I left Dublin on much friendlier terms than when I arrived but it was love at first sight with Dingle - despite several hours of white knuckle driving!! I have adjusted to the right hand drive, the manual shifting and even the roundabouts but the narrow, winding roads are still terrifying!! It's beautiful countryside through quaint little villages but there are no shoulders and hedgerows (fushia in this area) grow right up to the edge of the road! The lanes are narrow and all is well until a car (OR TRANSPORT TRUCK!!!) approaches from the opposite direction. The choice then is to go right and brush the hedgerow or stay your course and chance being clipped by the oncoming vehicle! I took the hedgerow a few times yesterday - much to Mom and Dad's distress!! KEEP RIGHT! is the commonly used phrase on our driving days!! AND, the speed limit along these lovely little roads?!! 100 kph?!!!!
We had dinner at the pub which was followed by live entertainment - good Irish music! The stress of the driving melted away very quickly - good food and good music!
We had a full Irish breakfast this morning and headed out on the Slea Head Drive. We saw the beehive huts - dating back to 400 AD! Christian monks from Europe escaped here to preserve literacy and lived in similar huts around the area. Quite amazing!
Also amazing is how low-key tourism is at these sights. Small, often worn signs alert you to some significant site and a little, often rundown shack is set on the edge of the road to take a couple of Euro so you can walk through a farmer's field to see the sights - no grand markers, no glossy brochures and very few tourists!!!
At one point on our tour, some sheep entered the roadway and the farmer and his dog herded them down the road to a nearby field!
I have always heard that Ireland is green but you have to see it to truly believe it! So many shades of green and lush, lush landscape!! The colours and textures are truly amazing. I'm finding I need a thesaurus to get some different adjectives - spectacular, magnificent, awesome...have been used so often on this trip!
And the weather has been glorious! We had rain when we left Dublin yesterday and a brief shower when we arrived at Rock of Cashel. But it cleared and was beautiful, sunny and warm. Today has been sunny with a wonderful brisk wind. The clouds are low and often covering the mountains.
We drove on to Gallarus Oratory - a dry rubble masonary building about 1300 years old!!It was built by early Christians and was another example of lasting architecture without the use of machines etc.!
We have the afternoon to wander the shops of Dingle. The whole area reminds me of Cape Breton, Newfoundland and St. Pierre - the pastel or brightly coloured houses and shops, the craggy coast and the fields and hills. I will be truly sad to leave tomorrow - especially since it means another ferry trip!! Hopefully the winds will be with us this time!!
We had dinner at the pub which was followed by live entertainment - good Irish music! The stress of the driving melted away very quickly - good food and good music!
We had a full Irish breakfast this morning and headed out on the Slea Head Drive. We saw the beehive huts - dating back to 400 AD! Christian monks from Europe escaped here to preserve literacy and lived in similar huts around the area. Quite amazing!
Also amazing is how low-key tourism is at these sights. Small, often worn signs alert you to some significant site and a little, often rundown shack is set on the edge of the road to take a couple of Euro so you can walk through a farmer's field to see the sights - no grand markers, no glossy brochures and very few tourists!!!
At one point on our tour, some sheep entered the roadway and the farmer and his dog herded them down the road to a nearby field!
I have always heard that Ireland is green but you have to see it to truly believe it! So many shades of green and lush, lush landscape!! The colours and textures are truly amazing. I'm finding I need a thesaurus to get some different adjectives - spectacular, magnificent, awesome...have been used so often on this trip!
And the weather has been glorious! We had rain when we left Dublin yesterday and a brief shower when we arrived at Rock of Cashel. But it cleared and was beautiful, sunny and warm. Today has been sunny with a wonderful brisk wind. The clouds are low and often covering the mountains.
We drove on to Gallarus Oratory - a dry rubble masonary building about 1300 years old!!It was built by early Christians and was another example of lasting architecture without the use of machines etc.!
We have the afternoon to wander the shops of Dingle. The whole area reminds me of Cape Breton, Newfoundland and St. Pierre - the pastel or brightly coloured houses and shops, the craggy coast and the fields and hills. I will be truly sad to leave tomorrow - especially since it means another ferry trip!! Hopefully the winds will be with us this time!!
