Dingle
On the way to Dingle, we stopped in Kenmore before entering the Killarney National Park. We spent three nights in Dingle, which was possibly the highlight of the tour.
Click on the first photo to see each section in a larger slide show.
Day 5: Killarney National Park, Dingle
We said so long to Kinsale and drove to another cute town, Kenmare (yes, we had lunch there on our Pre Tour.) We were here for less than an hour, to see fairy trees, buy a picnic lunch and a cup of “Life Changing Hot Chocolate.” How could we resist? While it was delicious, I haven’t noticed any significant changes.
We entered the Killarney National Park and stopped at Kissane sheep farm for a demonstration of border collies in action, rounding up sheep from the rocky hills. Eric, the trainer, used whistle commands to tell the dogs what he wanted. The dogs seem to love it. At the farm, both of us got to hold 3 week old lambs.
We continued through the park and stopped at the same lookout Ray took us to a week before, where Mark, our bus driver, took our group photo.
We arrived in Dingle in late afternoon, and Mark drove around town to get us oriented. After putting our bags in our rooms, we met in the hotel dining room for dinner. Most people had the shepherd’s pie made with lamb, but there was no way that Debbie or I could bring ourselves to do that after holding the adorable lambs earlier in the day.
Day 6: Dingle Peninsula
For the first time on the trip, I had the Irish breakfast. Well, the “mini Irish breakfast.” I can’t imagine what the regular one is because this was so much food. Two scrambled eggs, a large sausage link, hash brown potato wedge, a piece of ham, a piece of bacon, black pudding, white pudding. I tasted everything but only finished the eggs and sausage.
We got on the bus for the Dingle peninsula tour, and our first stop was a crystal factory. The owner used to work at the Waterford crystal factory, and, when it shut down, he started his own crystal company. He met Rick Steves once in a pub, and when Rick found out what he did, Rick convinced him to allow his tours to visit his factory. (These are the kind of experiences we love about Rick Steves tours.) We watched as a craftsman cut a goblet. Very impressive. And the final product is so heavy.
Back on the bus, we picked up John along the side of the road (this was planned, of course), and he lead the peninsula tour. (He’s 86 years old and does 3 of these tours a week!) He got my attention right away when we passed some cyclists on the side of the very narrow roads, and he said “You know what we call bicyclists around here? Organ donors.”
We stopped at a viewpoint near Slea Head where John pointed out the location of the storm and beach scenes in “Ryan’s Daughter” which we recognized because we had watched it again in preparation for this trip.
We then drove to the Blasket Centre, a museum dedicated to the Blasket Islands. I had read some of the books that made the Blasket Islands “important” so I found it very interesting. (More on the Blaskets later.)
Our next stop was the Gallarus Oratory, a small early Christian stone church. They think it was built in the 12th century. The stones have been cut and pieced perfectly in place.
After the peninsula drive, we returned to Dingle, for a walking tour, meeting at the Fungie statue.(Fungie was a dolphin that used to greet visitors in the Dingle harbor almost daily for many years.) We saw the purple police station and (Oppenheimer) Cillian Murphy’s recently renovated movie theater, among other sites.
On our way back to the hotel Debbie and I stopped at an old church to see the Harry Clarke stained glass windows. We were the last people they let in for the day, and the sunlight was perfect. Harry Clarke did the stained glass windows at Bewley’s Oriental Cafe in Dublin. We’ve become a fan of his work.
Day 7: The Blasket Island
This was a free day in Dingle, with no RS tour events. RS seems to do this in locations where there are many options, especially some with risks (like bicycling, canoing, ballooning or para-sailing). When I was researching our trip, I read a couple of the books on the Blasket Islands, and when I discovered we could actually go there, I booked the trip.
We met the boat group at the Fungie statue (of course!) There were only 12 travelers and 2 crew on the boat, and the captain drove around the harbor to see some sites, then out into the ocean where we watched dolphins frolic around our boat. Then we continued for about 45 minutes to the Great Blasket Island where people lived from about the 1600s until the 1950s. We moored about 50 feet from the beach, then transferred half at a time to a rubber dinghy that took us to the island. We were on our own, and for much of the day, we didn’t see other humans. Lots of sheep. Lots of birds. Lots of seals. But only a few humans. There are a few of the old houses that have been repaired and turned into summer rentals. We ran into a woman from California who was there on a photography tour; they had taken the same boat and were getting ready to leave as we arrived.
We had a picnic lunch, walked amongst the ruins of the houses and over the rolling hills. The weather was spectacular, with a cobalt blue sky, ultramarine blue ocean, bright green grasses, and everything dotted with white. Sheep. Clouds. Waves. I could understand why people lived here. We didn’t do much, just walked and breathed the sea air, and it was the highlight of Ireland for us.
After four hours, we reboarded the boat, and the captain took us around the island to see puffins and other birds. It was great. We were seeing so much that the captain lost track of time, and we got back to Dingle 90 minutes late.
From there we raced to the Wave Dingle where we had tickets for a concert. Guitar, fiddle, and a dancer. Watching in a theater is not the same as in a pub, but it was still great, I’ll say it again, craic.