Dingle Peninsula : Travel Reminiscences

Bryan’s parents are travelling to Ireland shortly for a holiday, and wanted to know about the Dingle Peninsula ie  if we’d stayed there, where did we eat/drink etc.   He said he couldn’t find a blog post.  There must be one, I said, and I would email the link.  Well … I can’t find one either and obviously didn’t do one.  I do remember not doing blog posts in detail way back in 2008/9 and only focused on several places of interest, adding the odd photograph on Wordless Wednesday and Sky Watch posts.

So .. as part of my Travel Reminiscences ‘series’  I will share some of our Ireland holiday in October 2009.  Places may have changed since then but the beautiful Irish countryside will never change … and it is absolutely beautiful.  There is a saying that ‘the grass is so green, it hurts your eyes’  .. and so it does!! 🙂

Hubby and I spent 10 awesome days on a self-drive holiday in 2009 starting and ending in Dublin .. spending two nights in Waterford, Cork, Adare, and Galway and one night in Sligo before returning to Dublin.   It was magical!!  I loved Ireland!!!

So ….  let’s get to the place in question for this post .. the Dingle Peninsula.  We were advised, by a chappie in a pub in Waterford, to miss out the Ring of Kerry and do the Dingle Peninsula instead, en route from  Cork to Adare.  He said it was less busy with tourists and buses and the scenery was similar.  So that’s what we did ..

… through the town of Macroom passing Macroom Castle (through the car window) ..

 

Blue tractors are a common sight on the roads ..

Village of Inch, Dingle Bay  …  (I think these were self-catering cottages overlooking the bay)

Old cemetery at Inch .. Dingle Bay with mountains of the Ring of Kerry beyond …

Inch beach …   Not exactly perfect beach weather!!!   It was chilly, windy and cloudy.  In fact most days in Ireland were cloudy and dull, but we were lucky with the rain .. only one day of rain!

Our hired car ..  we picked up and dropped off at Dublin Airport

Dingle – fishing port and popular tourist centre …

 

 

‘Fungie’ the Dolphin…  plaque reads –

The Dingle Dolphin January 1, 2000
At the dawning of the new millennium we celebrate Fungie the Dolphin who since 1983 has made Dingle Bay his home.  His joyous and generous spirit reminds us that all Earth’s creatures are connected in the great Web of Creation.  Let us be caretakers                                                      The Reverend Carole Ann Cole  

Soft cuddly Aran knits 🙂

 Hedges of fuschia line many of the roads .. very pretty

Fahan …. where there is the Kavanaugh Famine cottage, the beehive huts and the Dunberg Fort dating from the Iron Age, is one of the best preserved promontory forts in Ireland

The Fahan beehive huts (Clocháns) are thought to have been early Christian huts built for pilgrims visiting the area

Dolmen – a portal tomb ..

Back in the car, we drove along this glorious winding road towards Slea Head …