Another “must see” is the Ring of Kerry. Why…..ah, because all the tour busses do it. Hmm. One is even warned in Rick Steve’s book, when to start the drive and which direction to go, (early morning, and counter-clockwise, to avoid what he calls, the python of tour busses. We must have timed it right, because we really saw no tour busses and we could drive and stop as we wanted to. A couple things come to mind, first, for those of us who have driven the California and Oregon coasts; the Ring of Kerry is good, but not spectacular. We have seen similar in the good ole’ US of A. Second, even tho this is the height of tourist season, there still just aren’t that many people driving about. Ireland is a lot smaller than California, and there are probably one tenth the number of visitors. Nice. A few pictures follow.
First, Tom and I finally sprung for a traditional Irish Breakfast. Egg, ham, white pudding, (brains and assorted meats—those little links), black pudding (blood and assorted meats—the sausage looking things on either side), mushrooms and tomato. Interesting.
The big surprise of the day was learning about Daniel O’Connell, his estate was on the Ring of Kerry. He was an Irish political leader in the first half of the 19th century. He campaigned for Catholic Emancipation—including the right for Catholics to sit in the Westminster Parliament, denied for over 100 years and committed himself to bringing equal rights and religious tolerance to his own country.
In 1815 a serious event in his life occurred. After a political speech. Protestant politicians were outraged and because O'Connell would not apologise, one of their number, the noted duellist John D'Esterre, challenged him. The duel had filled Dublin Castle (from where the British Government administered Ireland) with tense excitement at the prospect that O'Connell would be killed. They regarded O'Connell as "worse than a public nuisance," and would have welcomed any prospect of seeing him removed at this time.
O'Connell met D'Esterre and mortally wounded him, in a duel. His conscience was bitterly sore by the fact that, not only had he killed a man, but he had left his family almost destitute. O'Connell offered to "share his income" with D'Esterre's widow, but she declined; however, she consented to accept an allowance for her daughter, which O'Connell regularly paid for more than thirty years until his death.
The memory of the duel haunted him for the remainder of his life, and he refused ever to fight another, being prepared to risk accusations of cowardice rather than kill again. Indeed, toward the end of his political career, he was imprisoned for a time and his legacy of insisting that his followers not react violently is legendary. Further, he wore a black glove on his right hand throughout his life to remind him that violence is not the answer to disagreement. O'Connell's philosophy and career have inspired leaders all over the world, including Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King. Truly, a man for all ages.
Finally the irony of Catholics under intense prosecution in Great Britain during the 19th century contrasts extraordinarily with Protestant attitudes toward the Catholic church in the United States at that same time.
So, if you spent the time reading the above comments about my new here, Daniel O’Connell, you are rewarded with a sign in a chocolate factory we went to.
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