We started our 4th morning bright and early after a wonderful night’s sleep at Ballyseede Castle Hotel!!! After we had an amazing full, Irish breakfast in the castle and explored the beautiful grounds we headed off for our drive around the Dingle Peninsula!
We decided to go clockwise around the peninsula with the flow of the bus traffic. Some people advise the opposite, but we thought this worked the best for us. I think that for our next trip in June we should go counter-clockwise!!
We found the town of Dingle first and did some shopping and had our first Irish Coffee!! Yummy!! What a gorgeous coastal town!!
After a stop at the beautiful Ventry Beach for some shelling, we headed on the Fahan Prehistoric Beehive huts!! It’s hard to believe they are dated anywhere from 3100BC to the 12th century.
Next, we drove through my favorite part of Ireland!!! Slea head drive!!! It was scary, but so much fun!!! We made quick, little stops for some photo ops, then jumped back in the car before any other cars came. I love this cross that is right on a precarious turn in the road.
Our last real stop on the Dingle Peninsula was at the Gallarus Oratory. This beautiful stone structure has been a place for Christian farmers in the area since 700AD. Can you believe this is 16 feet high and there is actually no mortar holding these stones in place to withstand the harsh Atlantic coastal weather? Amazing!!!
Gallarus may have been our last official stop, but there is a reason it took us 5 hours to make it around this 30 mile long peninsula. We like to stop and take pictures often!!!
How amazing are these pictures that my sister took of the surfer’s on Inch Beach? Who would have thought of Ireland as the land of surfers?
After we arrived back in Killarney for our first night’s stay of the two nights we planned to stay in Killarney. We chose Kilarrney because is a great starting point for both the Dingle Peninsula and the Ring of Kerry. Actually, it a great place to base yourself for almost all of what the south-west part of Ireland has to offer. We booked two nights stay at Murphy’s Pub and Hotel right in the middle of town. The rooms are upstairs of the pub. We loved it!! Murphy’s is not a 5 star hotel, but suited our needs perfectly for only $80 per person for 2 nights. We barely saw the rooms with all the exploring and pub crawling we did.
Stay tuned for my Blog on our 2 nights in Killarney!!!
