Air, Landier, and Sea

It’s hard to believe that each day gets better, but this trip has been nothing short of amazing, every stop along the way.

Today began with a trip to a waterfall. Personally, I had no idea that Ireland had waterfalls, but this one was gorgeous!

We took a short hike in Killarney National Park through some light rain to get to this spectacular site.

This is another moment we owe to Mark. We wouldn’t have had any clue we should go see this waterfall, but we were so glad we did.

Next, Mark arranged for us to take jaunty carts (horse and carriage) through Killarney National Park.

The park itself is absolutely beautiful, and it has some gems within it as well.

We first stopped at an abbey that was built around a gorgeous tree. It’s bad luck to touch the tree, so we kept our distance, but we could see why they chose to construct the abbey around it.

We then visited Muckross House. For any Downton Abbey fans out there, visiting Muckross is also highly recommended!

We got to see in the upper and lower regions of the house.

The house has had multiple owners. The first owners went bankrupt preparing for a visit from Queen Victoria.

Apparently when the Queen pays a visit, she tells you ten years in advance. So for ten years this family and their staff prepared for her arrival- including making sure she had a room on the first floor with an extra fire escape (Victoria was afraid of fires).

Victoria visited and then the family had no money left to maintain the property so they sold it to Arthur Guinness (of Guinness beer). He intended to sell it back to the original owners when they had the funds, but the family’s funds were never recovered.

The last family to own it was from California, and they gave it to their daughter and her new husband as a wedding gift.

Sadly, she died young. The family decided to give the house and land to the state, as long as it would be used for visitors to see.

The land completed what’s known at Killarney National Park today.