Thursday was Elaine’s 70th birthday! Cards and presents were awaiting her when she arose (including one delivered through Irish Post from Janet in Scottsdale). We spent a quiet day now that she is in her 70’s. Aside from Elaine’s birthday, there is no school in Dingle today because it’s Confirmation Day for Catholic 6th graders. The Bishop is in town.

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Marion stopped in with a card and a gift bottle of wine for the birthday girl. Marion is Grainne’s mother and lives next door. She’s delightful! She stayed for a coffee and we got a full Irish election report and history lesson.

We drove into Dingle to drop off bottles at the recycling center. Other recyclables (plastic bottles, cans, cardboard, paper, etc) are collected curbside every other week, but bottles must be dropped off. Then we visited the library to return our books and pick up a new load. And we bought coffee filters because we didn’t get them yesterday.

Lunch (sandwiches) was at home, and we stayed put for the afternoon up to and including cocktails. Then it was out for a birthday dinner at Global Village, Elaine’s choice of restaurant for her big day. We started off with Kir Royales. And at the next table was a woman from Tucson travelling with her daughter.

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Starters
Joe: Dingle Bay Shellfish Bisque with Shellfish Croutons & Herb Oil
Elaine: Dingle Goats Cheese, Goats Cheese Bon Bon, Organic Garden Beetroot Textures, & Candied Walnuts

Mains
Joe: West Kerry Lamb Tasting Plate: Pink Rump, Slow Roast Belly, Confit Neck Fillet, Braised Shoulder Terrine, Barley, Salsa Verde, Onion Textures, Aubergine Caviar, & Port Jus
Elaine: Pan Fried Scallops, Calvados Flambé, Apple & Onion Purée, Pancetta Crumble, Confit Potato, Roe Parfait, Wild Side Chorizo, Apple Textures, & Nage

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Desserts
I forgot to write them down. But they were good!

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Grainne, our landlord, had called ahead and treated Elaine with a bottle of wine for her birthday. I got to share. Then it was off to O”Flaherty’s for libations and music. Fergus O’Flaherty posed with the Birthday Girl.

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Unbelievably Wednesday was another perfect weather day. It was very windy early on so we decided a hillside walk was inappropriate. We did some serious grocery shopping at Super Valu – we were almost out of vodka and wine amongst other staples. That out of the way, we contemplated what to do.

Well, the wind subsided. After conquering Everest (well, Eask Tower) yesterday, we decided to drive up to Conor Pass and tackle Kilimanjaro  (well, the hill on the other side of the road from the small parking area). We had never walked up that side. The sun was hazily out, but it was warm enough and the wind had calmed significantly. We had a nice hike up the mountain. The views were very similar to what you see at the parking lot, but it was good exercise. And we saw lots of peat (*) that could be harvested.

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Then it was into town for an Elaine treat lunch at Flannery’s Fish Box. Monkfish goujons for Elaine; spicy calamari for me. Delicious! Then home for a post walk nap. Dinner was at home. I fired up the gas grill and we cooked lamb kebabs and lamb sausages from Mr Kennedy’s butcher shop. Elaine sauteed fresh leeks in garlic and butter and heated up some really fat carrots. With a nice French Nouveau Beaujolais, it was all delicious.

(*) Peat, often called turf in Ireland, is cut from peat bogs. For centuries it has been used to heat Irish homes. Natural peat smells wonderful as you burn it. There is also a Peat Board (Bord na Móna) in Ireland that controls peat harvesting. Peat is also processed and sold in briquettes all over Ireland. At the moment the EU is trying to eliminate peat harvesting with an eye to conservation. This is a very controversial subject in Ireland where burning peat is a way of life for many.

See you tomorrow (or the next day).

Monday was uneventful. We did the round trip to drop Bob & Barbara off at Shannon Airport for their return flight to Boston. Then we relaxed at home before a nice breakfast for dinner prepared by Elaine: scrambled eggs, Irish bacon, potatoes, tomatoes, and toast. Cocktails were outside as we had yet another brilliant sunny weather day.

When Tuesday broke cloudless and beautiful, I planned something that I have been threatening to do for awhile. Eask Tower stands on Carhoo Hill across the harbor from Dingle. Today we climb to Eask Tower!

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Now the tower is only 600 feet above sea level, but it’s a zig-zag climb up Carhoo Hill through a sheep farm. The walk can normally be very muddy and it always involves avoiding lots of sheep shit. The farmer and his wife (the delightful Mrs. O’Connor) charge €2 per person for the climb. (As it turns out, it’s easily worth €20.) They even provide a hose at the base to wash off the mud and shit. Since it’s been dry in Dingle for seven days (a record for us), I hoped the mud wouldn’t be an issue. It wasn’t. And the sheep shit was easy enough to avoid. Oh, and we learned that sheep can not uncommonly have triplets

The climb was steep in places but we made it up in 30 minutes. The 360 degree views are incredible! Water in all directions. As we climbed, we met a couple coming down. Other than that, and meeting the farmer en route on his tractor tending to sheep, we had Carhoo Hill and Eask Tower all to ourselves.

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Elaine’s Pics and Panoramas

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Coming down is tougher on the knees than going up, but we made it easily enough. There was no need for the hose to clean our shoes. Then it was back home for grilled cheese, bacon, and tomato sandwiches and a well deserved nap.

Dinner was at Fenton’s, a restaurant that we first visited in 2000 with Elaine’s Mom and Dad. We hadn’t been back probably since 2005. (They are closed at Christmas, so we didn’t have a chance to visit on our last two visits to Dingle.) The food was excellent. We both had the same main course (John Dory). Finally here are some food and restaurant pictures (enjoy, Patrick!):

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After dinner we stopped at both the Dingle Pub (to hear Dreams of Freedom) and at O’Flaherty’s (to hear Fergus O’Flaherty). Well earned sleep followed.

The weather is brilliant! Sun. Relative warmth. I could have (but didn’t) wear shorts today. After five days of trundling about in the car to show Bob and Barbara the beauty of the Dingle Peninsula, we spent a quiet Saturday and Sunday in Dingle (and close nearby) for their final two full days. On Monday morning we will leave early (6:30 AM) for the 2½ ride to Shannon Airport for their flight back to Boston.

Saturday was a very quiet day. Bob and Barbara went shopping in Dingle. We met two Scotsmen going to a wedding and got a picture. After grilled cheese sandwiches at home for lunch, we had cocktails outside sitting in the sun. I took a nap, Bob and Barbara took a walk. Dinner was back in town at Out of the Blue. Really good seafood. No pictures (sorry, Patrick – next week for sure). After dinner it was a stop in O’Flaherty’s for libations and music and chat. We talked with a mother and her son from the UP in Michigan and with a couple from Oregon.

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Sunday was yet again beautiful and the warmest day to date. We stuck close to Dingle as there will be a long drive to the Airport in the morning. We showed Bob & Barbara the mass grave site behind the old Dingle Hospital and Workhouse. Then we did the short ride to Been Bane, the small beach near the entrance to Dingle Harbour. Last week Elaine and I walked the cliff toward the lighthouse. This time the four of us went the other way to the top of the promontory. Pictures show how beautiful it was:

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After a short stop at the house, we ventured out for lunch. Rather than going into Dingle, we went east a few miles to Ventry and had a nice big lunch at Quinn’s Pub. Very good Sunday lunch, our big meal for the day. Then we drove into Dingle for ice cream cone deserts at Kool Scoops. Then it was rest and rehab at home on our guest’s last fool day. Cocktails outside and dinner of cheese, fruit, and crackers. Early to bed.

On Monday we were up early (6 AM) for the 2½ hour ride to Shannon. The ride was uneventful. We bid our guests farewell and immediately did the return ride to Dingle. We really enjoyed having Bob and Barbara, and we think they had a good time. They were rewarded with more sunshine than any seven-day period we remember in Dingle.

Comments on comments
(keep them coming; we read and appreciate all):

Sue & Barb: The purple butts on the sheep. All sheep have swatches of color which serve as a brand. Different owners will have sheep grazing in the same pastures, so the swatch of color serves, as Barb guessed, as a brand.
Sue: No, I didn’t tip over the vase. It’s just a damaged one set out for display. It’s been tipped over for twenty years.
Cindy: Snow? Yuch! And you never commented on the car name, Winnie the Peugeot.
Mianne: Safe trip to rainy Boston and Scituate. And we remember our Blasket visit with you very well.
Patrick: More foodie pics? Request noted. Stay tuned. Great to see your comments.

Friday was a beautiful sunny day. But it’s Ireland so there was the brief passing shower(s). We did a day trip to Killarney, the largest city in County Kerry, to visit Muckross House and Gardens. You park a mile or so from the site proper and take a jaunting car ride to the House. Our driver was Patrick O”Sullivan and he was worth the price of the ride – a real Irishman full of stories. We also met his son who drives another jaunting car. Our horse was Rosalita, a real darling. She is seven years old and will work until she is twenty when she’ll be turned out to pasture. The horses work one day on and one day off. They do a maximum of three trips a day. Not a bad life.

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The gardens were beautiful. We had a good walk around and looked at Muckross House up close. We opted out of the guided tour (TMI – too much information). When we were done, Patrick and Rosalita were waiting for the return trip to our car.

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There was a brief stop at Muckross Abbey, another ruined religious site, before we got back to the car We saw an 800 year old tree here (or at the Gardens). I got pictures of trees but I’m not sure if I got the 800 year old one. Pretend one of them is.

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Then, believe it or not, we had lunch in a Subway in a gas station in Killarney. It sounds awful, but it was good. We wanted a light and quick lunch and pub lunches are neither light nor quick. It hit the spot. After lunch it was a brief stop at Ross Castle where again we skipped the internal guided tour. Then it was back home.

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Dinner consisted of delicious home barbecued Kerry strip stakes with Lyonnaise  potatoes and salad. Then it was game night before heading off to bed.

We all had a quiet, mostly overcast and cool day on Wednesday. We drove out Slea Head where you could see the Skelligs better than we could up close yesterday. We stopped at Dunbeg Fort where we watched the interesting movie, but we couldn’t walk down to the fort because they were doing maintenance. Then it was on to the Blasket Center to read about the Blasket Islands and its people. The islands were evacuated back in the 1950’s. Oddly, many of the Islanders, noted for their colorful literature about island life, and their descendants now live the Springfield, Massachusetts area. We had lunch in their very nice cafeteria. We made a final stop at Louis Mulcahy Pottery for a look around. No purchases. (Elaine’s sister Ann bought out the store when she visited us here in Dingle way back when.) Then we drove into Dingle where the girls shopped and the boys had the odd pint in the Dingle Pub. Like I said, a quiet day. Dinner was fresh home-cooked monkfish and salad.

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On Thursday the sun returned to Dingle. We did a drive over Conor Pass to the other side of the mountain. We stopped at the top and at a small waterfall on the way down the narrow two-way road. Then additional stops at a small beach and at Brandon Point. Then another stop at Fermoyle Strand (Beach). We had lunch in Blennerville at the Station House where waitress Bernadette regaled us with her life history. Finally we stopped at the ruins of Ardfert Cathedral before heading home to Dingle for cocktails and naps. Dinner was at Ashe’s Bar and Restaurant. Thomas Ashe was a big deal in Dingle in the old days and his family still runs the restaurant. The family still retains the rights to distribute all Guinness products in West Kerry. ($$$) The day in pictures follows.

On Conor Pass Road

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A Beach and a Farm

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Brandon Point

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More Stops Here and There

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Ardfert Cathedral

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Dramatic 10 PM Sky as We Ended the Day

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Tuesday looked good weather wise when we arose, but we had a lot of clouds and rain during the day. Because of the promising start, we decided to show Bob & Barbara part of the Ring of Kerry. County Kerry has three peninsulas: Dingle (and beautiful Slea Head Drive), Iveragh (and the Ring of Kerry), and the lesser known Beara, Sheep’s Head, and Mizen.

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Off we went in the car at 10 AM. We made numerous stops, some in sun, some in rain. Our stops included:

1) Rossbeigh Beach – nice weather, horses on the beach, a nice stone bridge nearby

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2) The Skellig Experience Visitor Center – Interesting exhibit and a movie about the history of the monastery on the Skelligs. We had a nice quick lunch here.

3) Barr Point – Best viewpoint to see the Skelligs but the weather was deteriorating and the islands were barely visible through the fog. Can you see them?

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4) The West Kerry Cliffs – Beehive huts (Bob banged his head badly leaving one!) and seriously strong winds and lashing rain. The weather didn’t deter us from the walk to the cliffs and the views were magnificent.

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We drove home in time for cocktails before venturing out (in dry weather) to the Chart House for a very good dinner followed by a music session at O’Flaherty’s Pub. Home to bed by 11:00 PM.

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Sunday was another fine weather day. Mostly sunny. No rain. We drove to Limerick in the morning. It was just over two hours with zero traffic. We parked in a garage in Limerick which was hopping busy because Riverfest 2019 is going on and today is also the day of the Great Limerick Run – runners choose between 6 miles, a half marathon, or a full marathon.

We parked the car in a garage and then visited both King John’s Castle and St Mary’s Cathedral. Because of everything else going on in town, neither was busy, so we had enjoyable visits. I won’t bore you with details (read the links if you want to know more). The birds of prey at the castle were very interesting. Here are the pictures:

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Then it was lunch along the river. On the stroll back to the garage we stopped at the Hunt Museum for a quick visit. It is not related to the Hunt Brothers of Texas. This Hunt was a collector of just about everything, and his eclectic museum, a cabinet for the curious, is both interesting and pleasantly compact for a short visit. No pictures allowed inside.

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Then it was time to drive to the hotel and check in. Beautiful hotel, the Absolute. We had a small suite with a small balcony and a nice view of the Abbey River, a tributary of the Shannon. And we had a nice dinner at Harry’s Bar.

On Monday we were up at 5:00 AM for the short drive to Shannon Airport to pick up Bob and Barbara. Their Aer Lingus flight was on time. The drive back to Dingle (in still more sunshine) was uneventful. We diverted 100 yards in Glin to drive past Geoghegan’s Magpie Bar.

With the sun shining we did a drive around Slea Head before driving into Dingle for lunch at Sheehy’s Anchor Down. Then it was back to the house for rest followed by cocktails followed by cheese, crackers, and fruit for dinner. Then it was a long night’s sleep for the new arrivals.

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Friday was picture perfect, weather wise. We did our separate walks in the morning. I stopped en route at My Boy Blue for a hot chocolate and a cinnamon bun.

We decided to drive out Slea Head Drive and have lunch at a pub we like in Baile na nGall (Ballydavid). It’s been closed the last few times we have been there. Guess what? It was closed. So we decided to try Quinns in Ceann Tra (Ventry). No food until 5:30 PM. So went to Páidi Ó Sé’s (Paddy O’Shea’s). He was a legendary Irish football player from Ventry. We saw him out and about in Dingle several times on previous trips. (Mianne and Bill might remember eating in his pub when they visited us in Dingle years back.) Alas, he died young in 2012, reportedly of a heart attack although his prodigious drinking didn’t help him to a long life either. Lunch was fine. The pub is full of sports memorabilia and pictures of the famous who have visited. Oddly, the pub now seems to be an enclave for French speakers. Amongst the pictures of visiting sports stars is one of John Havlicek who just died a few weeks ago. Havlicek and his family lived in Melrose for years, and his daughter went to Lincoln Elementary, the same school I attended.

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Ooops, the picture is of Larry Bird, of course. I had John Havlicek on my mind. Sorry bout that.

Saturday was bright and sunny when we arose. Our cleaners are coming in at 10:00 to do some housekeeping. We will be out and about once they arrive.

We started by visiting the mass grave behind the Dingle Hospital that I told you about. This was a desolate site that was almost inaccessible until a few years ago when a philanthropist decided it should be resurrected and preserved. The old chapel, long buried in bush and gorse, was uncovered and rehabilitated. It’s a quite moving and quite sad site with views to amaze.

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Then we drove 15 miles to Minard Castle, a little known site that we haven’t visited since 2000. Again, the area is beautiful. The castle isn’t much, but it’s been there since the 16th century. There is also a holy well nearby that John the Baptist visited. Locals come to the well to tie ribbons on a tree as a prayer for someone who needs one. We chatted with a woman from nearby Anascual who was there to tie a ribbon.

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Then it was home for sandwiches and a brief rest. Back in the car and we drove to Bin Beel, a small beach close to Dingle town. We walked the cliffs to the Lighthouse very close to the Tower that we visited the other day at the entrance to Dingle Harbor. The tourist boats on Fungie the Dolphin watch were trolling around the harbor below us.

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Then it was home for cocktails in the beautiful sun and a dinner of pies (lamb for me, chicken and leek for Elaine, that we bought yesterday at the Dingle farmer’s market. All in all, a perfect “10” day in every respect.

An aside: at the Farmer’s Market we met Trevis Gleason, an American who now resides in Dingle and is a well known author and chef. We chatted and discovered that on his first stay in Dingle (in 2004) he stayed in a stone cottage on Conor Pass Road. He rented from Tom and Veronica, a well known local couple known for various and sundry notorious tactics in promoting their properties and B&B’s. His experience in the cottage was like ours. When we arrived (in 2000), we spent two full days cleaning to make the place habitable for our six-week stay. We all had some good chuckles over the experience.

Tomorrow (Sunday) we’re off to Limerick for an overnight, and we pick up friends Bob and Barbara at 6:00 AM on Monday at Shannon Airport. Back at ya on Monday or Tuesday.

Wednesday was another nice weather day. We took separate walks in the morning. Then it was a quiet day. We stopped at SuperValu to the night’s dinner at home. And we visited the library and both took out some books. Lunch was at a fairly new Dingle restaurant: Flannery’s Fish Box. Another local fisherman family-owned place that catches what they sell, it’s very small. You order at the counter and either do take out or eat at one of the five or six tables. We ate our fish (haddock today) and chips in. It was perfectly prepared! The other food we saw also looked good. Later in the day I drove into town for a Guinness at the Dingle Pub. Dinner was homemade Indian Chicken Rogan Josh. (I call it Josh Groban chicken.) And it was early to bed.

Thursday was a rain day from morning until dinner time. We essentially did nothing. We’re allowed! Reading, tv, naps. For dinner we went to Dingle’s newest restaurant: Land to Sea. It opened just about a month ago. Nice addition to Dingle’s reputation as Ireland’s top foodie town. And we enjoyed our first desserts of the trip.

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A Dingle History Lesson

At the top of hill just a short walk from the house is the old Dingle Hospital. In 1850 it opened as a Workhouse, Fever Hospital, School, and Dispensary, The workhouse closed in 1922 and the building became known as St. Elizabeth’s Hospital. It closed for good in 2010 when the new, much smaller West Kerry Community Hospital opened. Since then it has been deserted and has become derelict. I always thought it just begged to be redeveloped as a hotel.

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Little did I know that it is a listed building and is unlikely to ever be commercially developed. Locals consider it an important part of the town’s history. And I discovered yesterday that in a field behind the hospital, there is a mass grave site. So it really is a sacred local site inappropriate as a hotel development. We learn something every day.

“The graveyard, once known as the Pauper’s Graveyard, overlooks Dingle town and estimates suggest that anywhere between 7,000 and 10,000 people are buried there.

Those laid to rest in the graveyard include many thousands who died of hunger during the Famine. Its proximity to the old Dingle hospital, which was a workhouse in penal times, means the remains of many who passed away there, are also laid to rest on the hillside. Diseases such as cholera and tuberculous claimed the lives of many more and a number of infants are believed to have been buried there also.

The graveyard, which has been named Reilig Cnoc a’Cairn, has been of great interest to locals and Kerry emigrants as many families have ancestors buried there. However, up until now, it was practically inaccessible.

A long-running local effort, started over 30 years ago by Monsignor Padraig Ó Fiannachta and led in recent years by Fr Jim Sheehy, culminated with the official unveiling on Monday of the improvement works. These include a parking area, an access road leading from Chapel Lane to the site and a small chapel beside the graveyard which has been freed from the covering of furze bushes under which it was hidden for many years.”

Since it was raining, we didn’t visit the grave site, but we will, probably tomorrow.

I’ll be back Saturday night. On Sunday we go to Limerick for the day and night to have a look about and to pick up Bob & Barbara early Monday morning. We have another overnight trip coming up later in the stay.

Oh, and one of my phones died suddenly. Glad we have two. My UK number will be out of service until my replacement arrives from Amazon on Tuesday.