The Dingle Peninsula

On the southern part of the western coast of Ireland is the Dingle Peninsula which is situated in County Kerry. It has a number of communities and fabulous scenery. There are also golf courses, and other tourist attractions. There is a village there that goes by the name of Dingle and is not far from the beach that we stopped at. The Dingle Peninsula was made famous by the movie “Ryan’s Daughter”.

Dingle has a number of small restaurants, but all of our group seemed to head for one in particular. It is right across from the bus park, and is quite handy to a small shopping district. I also think that the fact that the bus driver recommended this particular restaurant also helped.

We had enough time to have a lunch in a crowded restaurant that was also a favourite with the local people and to wander up the street. The name is Harrington’s Family Restaurant and their fish and chips are enjoyable.

Once we finished our lunch, my brother and I decided to head up the street to see what was there. We stopped into a couple of the shops. One of the shops was an outlet for Blarney Woolen factory. Once I had a look around and saw the prices of the merchandise, I realized that this was not a shop for someone on a relatively tight budget. So, I continued on my way.

Further up the street, I found a shop that seemed to belong to the Murphy family. They were right beside Murphy’s Pub, and had a sign over the door for Murphy’s B&B. I found the type of shop that I was looking for, souvenirs. I was able to get a number of small gifts, filling the bill for all of my seven grandchildren, my mother-in-law, and my sons. I also found something that I was looking for, a bodrhan. They had two sizes of bodrhans, but I chose the bigger one of the two. When I went to pay for my purchases, it turned out that everything was at half price. As this was before the yearly tourist season began, I believe that they were trying to move out last year’s stock before the new stock arrived. That’s alright, I can handle getting things at sale price.

The Dingle Peninsula, as I have said earlier, does have some tourist spots because of the movie, but I would imagine that a good portion of the income of the area is from farming. The fields were already turning green and the farmers were already spending time in the fields.

I think that it would be nice to return to the area to spend a couple of days to relax and to regroup while on a trip. It seems to be a relatively quiet and slow-paced area, something just to calm the frazzled nerves of touring.

Connemara Lady

Did you know that there is a fjord in Ireland? It is called the Killary Fjord and is nine miles long. It forms part of the border between County Mayo and County Galway. There is an attraction there that can be quite relaxing in the right temperatures and the right weather.

There is a company in Killary Harbour that runs tours on a catamaran. What, you don’t know what a catamaran is? Well, a catamaran is a multi-hulled boat or ship. They can be as small as a sailboat or a rowboat or as large as a naval ship or car ferry. They gain their stability in water from the width of the vessel. These vessels were first developed by Polynesian people as early as 1500 BCE when they strapped together two canoes together with a wooden frame. Some of them used sails and they did not have ballasted hulls.

The company in Killary Harbour has a catamaran by the name of Connemara Lady. It will hold up to 150 people for a tour of the fjord which takes approximately an hour and a half to do. There is a bar and a meal menu which is not included in the price of the tour. Their brownies are good. I had one of them and was almost tempted to get a second one. Because we were there in late April, the weather was kind of rain mixed with sun and windy. Just remember. This is Ireland. They have a fair amount of rain and wind. They are on the Atlantic side of England, Wales, and Scotland. I personally found it too cold to do the trip out in the fresh air, so I stayed in the cabin. I was still able to get some good pictures.

The scenery is fabulous. The hills seem to rise out of the water on both sides of the fjord and you can see the sheep on the hills. There are a couple of roads that can be seen, but they also seem to disappear the closer that you get to the Atlantic Ocean. The scenery that we saw had a lot of brown in it, but I am sure that had we been there a month later, we would have seen a great deal more green.

I would have enjoyed the trip more if it had been warmer, but on the other hand, because we were so early in the season, we were able to have our tour without any other passengers. We had plenty of room to move around. Yes, I would go on the trip again in warmer weather. Yes, I think that you should include this tour in at least one trip to Ireland.