Our first beach. Ashlyn had fun running around and letting the waves chase her. Daddy found us a pretty rock to bring home, our own little piece of Ireland.
Selfie
Our first stop, Dunbeg Fort from 500bc. It was small, crumbling and on the edge of the cliff.
This cat followed Ashlyn around the whole time we were there. I think she was hoping Ashlyn might have some snacks with her.
Ashlyn crawled inside one of the "rooms"
Next stop: Beehive huts from 2000bc. These pre-historic peope must've been short! Only Ashlyn could stand up in the doorway.
Inside the hut, Ashlyn didn't get the memo to smile :)
Climbing around the walls of the hut "village"
Beehive hut cemetery tombstone
More beehive huts, too crumbly to walk inside. Excavating around the peninsula has shown that people have lived here since before 4000bc
Roadside crucifix at Slea Head, just in case you forget the country is 85% Catholic
Another nice beach we saw when we stopped for the picture of the crucifix
The same beach as above, nice lady took our family pic. This beach had big, crashing waves. One of them caught us and got us a little wet.
Look at my sandy hands!
I was trying to get a picture of all of the stone walls built so long ago. Imagine the work it took to build those stone walls, bring sand and seaweed up from the beaches to nourish the clay soil so they could plant potatoes. Then in 1845 when the potatoes wouldn't grow, just rotted in the ground. Before the famine, 40,000 people lived on this peninsula. Now only about 10,000.
That looks like a nice beach, lets figure out how to get down there.
We made it! These two put their toes in and of course Ashlyn fell in. Her right leg and arm totally wet. She dried out, eventually
We brought a mini tripod with us for this one.
Gallarus Oratory, built about 1300 years ago is one of Ireland's best preserved early Christian churches, and its still waterproof, amazing! That doorway may look tall enough but believe me its not.
Jered
Me
tall enough for one of us though
Kilmalkedar Church, built in the 12th century, it was surrounded by a densely populated cemetery. Some of the headstones were as recent as the 1980's, other's were so old we couldn't make out the dates or names.
Early Christian cross, disproportionate because most of it is buried underground.
This is an Ogham stone and was here 900 years before the church was built, it marked a pre-Christian holy spot. We found out later that the stone was used as a marriage ceremony. They would touch thumbs through the hole in the center (there was another on the other side, although it didn't go all the way through) and say their vows in front of the their ancestors and the church. Jered and I missed our chance to "renew our vows" darn it!
Inside the church, she thought she was "hiding" from us.
A "fairy fort" dating back to 1000bc
Our little fairy
A very nice drive with beautiful scenery and really cool old crumbling forts and churches. Ashlyn and Jered's favorite part were the beaches. I loved the beaches too but probably my favorite part was just the views. Its what you picture Ireland looking like. Green, green grass, rock walls, crashing waves. Our day was pretty overcast but at least it didn't rain on us.
We got a late start to dinner and halfway there it started downpouring on us! It went from mist to downpour in 2 seconds flat. We jumped into a doorway of the pub and figured we might as well go in and have a drink and hope the rain stopped. By the time we were done with our drinks the rain had stopped and off to dinner we went. The Dingle Pub, food was typical, drinks were good and they had cozy little snugs (booths) to sit in while we listened to the trad music.
Ashlyn pretty much survived on chicken gougons (strips) for lunch/dinner and cereal for breakfast.
no description needed here
Free wi-fi, we had a love-hate relationship. Jered and Ashlyn had a love-love relationship. As soon as we got the password, phones and tablets were on! Most restaurants/pubs had free wi-fi and all of our B&B's did. Since we weren't using our cell phones as phones while we there (mostly because we're too cheap to pay for an international plan or rent a phone while there) we had to take advantage of the free wi-fi everywhere and anywhere so we could be connected. Facebook, email etc.
Next up is our Fungie the Dolphin tour, Jered got a great video!
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