mac" would indicate you were the son of Conner, or so I was told. Katie was performing in Galway.

A landscape shot taken out the window of the bus. We got exceptionally lucky with the weather. No rain for the whole trip with unseasonably warm temperatures. Everything had greened up as you can see. Pretty much what I had envisioned Ireland to look like. Green pastures bounded by stone walls. Those are the MacGillycuddy's Reeks in the background. I didn't realize Ireland was as mountainous as it is.

Cliffs of Moher. Pretty impressive site/sight. The bus stopped here for a look-see. There's a nice visitor center and walk way to get up to the top. It was a bit chilly and very windy but definitely worth the look. After leaving Dublin we headed in a southwesterly direction. The Cliffs of Moher are on the western side of the island and from there we headed south to do the Ring of Kerry.

One of many Gothic style churches in Ireland. This one was across the street from a house having the traditional thatched roof. The roofs are built up with a couple of layers. One of the buildings in the little museum we stopped in had the underside of the roof exposed so you could see the first layer put down was turf or peat as we call it. The thatching will last twenty years or so depending on the material used. Unfortunately, the thatching is very flammable. Not the safest roofing material. The peat bogs furnished the roofing materials as well as the fuel for the stove in the house. Most of the dwellings had a single stove or fireplace that was used for both heating and cooking.

The bottom three photos are all from the little museum we stopped at. The museum's purpose is to preserve the heritage of the area and the traditional crafts and lifestyle of the people of County Kerry. The top photo of the three shows the interior of a typical house, the next is a blacksmith shop and the last is of a "bog pony". Since the area is predominately peat bogs, the ponies are small draft animals that won't destroy the ground and are very hardy. There are also Kerry sheep and cows specific to the region. I knew of the Kerry breed of cattle but was unaware of the Kerry sheep breed. We buy Kerry butter at our house occasionally. Excellent on toast. Most of the dairy farming, at least from what I saw from the bus, was based on the Holstein, like it is here in America.