Our last two days in Ireland involved a lot of travel with a few highlights along the way, of course. The bus from Cloghane only runs on Fridays, so we took a taxi for the first leg to Camp (another stop on the Dingle Way). From there we caught the bus back to Tralee, where we were looking forward to visiting the Kerry County Museum. It’s an eclectic museum, with a variety of exhibits. One unusual subject is a collection of dresses from the international Rose of Tralee pageant, held yearly since the 1950s.

A large portion of the museum is dedicated to historical exhibits, including local figures of interest and a timeline of developmental periods from the Stone Age onward in Kerry. Its most famous installation is a walk-through recreation of the streets of medieval Tralee, complete with sounds and smells. Well done and fun to visit!

Just to cap off our Dingle Way experience, we located the start/end point of the trail in Tralee had a picnic lunch there overlooking the canal.

As we were heading to the bus station to depart Tralee, we noticed crews setting up a large event space and installing road barriers – apparently the victorious Kerry footballers were headed to Tralee later that day for a celebratory parade! Their motorcade, complete with police escort, passed us on the road out of town.

For our last night, we stayed in Bunratty to be near the airport. Although we came here last week for the medieval feast, we hadn’t had time for a proper visit. We ate dinner this time at Durty Nelly’s, the village inn just outside the castle, which has been in business since 1620. (See lead photo above.)

The next morning we had two hours to explore the castle and adjacent folk park. The park includes relocated and recreated historical buildings from around the local region, which gave a sense of life at different social strata. The castle itself was the highlight of the visit. Restored from a roofless ruin in the 1950s, it has been furnished with period items and is open to the public for exploration. The fortress is a delightful warren of nooks and crannies, and seemed to welcome guests to discover its secrets.

Thanks for joining us on our Irish adventure!