Day 5 Saturday, June 9, 2012 Dingle 1

We got up the next day and without me knowing, Matthew was taking us to Killarney National Park.  As you can tell, it is just beautiful.  We parked and even had the option of taking a horse and buggy tour, but opted to walk so we could get closer to the water and trees.  There were places to rent bikes and if we had more time I think we could have spent all day here just enjoying the view and nature.  In the national park was Muckross Abby.  In the middle of the abby stood a yew tree which is an old tradition.  The dark rooms and small hallways were fun to walk through and imagine hundreds of years ago people living here.  Matthew played with the timer on the camera so we both could be in a picture.

We headed on our way so we could make the Blasket Islands Tour in the early afternoon from the fishing town of Dingle.  The town of Dingle is at the end of a big peninsula that juts out into the Atlantic Ocean.  Dingle is a long town.  Lots of little shops, alleyways, and pubs.  We parked on the harbor and got signed up for the boat ride.  We were in town on the day they were having a huge race called the Dingle Adventure Race that people from all over Ireland come to do. It included, kayaking, running up huge hills, walking, and swimming in the ocean.  Looked like something I would LOVE to do!

After walking around town, getting a small diner lunch, and getting settled at Ashes Bed and Breakfast, our home for the next 2 days, we headed back to the harbor for the boat tour.  It was run by a father and his 2 sons, all 3 very thick Irish accents.  They told us a lot about the history of Dingle as they took us out into the ocean where we saw the local dolphin, Fungie, lots of seals and ocean birds.  Our destination was the Blasket Islands.  Years ago the Blasket Islands were inhabited by a small group of people that wanted to try to make it on their own without help from the mainland.  They did well for a while, but then began to starve.  The Irish government decided to evacuate the islands because it wouldn't look good on them for letting this group die.  Their sheep and the remains of their houses are still there.  The mysteriousness and curiosity of how they survived brings people to the islands.  Some people sit in a boat and stare, like us, some people get out of the boat and walk around the islands all afternoon, and others even pitch a tent and spend the night there to enjoy the tranquility.

  The little gray dots in the water are seals:)

 This chain of islands is also known as the sleeping giants.  Do you see it?

We got advice from our B & B about where to head out to for the night and decided to start at Tommy O'Sullivan's.  The place had such low ceilings that Matthew had to hunch way over in order to go inside so we headed out to the garden in the back.  It was beautifully decorated with bright colored flowers and patio furniture.  We talked to a lot of locals and enjoyed being outside in absolutely perfect weather.  Inside, the pub was full and a young, local Irish band was playing.  I began to love the words that I would hear and wrote them down.  In the garden we met a lady in her 50's from the states that was in Ireland to retrace her Grandmother's steps.  She hiked from Anascaul to Dingle that day was heading on the next day.  We told her we were doing a big bike ride tomorrow and she replied, "As I was hiking, I felt bad for the cyclists (going uphill on the roads) until I began stepping on sheep sh$t and cow sh*t."  Matthew and I joked about this for days, and when we got off our bikes we understood what she meant:) 

We headed over to another pub called Dick Mack's where we met a young 20 something from Cork named Erotic Evelyn.  She was very sweet to us.  Then we ran into some trouble with some local surfers Fionn and Dermont.  We escaped just in time and headed back to the Bed and Breakfast to sleep:)

~Lucky to be meeting new people in Ireland~