Dingle Peninsula, Beautiful Weather

After a wonderful Irish breakfast in Tralee, we headed for the Dingle Peninsula. This area has a prehistoric and medieval history and was the setting for the beginning of the Tom Cruise movie Far and Away. In Dingle we bought "fixins" for a picnic.

The first settlers of the peninsula were nomadic hunters and later people from the Stone, Bonze and Iron age. They built defensive forts The land was later visited by the Vikings, Celts, and English. Each wave of settlers left their mark with stones and forts. At one stage there were over 400 of these monuments surviving. The forts remain in good shape because they were built of stone.

The Dingle Peninsula Loop is about 30 miles long but we took a short-cut after seeing the major sites. We visited Dunbeg Fort which is built of a cliff with breath taking views. Their was a beehive shaped structure which was most likely used for ritual purposes and as a residence. As you walked down to the fort, you passed a pasture with sheep, donkeys and a horse. The stone fences went up to the top of the hill.

The most beautiful part of the trip was Slea Head and the Blasket Islands. We had a picnic overlooking the water. The sun was shining but it was quite windy.

From Dingle we headed through Kilarney to our stop in Kenmare. The drive was beautiful. Bill and I had been to Kenmare before and said we would some day come back. Our bed and breakfast, Riverville House, is on a hill slightly above town in a very peaceful, secluded area. We walked to town and ate at Packies. I will never again complain about Irish food after eating there. It was one of the best meals I have every eaten. I had huge scampi (they looked like baby lobsters) which were freshly caught in Kenmare bay. The side dishes included a salad, parsnips/carrots/onions, and a cabbage salad, all of which were delicious. We had a pint at Foley's pub then walked around the town. When we got back to the B&B we had drinks on the patio which was very relaxing. A GREAT day in Ireland!