Kenmare, County Kerry Day 4 - Free Day

The morning dawned with the sun making an early appearance: a first for the trip. While most people elected to do a bus and boat trip somewhere in the area of Kilarney we decided to stay in Kenmare. The idea of the bus ride and then a couple hours on a boat listening to tall tales didn’t excite us. We would learn that those that went did have a very good time and I suppose we would have enjoyed it too but our day wandering around and about in Kenmare was fruitful and enjoyable too.

The village may not be all that large but it seems to be thriving. There are many stores, only a few selling kitchy stuff, pubs, bars, restaurants and coffee shops. We started our wanderings by visiting the local stone circle. It is a rare circle that is inside its town. It is about 17 meters across comprised of 15 stones that aren’t quite equi-distantly spaced. A central boulder, a burial marker we believe, is at the circle’s heart. Perhaps this circle is aligned to the setting sun but from what we read that didn’t seem quite certain. It is a place to visit but you probably won’t derive any great sense of anything when you do.

Strolling through town pausing to check out stores and art galleries we passed the morning surprisingly quickly. In no time it was edging past noon and after a nice lunch at Jam we visited the Kenmare Pier. Kenmare, which means head of the sea, sits at the head of the Kenmare estuary and  the estuary has a sizeable pier you can easily walk to and take in some nice views. It is a peaceful place if you ignore the sounds of a working dock not that far away. We would also take a good walk through Reenagross Park which surrounds a bit of the estuary and has several gravel trails windings about that are pleasantly forested and worth a stroll. 

Between one thing and another we managed to buy some artwork and have a good lunch and completely relaxed day before heading back to the hotel a bit before 16:00. As we walked back we encountered people returning from the bus and boat trip who all agreed they had also had a very good day. We would all re-covene for a bus ride to Molly Galivan’s which is a eatery that also puts on a show of sorts. Classic Irish food including a superb soup and dessert, the stew was nice but not memorable, combined with a tall tales show and little discussion of the history of the place made for an interesting evening. Is it touristy? Yes, in a way. But it was fun in its way too.

Photo

1. The view from Kenmare Pier.