Ireland #10 Kenmare and Druid's View

We are on to our 6th full day in Ireland and

on to Kenmare.
These are a few of the pictures I took along the way.
Can you say gorgeous?!?!?

Kenmare is a lovely little town.

We got into town and were lucky enough to find a 

parking place, with easy access to the main street.

And when I say main street, I really mean, just about 

the only street with shops and pubs.

Most of the towns are small and quaint and this 

one didn't disappoint.

Although it wasn't as small as many, but I guess

those are probably villages or hamlets.

Here are some of the pictures I took.

This is looking into town.

Don't you love the colors?

I had to take a picture of this street sign.

We got out of the car and I looked up and there is was

New York St.

Where do I live?  New York State!

One of the things you can notice in this picture is the

absence of telephone poles and wires,

traffic lights and extraneous "stuff"

Yes, there are some signs for shops and some

traffic signs, but there aren't a lot of ugly

wires etc. blocking the view or taking away from the beauty.

This, I find, is true of most of the country.

Here's a picture of 4 of us in front of a typical pub.

The flowers, as always, were beautiful.

Guinness is huge in Ireland and there are signs all over.

Here is one of the biggest ones I saw.

My nephew, Joel, is a big Guinness fan, so I always had

my eyes open for different Guinness signs.

I've got this picture in here to show that you never know 

where you'll find more flowers.

They sure like to pretty things up in Ireland.

Do you think of Ireland as not having much fashion?

Wrong!  Check out these hats in one of the shop 

windows in Kenmare.

I had to have Dave take some pictures of my in front

of this fish and chips shop.

No, I didn't eat there, but by this time it was pretty

obvious that I loved the fish and chips.

When we'd stop at a restaurant or pub to check out

the menu, the others would look at it and comment
"Kristie's okay, they have fish and chips."

It didn't start out that way, but it ended up being 

a quest for the best fish and chips in Ireland.

At least for the places we traveled and ate.

Yes!  I'll admit it,

I'm a fish and chips addict.

While on this trip, I had fish and chips 

a total of 11 times.  Yes, you read that right!

11 times

By the 6th day we already knew 

I needed a picture with a sign

and there it was, right on the main street in Kenmare.

We had a nice time perusing the shops and

before we left we stopped at "Jam", a little coffee shop 

for a sweet treat.

 I will tell you, the treats we had were amazing.

I had a meringue with strawberries that was to 

die for, and Roxie had a bread pudding with, I believe

it was a toffee sauce.

YUMMY!

Then we were off and headed for 

Sheep's Head to see a lighthouse.

On the way we came across

"Druid's View"  

I don't know why this is called Druid's View,

I did some searching on the internet and

 couldn't find any info on it, just a few pictures.

When we came along this wood carving along the road

we had to stop and take a look.

And it was absolutely stunning. 

This little guy was at Druid's View in a fenced in area.

I got a lesson in donkey, mule, jack ass, horse "genetics"

but honestly, I thought I knew which this was

and how it came to be, but when I look on the internet,

what I thought I learned, doesn't seem to be right.

Anyway, I thought he was a cute little guy, so 

here he is, whatever he is.

Here's another cute little guy.

There were a few people who wanted me to bring back

a leprechaun for them.

This is the closest I could come.

He is in front of Molly Gallivan's

which apparently serves ice cream.

Below are pictures that are all taken around

 Molly Gallivan's

I didn't go inside, but I could see it was quite a 

nice gift shop with some lovely sweaters and such. 

Love this old truck!

Another lovely window, you can also see that 

there is a thatched roof.

In the picture above you see a pile of peat.

Below is a wagon full of peat.

I will have another post that will talk more about peat,

where it comes from and what it's used for, but for now

here are a couple pictures of peat,

a very common sight through out Ireland.

It's also not uncommon to see bicycles in Ireland.

Although I must say, I didn't notice as many on 

this visit as I have on our other visits.

There were a number of places where we did see them

like this, being used as an "art" piece.

It does make for a nice picture doesn't it?

Flowers of the Day

Druid's View did not disappoint when it came to flowers.

Molly Gallivan's had some absolutely gorgeous hydrangeas

As you can see in these couple pictures,
the pinks and purples were beautiful!

And there were some of my favorite wild flowers 

along the road.

I'm glad you stopped by to share a little bit more

of my visit in Ireland.

The day wasn't finished, not even close.

Next post we'll arrive at our destination of 

Sheep's Head.