Today has been one of my favorite days here so far! We were finally able to complete one of the bus tours I wanted to do! Five of us reserved spots on the Paddy Wagon, which is a huge green leprechaun bus that screams tourist. We chose the Dingle Peninsula tour because that took us to all new places as opposed to some that had a visit we’ve been to already or somewhere we’re going. We got on the bus in Cork City Center at 8:15 and drove to Killarney. The drive there included passing through the Cork and Kerry mountains which were beautiful! There were lots of rocks that came out of the mountain in ways I have not seen before. Even though it was a very early start, it was worth the struggle to stay awake to see all this. In Killarney, we had enough time to stop at a breakfast place and walk in a circle back to our meeting place. We then got on the other Paddy Wagon bus and drove to Inch Beach.
This beach was like another ocean beach by the long stretch of sand and waves. However, there was the distinct Ireland land reaching from the sides that made it beautiful. There were rocks on one side and a small cliff that led to green lands stretching over hills. Unfortunately the wind made the rain come down at a slant, which made me stop every couple pictures to wipe down my camera. It was fun to play around there and it woke us up a bit more after the bus ride and the breakfast. We were put back on the bus already soaking wet and continued on our scenic route. Everywhere I looked there was so much beauty surrounding the bus. It was hard to sit only on one side because I wanted to see everything!

Our bus driver was hilarious and told us tons of stories as he drove. He told us a lot about the history of things we were passing and made the whole trip a lot better because we knew what we were looking at. I was shocked but relieved at how he was able to drive such a huge bus on the narrow roads. Almost all the roads we drove on were a straight drop down with rocky cliffs. I was in awe of the land and how I could see these views with my own eyes.

We stopped at this cute farm made out of all stones in the mountain and a beautiful view of the water. For 2 euros we got to go in and hold a baby lamb. I’d say that was the best 2 euros I’ve spent yet. We made our way up farther Slea Head Drive and stopped at the place where Star Wars was filmed! We weren’t able to go out on the island, Skellig Michael, because the weather wasn’t the best, but we did go on the land that some of it was filmed! For some reason this was our shortest stop. This was a little disappointing and probably my biggest complaint of the trip because there was so much to explore but we didn’t have any time. The 5 of us ran around taking as many pictures as we could and reenacted some Star Wars scenes to truly experience all we could on this stop.

We drove a while through the country side until we got back to Dingle for a late lunch break and just in time to watch Ireland vs France. The pubs were all packed, but we were able to find a nice table with a good view of the match at a fish ‘n chips place (yes another one). Even with the strong start Ireland couldn’t hang in. It was really disappointing, and even worse we had a few French guys on our bus tour, but they weren’t bad about the loss thankfully or else I think our bus driver would’ve lost it (He had already threatened to accidentally leave them behind a few times before this).

The ride back to Killarney was pretty quiet. People were realizing how long of a day it had been and were getting tired. The clouds and fog started lifting (of course now once we were done with everything) so our driver decided to take us to this point where you can see all these islands in the middle of the water and see where a castle had been in the middle of it. This was one last photo op to end the great tour. We got back to Killarney and waited for our original Paddy Wagon to take us back to Cork.

We got back to Cork at 7:30 ish and there was a ghost tour starting at 8 that our entire group was talking about doing. Thank goodness we all went because we were the only ones on the tour besides one other lady. It was a tour done entirely by 2 people. They acted most of it and the guy told history stories with a comical twist. The women acted out the characters he would tell us about and pop up unexpectedly before disappearing again. It was a very touristy day, but I really enjoyed it because of the amount I got to see that I definitely wouldn’t have been able to without it. It was soo worth it and I can’t wait for the next opportunity where we can plan another big trip like this.