Killarney, Ireland, June 21
Dear Relatives and Friends,
Today we started the day gathering our things for another move to the correct hotel we had booked, Harmony Inn/Glena House in Killarney. Before the transfer we had a very complete breakfast to prepare us for the lovely walks we completed later in the day. At 10:00 the proprietor of the hotel picked us up, deposited our luggage at the hotel and did our wash while we began our trek for the day. Our first order of the day was to walk to the center of town, where we attended church / Communion service at St. Mary's Protestant Cathedral. Afterwards we went down the street and encountered a woolen shop we could not resist, carrying items like caps, Aran sweaters, capes of wool, etc. etc. Soon, Nancy had found an orange woolen cap and a beautiful scarf, as well as a woolen cape which was a hunter green on one side and orange and wine red on the other. On the back was a Celtic knot. I had found the cape first, and both she and I bought two of the same kind. Since it is reversible, we will always wear opposite sides when we are together. As it was beginning to rain and get colder, those wraps became more and more welcome as the day went on.
From Quills, the store where we had made our purchases, we wound our way through downtown Killarney, stopping at a fascinating monument to Michael Flaherty, an Irish churchman who served as a kind of Oskar Schindler to Jews and other persecuted groups in Rome during WW II. We also stopped by St. Mary's Catholic Cathedral, Ireland's finest Neo-Gothic church, built between 1842 and 1912 to a design by Pugin. Its exterior consists of a lofty steeple over the transept, and is a very elegant structure. Inside, the rough gray stonework is lit by dozens of stained glass windows which depict in the upper range the life of Christ, in the lower the lives of Irish saints such as St. Patrick and St. Brendan the Navigator. The huge redwood tree outside the west door marks a children's mass grave from the time of the Potato Famine.
Then we entered the gates of Killarney National Park at Knockreer Estate, opposite the Cathedral and guarded by Deenagh Lodge, now a café, run by Down's Syndrome children supervised by their mentors. We had a marvelous pureed vegetable soup there with soda bread, and we shared a panini with slaw as well. We then took a path south and 2.4 km to Ross Castle, an example of a medieval tower house probably built in the 15th c. by one of the O'Donoghue Ross chieftains who had undisputed hold over the Killarney area at that time. We then took a boat tour of an hour's duration from Ross Castle around he Lough Leane area on the "Pride of the Lakes" boat. Particularly interesting was the sighting of the island of Inisfallen a heavily wooded island. The monastery established here by St. Finian the Leper early in the 7th c. became a major center of learning, numbering among its 10th c. alums Ireland's most famous king, Brian Boru. The "Annals of Inisfallen," written by monks between the 11th and 13th c. and now housed at the Bodleian Library at Oxford, are the main source for the history of Munster. The original churches and dwellings are gone, but there are weathered ruins of a 13th c. oratory left.
When we returned to the pier, it was raining, so we took a ride in a jaunting cart to the center of town, then walked back to the hotel. It is raining tonight, and we have just had a good meal in our hotel dining room, consisting of stuffed chicken, potatoes, broccoli and cauliflower, and ice cream for dessert. Taking it easy this Sunday evening. Lovely day among the lakes and the mountains of this lovely area!
Thanks to you, Debbie, for your missive, and thanks to you, Mucha, for your various comments and insights. Glad you are enjoying my blog, Trigger. There is so much assailing the senses that I can hardly keep a lid on it all. As ever, Sylvia
Sylvia M. Venable, PhD
Instructor, German
St. John's Episcopal School
Dallas, Texas
Today we started the day gathering our things for another move to the correct hotel we had booked, Harmony Inn/Glena House in Killarney. Before the transfer we had a very complete breakfast to prepare us for the lovely walks we completed later in the day. At 10:00 the proprietor of the hotel picked us up, deposited our luggage at the hotel and did our wash while we began our trek for the day. Our first order of the day was to walk to the center of town, where we attended church / Communion service at St. Mary's Protestant Cathedral. Afterwards we went down the street and encountered a woolen shop we could not resist, carrying items like caps, Aran sweaters, capes of wool, etc. etc. Soon, Nancy had found an orange woolen cap and a beautiful scarf, as well as a woolen cape which was a hunter green on one side and orange and wine red on the other. On the back was a Celtic knot. I had found the cape first, and both she and I bought two of the same kind. Since it is reversible, we will always wear opposite sides when we are together. As it was beginning to rain and get colder, those wraps became more and more welcome as the day went on.
From Quills, the store where we had made our purchases, we wound our way through downtown Killarney, stopping at a fascinating monument to Michael Flaherty, an Irish churchman who served as a kind of Oskar Schindler to Jews and other persecuted groups in Rome during WW II. We also stopped by St. Mary's Catholic Cathedral, Ireland's finest Neo-Gothic church, built between 1842 and 1912 to a design by Pugin. Its exterior consists of a lofty steeple over the transept, and is a very elegant structure. Inside, the rough gray stonework is lit by dozens of stained glass windows which depict in the upper range the life of Christ, in the lower the lives of Irish saints such as St. Patrick and St. Brendan the Navigator. The huge redwood tree outside the west door marks a children's mass grave from the time of the Potato Famine.
Then we entered the gates of Killarney National Park at Knockreer Estate, opposite the Cathedral and guarded by Deenagh Lodge, now a café, run by Down's Syndrome children supervised by their mentors. We had a marvelous pureed vegetable soup there with soda bread, and we shared a panini with slaw as well. We then took a path south and 2.4 km to Ross Castle, an example of a medieval tower house probably built in the 15th c. by one of the O'Donoghue Ross chieftains who had undisputed hold over the Killarney area at that time. We then took a boat tour of an hour's duration from Ross Castle around he Lough Leane area on the "Pride of the Lakes" boat. Particularly interesting was the sighting of the island of Inisfallen a heavily wooded island. The monastery established here by St. Finian the Leper early in the 7th c. became a major center of learning, numbering among its 10th c. alums Ireland's most famous king, Brian Boru. The "Annals of Inisfallen," written by monks between the 11th and 13th c. and now housed at the Bodleian Library at Oxford, are the main source for the history of Munster. The original churches and dwellings are gone, but there are weathered ruins of a 13th c. oratory left.
When we returned to the pier, it was raining, so we took a ride in a jaunting cart to the center of town, then walked back to the hotel. It is raining tonight, and we have just had a good meal in our hotel dining room, consisting of stuffed chicken, potatoes, broccoli and cauliflower, and ice cream for dessert. Taking it easy this Sunday evening. Lovely day among the lakes and the mountains of this lovely area!
Thanks to you, Debbie, for your missive, and thanks to you, Mucha, for your various comments and insights. Glad you are enjoying my blog, Trigger. There is so much assailing the senses that I can hardly keep a lid on it all. As ever, Sylvia
Sylvia M. Venable, PhD
Instructor, German
St. John's Episcopal School
Dallas, Texas
I absolutely love the thought that you and Nancy are traipsing around Ireland in matching reversible woolen capes! FANTASTIC!
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