Traveling the Emerald Isle -- Day 9, Saturday, August 27, 2022

 The Dingle Peninsula, Ireland – Day 9, Saturday, August 27, 2022

It’s another very busy day exploring beautiful Ireland, this time driving the ring around Dingle Peninsula, the westernmost tip of the Isle … and of Europe. It is typically Irish where the government subsidizes the survival of the culture and the Irish language.  English is always spoken, but signs and menus are written in Gaelic. We tour the peninsula clockwise, starting in the town of Dingle.  Interesting that because the buildings were so drab in town, Ireland had a “tidy town” contest in 1976, which prompted everyone to paint their buildings in playful colors.  I must say it was fun looking at the dramatic color choices of the buildings!  We also visited the beautiful St. Mary’s Catholic Church in town.

The town of Dingle, Ireland

From there we enjoy the views of long sandy beaches, iconic mountain-side fields filled with grazing sheep, beautiful vistas of Dingle Bay, and very narrow, windy, bumpy and hilly roads.  We even ran into a “cow jam” … cows using the entire road going from one field to another! 

We stopped to check out the Prehistoric 500 BC site of Dunbeg Fort, an important relic from Ireland’s Iron Age.  The dramatic cliffs have eroded and much of the fort fell into the sea during a storm in 2014, but its history shows the ruggedness and tenacity of the people building walls and beehive huts completely out of uncut rocks packed so tightly without using any mortar that some are still intact today. Further up the road we stop again to investigate a number of “beehive” stone huts thought to have been built around 2,000 BC. They are igloo-like huts surrounded by a thick stone circular wall. Fascinating to see … and to think how OLD these stones and huts are!

Another interesting stop was Dunmore Head, the western most point of Europe.  The seascape was so beautiful.  Lunch was enjoyed in the town of Dunquin before continuing on the loop around the Dingle Peninsula.  It is only about 30 miles around the peninsula and 10 miles wide.  At one point people worked extremely hard clearing the land, picking stones and putting up all the stone fences along the roads and between fields, bringing up sand and seaweed to nourish the clay and make soil for growing potatoes.  Unfortunately, potatoes never did well in this area.  Before the famine, 40,000 people lived on the peninsula; today it supports only 10,000 residents, but over 500,000 sheep.  The unsuitable farmland was stripped of seven feet of peat in the 19^th century to heat homes, but now provides no food for the people.

Continuing on, we enjoy the views of the mountains and coastline.  Mount Brandon tops the mountainous spine in the center at 3,130 feet, the second tallest mountain in Ireland. It takes its name from Saint Brendan, who, legend has it, climbed the mountain in 530 AD to see America before sailing there from Brandon’s Creek.  The mountain has been the destination of pilgrimages ever since. There’s a lovely stone Marian Shrine at the bridge over Brandon’s Creek where I paused to pray a bit.

The loop takes us back to the town of Dingle, after which we head toward Limerick to our B&B at Abbeyfeale.   We go to Mass and then had dinner at yet another entertaining Irish Pub.  What can I say except it’s been another fantastic, gorgeous, exciting day in Ireland. 

Slainte 
(Pronounced slan cha)
("Cheers" in Gaelic)