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Published: March 23rd 2009
Irish Countryside
One of the many lakes we saw. Ring of Kerry.Friday morning started out with a nice breakfast in the Montenotte. There was a full spread “Irish breakfast.” Eggs, bacon (which is more like Canadian bacon), sausage, toast, beans (some white bean in a sweet-ish red sauce - yum!), and black pudding. Black pudding was the one thing I had sort of vowed never to eat. It seems like on each trip I try some local delicacy, the thought of which is usually disgusting to Americans. In Peru it was guinea pig, in Japan it was cod sperm, in Ireland it’s black pudding. What is black pudding you wonder? It’s fried blood. This one was tempered by the fact that there was barley and spices in it, so it tasted more like sausage. Still, the thought grossed me out enough that I couldn’t do more than try a little piece of Lisa’s (who housed it!). We got on the road just a little later than intended, but still fairly early. Our goal for the day was to do the Ring of Kerry and the Dingle Peninsula. Our guidebook said it would take 2 days to do both - we were out to prove him wrong (and wrong he was).
The
hey, what's up?
This guy was just chillin on the little hill by the road Ring of Kerry is on the Iveragh peninsula and is on the southwestern coast of Ireland. It’s well-known to be one of the most scenic drives in all of Ireland. Along the Ring of Kerry (about 120km) there are numerous stops to make. My bible actually listed them all by the exact odometer. We took a self-guided tour the likes of which would make a tour company proud, with just a car and a book. Our first main stop was the “Ladies View,” basically a nice view of the countryside. We never did find the Man’s View though. Most of the other stops were just admiring the beautiful views. It was really incredible. I can’t believe how nice the weather has been! Ireland is renowned for erratic weather, often bleary, gray, and wet. We had several days of sun, clear skies, and temperate weather.
Farther along on our tour of the Ring of Kerry, we saw Charlie Chaplin’s statue (because he apparently spent some time in that part of the world, and maybe his wife was from there - not sure…) Also saw lots of sheep, more beautiful views, and an awesome chocolate factory. Right up my alley, this
castle
don't even know which one. They all blend together. But this land is so old that this is a common sight chocolate factory is local, and apparently has a highly guarded secret recipe because they are very strict about no photos inside. It’s really in the middle of nowhere, but when you go inside, you get to sample everything. They make some very creative chocolates! They also have the chocolate making right out in the open, so you feel like you’re in their big chocolate-making kitchen. Pretty cool. They were pouring into molds right behind the counter. We sampled all of it, then bought some (we had to! So good!!)
We definitely saw the green hills that Ireland is famous for. Eire (Gaelic for Ireland) is known for its many shades of green. This trip saw them all. Even though we were a little behind in time, we plowed on and started on the Dingle Peninsula. Before I go on, I do have to say, though, that the only reason we were able to do both peninsulas in one day (despite a late start) is because the Skellig Michael is currently closed. I can’t tell you too much about it since we didn’t go (so I didn’t really care that much haha), but it’s a very old monastery that has
Ladies View
Yes, this is it -- only for the ladies. Ring of Kerry. some very unique wildlife, among other things. The catch is that it’s an isolated island that requires a boat to get there. Since the weather is unpredictable and more choppy in the winter, they only operate in the summer. If I come back to Ireland, the Skellig Michael will be on my list to visit, along with a few other things. The only way I’m able to squeeze in all the top sights in Ireland in a week is because some of them are closed during the “winter” (winter meaning Oct-Apr or even May).
Our tour (self-guided with the help of the bible) began at Dingle Town. In Gaelic it’s An Daingean, but all the English speakers know it as Dingle. There’s a current movement in Ireland to reclaim their Gaelic roots. This is often expressed as the Gaelic writing everywhere, the Gaelic summer camps for kids, all Gaelic schools, and even just hearing Gaelic spoken around. There are even a couple of Gealic radio stations (Ireland is so small that there are 2 national Ireland radio stations that reach almost everywhere). If you’ve never heard Gaelic, just take a Russian tape and play it backward. I swear it
sounds like you’re playing a tape backwards. There are a few words that sound a little Russian (I’m sure they’re not). It sounds like the most complicated language ever. Kinda sounds like Pig Latin too. Maybe I’ll video it for the next blog. Anyway, the new mayor of Dingle is one of the purists and won a hard-fought battle to rename the town An Daingean. The locals didn’t want to change it because they were afraid it would hurt tourism because no one’s heard of An Daingean, but apparently everyone’s heard of Dingle (which I still can’t say with a straight face. If only it were in Berry County…) Now all the road signs that said Dingle have been covered up. Too funny.
Anyway, the Dingle tour went much like the Ring of Kerry tour, with a few different but interesting sites. Some of the highlights: The house that Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise lived in while filming Far and Away; beehive huts (clochans) where they used to live way back when - matching ones are in Groton, CT where St Brendan is theorized to have landed (he sailed away from Ireland in a little wooden boat like a
Irish Countryside
That's the Atlantic. Ring of Kerry canoe about 500AD with 12 followers for the “Land of Promise.” The ruins in Groton look just like Irish buildings, were carbon-dated to 600AD, and there’s an inscription of the unique Irish cross nearby. Incidentally, Groton is where the Navy Dive Medical Officer training is. I have a few friends there - I’ll see if I can coerce one of them into snapping some pics of the site for me). Moving along the tour, we saw the “Sleeping Giant” - a distant island that is aptly named. And those were the highlights of our tour. The scenery was the star of the show, and was pretty amazing, but words just can’t do it justice. There’s just something so pristine and natural about a place where the sheep outnumber the people 50:1, and the stone wall dividers between farms that were probably built hundreds of years ago still stand. All of that with the beauty and majesty of the Atlantic Ocean just over your shoulder. It’s the most peaceful place I’ve ever been. I’ve never seen so many sheep or cows (I don’t think Lisa has either) and the sheep were technicolored! They must mark them for ownership (spray paint on
the wool) but it makes for a colorful flock. The rainbow sheep were my favorite.
We finished up in Dingle just before sunset, and at just the right time for some dinner. We popped into a local pub and grabbed some awesome pub grub. We both split an Irish Stew and fish and chips - 2 very traditional dishes. And both were fantastic! The whole coast of Ireland has a thriving seafood industry. The major catches are Atlantic salmon and mussels (I’m sure there are other big ones, but those are the 2 I heard about for sure). Our fish and chips was actually cod that was caught fresh in the town. It was so yummy! Almost a shame to fry it (but it’s a good light fry, not that crappy breading type of frying you find some places in the US). We didn’t stay long -we still had a 2+ hour drive to our B&B in Ennis, County Clare. We stayed just long enough to pop into a gift shop right next door and do a little shopping.
The rest of the night was pretty uneventful. We drove to our B&B in Ennis and pretty much went
straight to bed. I forgot to take pics of the place, but it reminded me of a more private version of a hostel. There were a lot of rooms, all the same with 2 twin beds and a little bathroom. Reminded me a lot of college actually. It wasn’t bad though - clean and cheap, and even came with breakfast! And here ends Friday - Lisa’s last day.
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