Since we had time
after leaving Killarney, we took the scenic route to Dingle
that
included a lot of R561 along the coast.  It
was a very nice
drive
- I wish that all of our days had been such pleasant weather!
Cill Bhreac House was easy to find and Angela is a lovely, bubbling hostess. The drawback was the tiny rooms and itty bitty bathroom; there were no drawers (a wardrobe with hangers and one shelf) and hardly enough floor space for an open suitcase. Since we were only there 2 nights we didn't even try to unpack. The location, however, is perfect; the lounge and balcony were delightful and the internet worked just fine. Angela's breakfasts are awesome - the best of our trip - and that makes up for a lot! To the left is the view from our window across the harbor.  After
our experiences in Kenmare, and having seen several places there
advertising "family" music Sunday afternoon and evenings, we
asked
Angela about the possibility of music Sunday evening in Dingle.
She suggested the Marina Inn - that sounded perfect since it
had
also been recommended as a great place to eat. But, guess
what...
the band was just beginning to tune up and it was
already overflowing when we got there. (Moral of
our
experiences - if you  are interested in early music (or even late
music
for that matter) get there WAY early.) We walked on a bit
further
down the Strand and had supper at Paudie's Bar in the Dingle Bay Hotel.
It was a friendly family sort of place; we had a good meal
and a
pleasant evening chatting with some of the locals. Monday we wanted to
do the Slea Head drive but it was so foggy we
literally couldn't see across the road! So we started
out at
the
big Information Center by the pier (where we found out about a folk
concert that evening - finally some music!) and walking around the pier
area and through the town. We walked out on the pedestrian
pier (view of harbor in the mist at the right above), didn't see
Fungi, the local dolphin, but did take a picture of
his sculpture (above left). The tides there in the harbor area are 8
feet
- at the right you can see how the floating docks accommodate the huge
changes in water
level. There's not
much going on in downtown Dingle early in the morning (left).
In town, we made an ATM and grocery stop, we
visited
St. Mary's Catholic church (left below). The current building opened in
1865
and underwent extensive renovation in 1963 - its most unusual feature
(to me) was the rounded sanctuary (center). On the right you
can see
the outside view of the rear of the church (right). John went
to the
Harry
Clarke stained glass exhibition at the Díseart
Institute of
Education and Celtic Culture (next door to the church - it was formerly
a convent);
we stopped at the well-known Murphy's Ice Cream parlor where John
indulged in yummy ice cream and I bought a chocolate bar as a
gift.     By 11 AM or
so the fog had begun to lift (cemetary near Ventry Bay on right) so we
started out
on
Slea Head drive and an hour or so later it was blue and
sunny.
Interesting weather! What an amazing drive - I wanted to stop
around every corner for more pictures! Rick Steves' Ireland
book had
been recommended particularly for his self-guided tour around the  Dingle
peninsula and I was glad that I had brought it along.
Besides identifying what we were seeing each mile, he also
includes a lot of history. Our first stop was along Ventry Bay where we walked along the beach and I collected some cockle shells (which I knew from the "cockles and muscles" song but had never seen before). John is collecting at left. There were stunning views all along the coast -  we
could see Skellig Michael away to the
south, off the coast of the Iveragh (picture right). We
walked up a steep
(but
short) hill to view "beehive" huts - they resemble stone igloos.  (Picture to left)
Amazingly to me, they are put together just by piling the
stones.
There is no grout or cement of any type. I am
astounded
that this construction actually worked and has held up for somewhere
around 3000 years, also that people haven't knocked them down or taken
"souvenir" rocks by now. We continued to stop (partly because I was driving) frequently to admire and capture wonderful views. Can you see the road we were driving on in the picture on the left? It runs right along the "edge." The other pictures are just a couple of views that we passed.      The
"Sleeping Giant"
island
(Inishtooskert - to the right) was visible for a long time as we
rounded the western
end of the peninsula and Great Blasket
Island (left) also
came into view long
before we got to the Blasket Center and learned about its history.The Slea Head was hands-down my favorite place and I could have sat there and watched the ocean all day long. Fortunately, Tig Slea Head Cafe was handy because we realized we hadn't eaten since breakfast! It is also a gift shop and was quite crowded but had very yummy pastries and tarts in addition to quiches and sandwiches. Having already fallen quite far off the wagon, I had no qualms about enjoying a wonderful strawberry concoction while I stared out the window at the scenery.    
 Continuing
on around the peninsula we continued to see marvelous countryside
views. I love the one above with the blue sky but still a bit
of mist at the top of the hill. We next stopped at the
Gallarus Oratory (left),
said to be the oldest unrestored church in the world, probably built
about 700 AD. Following the signs you end up at a
privately-owned
visitor center where you will be charged €3 to
walk to the
oratory. Or, you can continue on up the lane (if you're
exiting
the visitor center lot, turn left, ignoring the "no left turn"
sign) to
the public parking lot on the left side of the road (there is room for
about 4 cars), the brown "Public right of way" sign and a
well-maintained, shorter, free, path to the oratory. Like the beehive huts, the oratory was constructed by fitting dry stones together and yet it is still waterproof over 1000 years later. A small cross slab stands next to it (hard to see but on the left above) and it is said that the markings read "Colum Mac Dinet" though it is too worn now to read anything.  As we left the
oratory and circled north, we could see the "Three
sisters" across Smerwick Harbor (picture left). The last stop
of our tour
was at
the ruins of the Kilmalkedar  Church
that was believed to have be founded in the 6th century with the
current building erected in the 12th century. Outside we
noted,
as we had observed at the Kilcatherine Church, medieval graves
(below left) as
well as many from the 20th century (at the right with church ruins in
the background). We also found the ogham
stone in front of the church. It is estimated to have been
there
from around 200 AD. It marks an ancient grave. The
hole in
the top was drilled as a place where people would come to "swear on the
grave of their ancestors" by touching their thumbs through the hole -
that is to solemnize a deal of some sort - purchase of land or stock or
even a marriage. We were so taken by the story that we chose
to
renew our own vows right then and there (below right) - borrowing the
graves of
someone else's ancestors!   Dinner that night was at Out of the Blue an all-seafood restaurant. They mean that literally - they were closed for lunch on Monday because it was too foggy for the ships to go out that morning; but they did have fresh fish in for supper. It was the most expensive meal we had but it was good!  After
supper we
went to the Folk Concert (€12) at St. James Church on Main
St.
This was the only way we found to get to some good music (and
be able to sit down) before
bedtime!
They don't let you in until 7:20 PM for a 7:30 show so many of us were
standing outside for a while. The church is small
and somewhat
uncomfortable
because the pews are very narrow... but the music was good and it was
fun. Eoin Duignan, uilleann piper, organizes the concerts and was on stage along with an awesome guitarist, a squeeze box player and a vocalist. (I can't locate their names at the moment but will add them if I find them!) Tuesday morning dawned blue and sunny but at 8:30 AM gray clouds were moving in already. It clouded then cleared up off and on most of the day. We started out driving along Brandon and Tralee Bays towards Adare, near Limerick.  It took a couple
of hours though we only stopped
once
for pictures (right) and once at a beach in Castlegregory to wander a
little, but it was
quite
windy and cool so we didn't stay long. At Adare we had lunch
at the Dovecot, a
cafeteria
inside the Heritage Center/Tourist office. It rained while we
were eating but then cleared up for us again! (We just start
to get better weather and it's time to go home.) We picked up
a map and  walked
up and down Main St. to see the sights. The Trinitarian Priory
(exterior picture left, altar to the right) which is now
just a local Catholic Church (dates to 1230) is a beautiful building.
It was restored in 1811 and 1852.  The
Trinitarian order was originally founded to
rescue
hostages
from the crusades. We saw restored 1800's thatched
cottages
(below left) that are
in
use now as shops, passed by the Augustinian Priory and
Desmond Castle ruins, then headed on to Bunratty Castle and
Folk Park which was our final destination of the day. This
is one of the times that Jerome (the GPS) really let us down.
It seemed very easy on the map to take
the N20 to the
outskirts
of Limerick and pick up the N18. But he sent us down all
sorts of
back lanes, through traffic, telling us to turn right on one-way
streets going the other way. Finally we turned him off and
used
our own judgement, watching signs and eventually got to the bridge that
led us to where we needed to go.  It was
then easy to get to Bunratty but a little tricky to get to the
Folk Park. Signage was good until we got into Bunratty then
the
actual turn into the park was not obvious.  But
we found it on
the
second pass and had time to see everything we wanted to. The
castle (left) was nicely restored and rather interesting - full of
period
furniture (right), decor and implements. The picture
on the left below was taken from one of the turrets. Then we went through the 1800's village and gardens. I think we would have enjoyed it more had we not been so tired out and caught by rain off and in. There were examples of many kinds of Irish dwellings from the time period - most (maybe all?) were actually moved there from their original sites (rather than being replicas) - including farmhouses, byres (part of the interior on the right below), barns, and a village that included shops, school, church, mills and so on. 
 The
Bunratty House
(built in 1805), occupied by minor gentry, was interesting to
compare
to
the far more elaborate Bantry and Muckross Houses. Below left is the
parlor and to the right is the children's room. Admission
cost for the whole park was
€15.45 (€9.45 for seniors) A
family could easily
spend a
full day there.
Finally, we drove back down the N18 towards Limerick to the TravelLodge which is not a bad place (for its very low price.) It is extremely convenient to the Shannon airport and we didn't need any frills - just a place to sleep. The rooms were fine. John, Fred and Carol had a supper at Eddie Rocket's Diner adjacent to the motel. I had snack foods left and I was so tired I didn't feel the need to eat more. We had to be up about 5 AM to leave for the airport. I called Dooley's to verify that their car return center opened at 6 AM and she assured me it was "easy" to find. We've heard that before but she was correct this time - that part went very smoothly. We did encounter some bizarre things in the Shannon airport, however. We went through full security, had some breakfast, bought snacks, changed money; then, when our flight was called, we went through US immigration which I thought was a great idea. But then, we had a second security check of all hand luggage at which time they took everyone's water away! There was no indication that was going to happen (in fact there were vending machines selling beverages between the immigration stations and the actual gate). Many people who had just purchased water or other drinks in the presumably secure area were quite angry. The security folks did, however, let me go empty out my bottles and then refill them at the water fountain 20 feet away in the gate area.  At Newark we had to go through Customs, which we knew about, but it wasn't within the secure area and so, to get to our connecting flights, we had to do security all over again, even to the extent of re-packing the duty free items purchased at Shannon into checked luggage. What a royal pain. We usually try to arrange it so that our port of entry is our final destination… but this time we were lured by a very, very good deal on the airfare. Clearly the tradeoff is the inconvenience! The rest of it worked smoothly - got the Avistar shuttle at O'Hare and they took us back to our car very promptly. We were all falling asleep by the time we got home but we had kept talking the whole way to help Fred and John (who took turns driving) stay awake. Got home safely and headed to bed almost immediately! [Remember there are tons more pictures in the "pictures only" section if you want to see more of anyplace!] |