Chauffeurdriven tour of Dingle with Dave Hogan

After spending the night in Killarney, we were on our way today to tour the magical Dingle peninsula. Dingle is one of my own personal favourite areas, and it is a major attraction on the Wild Atlantic Way. The sea views, the rugged mountains, and the offshore islands, blend together to bring you back in time to the days when the people who lived here had to survive in really hard conditions. They were sheep farmers and fishermen mainly, and they had very little, compared to what people have today. They spoke the Irish language, and their entertainment consisted of Irish dancing, story telling and music. 

 Peter and Jan, pictured together at Inch, with the lovely Inch beach in the background. The land mass in the background is the Iveragh peninsula, better known as the Ring of Kerry.

 We visited the home of the late Maura Houlihan, a dear friend of mine, who passed away a little over a year ago. Her home, pictured here, is over five hundred years old. A second story was built on to the house,which originally was a cottage.

 How would you like to cuddle a lamb? well most people do just that, and here at Maura's you can enjoy that treat. In the picture above we have, from the left, Annika, Jan, and Iren, with their two beautiful babies.

You can visit the ancient Beehive huts on Maura's land. These were stone dwellings, inhabited by ancient farmers and fishermen, and the monks of old. There were literally hundreds of these in this region, many of which were destroyed, and the stone used to build new houses and walls and roads down through the years. In this picture above, you can see one of the bigger ones, and a smaller one to the left of that. They had no windows, and just an entrance door. They lit their fires in the middle of the floor, and cooked their food there.

 

 At the tip of this peninsula you can see the Blasket Islands offshore in the Atlantic. They are no longer inhabited, as they were finally abandoned in the mid nineteen hundreds, as life on the islands was no longer acceptable. The vast majority of the islanders emigrated to Springfield Mass, and to Hungry Hill, where many of their relatives had emigrated down through the years.

Today was another really interesting and enjoyable day and we all had a really nice time together. Later we returned to Killarney for our final night in this area.

My friends spent time today at Muckross House in Killarney. This was the house Queen Victoria stayed in when she visited Killarney, and the gardens here are a real treat. The rhodendrons, and many other species of beautiful flowers, are in full bloom at the moment, and what a lovely place to spend some time, if you do get to Killarney.

Tomorrow we are off to the Cliffs of Moher,.