Killarney day 2

Today I did a tour around the Ring of Kerry which runs around the Armagh Peninsula in southwest Ireland. This is possibly the most beautiful part of the country, and I could really spend a lot more time here. But I gotta go again tomorrow!

Cottages like this litter the Ring of Kerry. I didn't take
more photos because clearly photos from a moving bus
look terrible.

The one thing that really strikes me about this area is all the abandoned houses. Noticeably they're all really old cottages, slowly being overgrown. This is, of course, because of the potato famine of the mid 19th century. The Irish really love their spuds, up until the 1840s probably too much because when all the potato crops failed one million people starved in Ireland and two million emigrated. Just before the famine Ireland had its highest population level ever, at about 8 million. These days they only have 4 million. In the rest of Ireland there isn't quite as many abandoned houses because the areas tended to be resettled. A large section of the Armagh peninsula, however, is the Killarney National park, and so settlement there is not really an option. The other problem is parts of the peninsula were among the last in Ireland to get electricity. I would like to stress this point. One valley I passed today didn't have electricity until the 1980s. And then when they finally got it, they wouldn't have been able to watch TV because they're surrounded by mountains. Yeah, doesn't make it sound so enticing... But it would be a beautiful place to live.

So one of the highlights of the tour, apart from the phenomenal scenery, was the sheepdog show. This was one of the first stops, and for five Euro it was certainly impressive. It was just an old bloke with two border collies and six sheep. But the eagerness, promptness and accuracy with which these dogs follow simple whistle commands was truly impressive. I also visited a little museum village displaying a bunch of cottages as they were in the 18th century. It was nice, as these things are, but nothing really blog-worthy. Besides, I'm still trying to get over the remnants of a cold and really don't have the energy or will to write a long, detailed post, so I'll just humour you with a few pictures.