Ireland-Scotland day 2 - Dingle Peninsula  

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On Sunday morning we awoke to find an already full breakfast room. The owner apologized for the delay, due to an unusually full house & a boisterous party of fishermen. She said come back in 45 minutes, so I briefly joined Doris, Paul, and Mary, for coffee in the front room. From the picture window I could see surrounding hills.  

I took a walk down the nearest lane, exploring new scenery. It was a beautiful morning, sunny w/a chilly wind.  

out on a walk

a cool & windy Sunday morning

the sea is everywhere

After mobilizing, we had an hour's drive up & over Conor Pass to get to the coastal town of Dingle. Conor Pass is the highest drive-able mountain pass in Ireland. 

note - you can enlarge any part of a picture by left-clicking in and then out again.

	Conor Pass area, see note		we parked & climbed to the best view		intense wind on the ridge		chat with other tourists
		Kerry Peninsula on the horizon		closer look		sunny Dingle below
	in a mighty wind at Conor Pass				back to the carpark
				center city Dingle

note - this is the highest highway pass in Ireland.

Next we toured the Dingle Peninsula, a 2 hr. scenic drive that was completely uncrowded.   

	visitor center & cafe		red fuchsia was everywhere				a currach
		Paul at visitor center		ancient Dunbeg Fort was across the street
	Dunbeg		Mary & Paul		impressive horse, see note
		potato famine house		southeast corner of Ireland

note - on the path from carpark to famine house, a young Irish lad was sitting and warning tourists not to go near this horse.

The Potato Famine in Ireland in the 1840s is sometimes called The Starvation, because even with the terrible blight, which ruined Irish potato crops, as it already had in Europe, for a decade Still, Ireland produced plenty of other food, but everything but potatoes (all farm-raised food like eggs, meat & vegetables) was by law shipped to feed the England.  

Irish farmers were completely dependent on the potato to feed themselves, so when the famine hit, starvation quickly followed, and over a decade a million Irish men, women and children, perished from starvation. 

Over the next 100 years, one-third of the Irish population (or 2M people) emigrated to the US or Canada, aspiring to escape grinding poverty & British oppression. 

For the four of us, those waves of Irish emigrants included our ancestors.     

The Dingle Peninsula drive continues -  

	Slea Head				Paul looking out to the Atlantic		Coumeenoole
		Mount Brandon in the distance (see note)		Smerwick Harbor		tourists at the ancient church of Gallarus
	early Christian church, since 800 AD		Celtic symbol		Saint Brendan's area		B&B in Ventrys
		Kerry Peninsula in the distance		views from the B&B		Palm trees in Ireland ?
	Mary spotted a Norman castle ruin nearby		back in Dingle for food &  pub music

note - Mount Brandon (in the clouds) is the second highest peak in Ireland at 3,123 ft. There's some kind of Catholic Pilgrimage trail to a monument at the top, related to Saint Brendan, who was born in Ireland in the 400s and grew to be a great scholar and preacher who introduced Christianity to Ireland.   

Dingle is a popular tourist destination, known for having the sunniest weather in Ireland as well as an active traditional Irish music scene. Dingle has 36 pubs, some with music every night, the majority only on weekends. 

We were there on a Sunday night. Summer crowds were long gone and we had no wait for a table for dinner, or at a pub.

On the cobbled main street, Mary and I hung out at one pub to hear some general Irish music being played, whereas Doris & Paul went uphill in search of fiddle music. Later we met up and had a short drive to the B&B at Ventrys. The Moon was still full, lighting up the coastal landscape.

Back at the B&B, my 2nd floor bedroom at the front of the house had a view across miles of open water, towards the Ring of Kerry and once again, a crank-out window brought in cool coastal air & the sound of waves breaking in the distance.         

go to day 3 & 4 - Killarney

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