We started off Friday the same as the two days before: with a bike ride. However, this ride was quite a bit shorter, only a few miles from the B&B to downtown to return our bikes to the shop. After that, we walked to the ruins of Ross Castle, once a stronghold in Southern Ireland.
Ross Castle was one of the last castles to fall to the English during Oliver Cromwell's invasion in the 1650s. Before that, Ross Castle had never been taken by force and it was said the castle would never fall until a warship could swim on the lake, so when the English built ships and sailed artillery across the lake, the remaining Irish troops immediately surrendered.
From the castle, you can hire a rowboat, a motorboat, or take a tour of the lakes on a ferry. We opted for the ferry tour. Our tour took us around Lough Leane, the largest of the three lakes in Killarney National Park.
You get a pretty spectacular view of the castle from the lake.
Afterwards, we took a jaunting car (horse carriage) back into town, where we had lunch at Murphy's Pub. From there, we grabbed a taxi out to the other iconic landmark of Killarney: Muckross House, a mansion in the national park built by the Herbert family that's famous for housing Queen Victoria for two nights during her state visit to Killarney.
The Herbert family spent six years preparing for the Queen's visit, pretty much completely refurbishing the entire house and gardens, which nowadays house a conservatory, the gift shop, and a cafe.
Unfortunately, refurbishing the entire house pretty much ruined the family's financials (the family's son and heir being a lousy businessman didn't help) and they were forced to sell the estate some years afterward. After a series of owners, the House and grounds were donated to the Irish government in the early 1930s and it made way for the formation of the first national park in Ireland. Here's the view from the lawn.
For the gardens, we hiked further into the park to visit the Torc Waterfall. On the way, Jake was super stoked about seeing a herd of Irish red deer.
We were a little concerned about hiking up the waterfall after biking the two days before, but it wasn't too far and the view was definitely worth it.
We didn't plan the time very well and by the time we got back to Muckross House, everything was closed, so we had to walk a mile or two out of the park to the nearest hotel to call a cab. We made it back into town just in time for a little dinner and then a pint of Guinness and live music at Sheehan's Pub at the Grand Hotel.
