Blogs from County Kerry, Ireland, Europe - page 31

Another beautiful day, no rain and mid-sixties with sunshine. We drove 1-1/2 hours to the small town of Dingle, via Connor’s Pass. There are two roads which lead to Dingle; the main road which can accommodate the buses full of tourists and Connor’s Pass. Connor’s Pass is full of winding turns and many places where the road narrows to one lane. Yesterday was a clear day, so the views were amazing. Along the way to Dingle, we found a sandy beach at Castlegregory. John had some fun with a dog who just loved to play fetch with rocks. We spend the afternoon walking around Dingle, enjoying a lunch of fish and chips and an ice cream sundae. We checked into our Bed and Breakfast and I took a nap as I am still fighting this head ... read more

I had a few friends from America visit me for their spring breaks. Jill, my friend from home, was in Dublin with me for St.Patrick's Day. The celebration was more than I could have ever expected. Until a decade ago the holiday was a low key celebration and national holiday in Dublin. It was only after Americans started coming to Ireland for St.Patrick's Day that Dublin really capitalized on the holiday. The city was filled with American tourists everywhere. The St.Patrick's Day festival was stretched out over four days. They closed down the center of town to traffic and put up a carnival. On the 17th there was an interesting parade. It was nothing like the St.Patrick's Day parades in American cities. There was absolutely no traditional irish dancing, music or bagpipes. Instead, the parade had ... read more

Ireland - Killarney Tuesday 18th March - Friday 21st March (Good Friday) Well, Killarney won our hearts about 10 minutes after we arrived. We had booked to stay here for 2 days, but within an hour I had cancelled our next stop and booked 5 days here. Killarney is wonderful, I absolutely love it. It’s now Easter, at 9pm Good Friday night, and I’m sitting in bed with Reagan fast asleep beside me while I update my diary. We are staying at Neptune’s Hostel which is right in the centre of town - definitely stay here (if you are ok with basic hostel accommodation) as its great. There are so many people staying here, from Canadians to Spaniards, Germans to Chinese. Everyone chats and sits around the communal areas - huge kitchen, lounge room with cable ... read more

31/12 We woke up this morning to a “fry up” (bacon, egg, sausage, beans and tomato) which was well needed after a night on the Ireland town. What started out being a warm up night for new years with a couple of drinks turned out to be 5 or 6……..pints plus a couple of shots. We met up with another couple who were also staying in Killarney but happened to be Americans. A lovely couple who were teaches (English and maths and grade 3). The pub had a band that were playing some traditional Irish music with traditional instruments until 2300 then a live rock bad started to play, At 1200 Rhiannon dragged me home for the early start today. The bus picked us up at 1000 and we started off to the Ring of Kerry. ... read more

Ireland. Who isn't part Irish? No-one that's who. In Italy, being of fairly dark complexion, I had to get used to people assuming I was Italian and hurling a barrage of indecipherable language at me, and having to shrug and say, "Me non parlo Italiano!" In Ireland, it was Sarah's turn to be mistaken as a local, and have people hurl indecipherable language at her. From our arrival at the non-existant town of Shannon on the Western coast of the Island, we hopped into a rental car and tuned the radio to a Gaelic station and had Irish jigs as road music. The pocket of Ireland we chose to visit for this Autumnal October weekend was the Dingle Peninsula - the most Mountainous part of Ireland, jutting out like a pointing finger into the Northern Atlantic. ... read more