Just before leaving Cork this morning, Monica and I slipped right across the street to visit the Honan Chapel on the grounds of the University College of Cork. Here one finds 10 brilliant Harry Clarke stained glass windows. All the windows are of various saints and one of Jesus. His work is magnificent…the colors so bold and the details so illustrated. It’s easy to see why he is considered one of the world’s most famous stained glass artists. I was in a daze the whole while….Monica had to help me out and to the car.
Leaving Cork, we travelled west toward the Ring of Kerry along well maintained but VERY narrow roads. A few more white knuckle moments along the way…especially when meeting a bus. There aren’t many places to pull over and one runs the risk of scraping the mirrors along the rock walls that line the roads. Along the way, we visited a 3000 year old historical site called Drombeg Stone Circle…similar but smaller than Stonehenge in England. Very fascinating to see where ancient people carved out an existence in this rocky land.
Continuing on we went through Skibbereen (stopped for fuel and some street shots), Bantry (lovely seaside village), Kenmare (hustling busy), and then we got lost. We thought we were on the Ring of Kerry but had somehow missed the turn at Sneen (also a bustling town) and found ourselves crossing the mountains through Kilarney National Park. These roads are barely wide enough for two small cars to meet, let alone a bus…and they twist and wind so fast it’s like playing a Race Car Video Game. By the time we got turned around, my sholders were aching from the tension and then we had to drive back over the mountains again. Nevertheless, there were a couple of stop spots were we got some spectacular shots of the valley.
Finally we made it to Waterville for the night. The views along the coast are unbelievable. At one spot, we could see Skelling Michel (the island we are supposed to visit tomorrow, weather permitting). We found our inn, found a decent restaurant and found time to blog another wonderful day in Ireland.
Great photos, you know, I only learnt about Harry Clarke last year when I visited the Hugh Lane art gallery, since then visiting many different church’s across the country, I have seen examples of Harry’s work.