Darrydane National Park

Afterwards, we continued down the mountain to meet our guide for an afternoon walk in Derrydane National Park, along the shore of Derrydane Bay. It was still misty at this point so our rain gear came in handy for the 2-hour walk. The scenery along the rocky shoreline was beautiful and our guide was very knowledgeable about the landscape and history of the region.

Darrydane Abbey

We walked through the Derrydane Abbey’s historic graveyard and a 6th century Christian monastic settlement, with its partial stone structures preserved in the hillside among the head stones of their former inhabitants.

We headed back to Killarney Town and the Killarney Royal Hotel via the hamlet of Castlecove, the village of Sneem and via Moll’s Gap, Ladies View, and along the Lakes of Killarney.

Our relatively small 10-person van competed with large tour buses and small cars all trying to share the narrow, twisting roadway through the Killarney National Park. Everyone seemed to know their “place” on the road, so the return trip was as smooth as this morning’s drive.

Tomorrow we head across the water to the Dingle Peninsula for another full day along the coast.