Saturday 29 July 2017

Church of the Sloes

We took a train to Killarney a few days ago. It was a most enjoyable journey that passed through delightful scenery, lush green fields, distant mountains and of course the Paps of Anu which always catch our attention. 

The Paps held a significance.
Part of the reason for our journey was to visit an historian who has kept these mountains in his focus and in the public eye for over seventy years. Being an author of dozens of articles that have been read in almost every Irish publication, he is a well known figure in Kerry. 

Today Dan Cronin, a native of Rathmore, near Killarney, who, at the age of ninety-seven has not yet retired his pen, told us that there are still a couple more articles that he intends to write.


Do you know this elegant person ?


KILLARNEY RAIL STATION



Two Stags Rutting
This particular pair have a stainless steel skeleton 
with bronze sheathing and cost €70,000.



The Gaelic Muse




New use for a phone box stood next
too a representation of a White Tailed Eagle
The Eagle who resides in Killarney Town Centre was commissioned by a sub group of Killarney Town Council, the Killarney Arts Committee, in 2008/2009. The sculpture, a local artist Joe Neeson, initiated the concept from design to creation which represents the Killarney connection with the White Tailed Eagle. During that time the White Tailed Eagle project was well underway which saw the Eagle reintroduced to Killarney National Park.


Murphy's Ice Cream Parlour http://murphysicecream.ie/about-us.html


The second reason for the visit was to ramble around the town with our cameras and to enjoy ourselves by window shopping. That was the plan until we saw that there was a large branch of TK MAXX in the High Street and our resolve not to shop crumbled in milli-seconds !

We finally treated ourselves to one garment each and departed with a spring in our step to a small cafe for lunch. 

This was followed by a delicious ice-cream from Murphy’s of Dingle whose slogan is “ice cream that know’s where it’s coming from”


A lovely mural in one of the dining rooms of a unknown café where we had a wonderful lunch of a large toasted flatbread with a Cheese, Tuna and Sweetcornfilling and because of our hunger we failed to note the name of the café!

The Paps of Anu

There was a lot more to see and explore in Killarney whose name translates as Cill Áirne, meaning Church of the Sloes. 
We shall return again later in the year, when hopefully the streets will be less busy, for we country mice are not comfortable in crowds. 
I am making promise to myself to treat Mrs H to a ride in one of those famous jaunting cars on our next visit and perhaps another ice-cream will be in order.


Where shall we visit next do you have any suggestions ?












20 comments:

  1. I think the jaunting cars would be a perfect way to sight see anywhere in Ireland. I hate crowds too, they wear me out.

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    1. Thank you Janet and I think that you are correct.

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  2. It's been a while since I been on train but I'll be taking one to see my son and the eclipes

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    1. Stress free travel in my experience is always the best Dora.

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  3. That elegant figure does fit in nicely in the scenery, I'd say! Such lovely lovely pictures. There is no better way to travel than train, when it's working properly. There is a train up north in Sweden that has to moderate it's time tabel according to the movements of the reindeers. I have never been that far up. Those hills, such magic ! They are beautiful. The stags where lovely, frozen in action!! I couldn't help smiling when I in the middle of all this saw the ice creambar, You really have a weak spot for Ice Cream!!! I hope it's as good as the lovely house promises!
    You are very right, Melvyn, it must be Ireland for our next longer trip, there is no way avoiding it!!!

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    1. Oh I am sure that you and your family would enjoy a holiday in Ireland Solveig. There is so much to see, to experience and to savour the flavours of our skilled food makers m'mmm !
      Thank you for the comments and you are right I do like good quality ice cream too, one a week satisfies me.

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  4. Hi Mel - looks a wonderful area and town ... I suspect you'll be back to try the restaurant again and this time to take note of its name ... the station at least is covered. Wonderful sculptures - I'd love to see those ... now somewhere there I might find a handsome man (under the beard) accompanied by the delightful Mrs H ... cheers Hilary

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    1. Hello Hilary !
      A holiday in Co. Kerry with a two day stay in Killarney would provide you with lots of blog material and keep you fully entertained. Just bring an empty suitcase for all of your purchases, your credit card and you will be fine.
      The beard is not detachable. So what you see is what you get... and Mrs H might give you permission to run your fingers through the whiskers :-)

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  5. President (KING!!!) of the Irish Tourism Bureau strikes again. Brilliant post. Beautiful, fascinating places. Great photos. I love the ones of the stags (the two rutting ones and the elegant one in the pink trousers).

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    1. Thank you Mitch and so glad you enjoyed the blog post.
      You are only the second person to liken me as a Stag, for several years ago I was given the nickname of
      Stagbunny by one of Mrs H's women friends :-) !

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  6. This is a brilliant post. Very interesting to me.

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  7. Jack L said : Hello Mel,
    Very pleasant read about Killarney, and I must confess I would be much happier going to Killarney Ireland..than our own Manitoba version 60 miles away from my home town!! Interesting how they are rallying around the Eagle as part of their community image. Yes, I certainly recognise you well in your standard trouser colours and travelling clothes...and the Irish trains are among the best I have rode on..they're clean, efficient and get there pretty much on time !

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    1. Thank you Jack and you are correct Irish trains are generally very good at being on time.

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  8. Stress free train journeys seem to be an oxymoron in relation to British (and particularly English) trains. The idea of the jaunting cars appeals to me too but the way vehicle drivers in general ignore horses (and cyclists) on the road would make even me a bit nervous.

    I started this comment earlier in the day and then went off to visit your previous post and Dan Cronin. Where did the day go? But I learned quite a bit.

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    1. Well Graham I am pleased to have helped you spend quality time reading my blog posts about Dan Cronin :-)
      Those jaunting cars are in the main quite large four wheeled carts, with very experienced Jarveys (drivers). I for one would not be overly concerned, for their routes are all within the 50kph zone and so there is little
      likelyhood of them being endangered by any manic motorists.
      Thank you for comments.

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  9. What a lovely journey so far, friend Heron ... and thank you for taking me along ... smiles ... Love, cat.

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    1. Thank you Cat, we very much enjoyed the outing too x

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  10. Nice to see you in Killarney! It's been a long while since I was there. I suggest a train journey down to Wexford for your next journey. The beautiful coastal route down from Dublin and such friendly people when you get there, not to mention the traditional music and tasty Guinness. Oh and Meyler's fish shop....

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    1. Ye Gods, Erica ! Now this is a great surprise hearing from your self at last :-)
      Not possible for us to do Wexford by train in a day, have just checked. Far better to go across country in the car, shall have to sweet talk my driver into doing so and depends upon what is going on in the studio.
      Thank you for the comment xx

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