Day 296, The Ring of Kerry

With another great day a head of us we set out to cover the ring of Kerry. This peninsula is much like the ring of Dingle, but perhaps a bit more populated. The tour buses were out in force, but with small van we were able to get in and out a lot faster and avoid most of them.

Muchross Manor

The high lights of the day were St Mary's Cathedral here in Killarney, the drive throughout the county, whatching sheep get rounded up, standing in the Atlantic and the Muchross Manor. We drove by many ruins of castles, abby's and famin houses, of which I could spends months exploring each one. Learning the history of Ireland and the upheaval that they have endured is amazing. I could easily spend years studying their history and never get enough.

We covered a lot of ground and returned to the hotel around 6pm. It's amazing how tired you get riding around a car. I had just enough time to lay down for a few minutes before going to dinner at 7pm. This is our last night in Killarney before heading off to our next destination of Lehinch and the Cliffs of Moher.

One interesting observation was that there are vintage trailers in Ireland too. Several times I saw trailers tucked behind old stone buildings and I wondered what they were like. The other observation of course is the lack of pickups and I wondered what most people would pull a trailer with? The cars here are tiny as gas is around $8 to $11 a gallon.

Our driver told us there is a 100% tax on cars, so if a new car sells for $25,000 the tax is $25,000. Also, you can pay up to $3,500 a year to license a car! If you buy a used car that is worth $10,000 but you get a "good deal" and pay $6,000, they will tax you $4,000, so you pay the full value. There is no way the average person can afford to own a car of any means and to be able to drive it.