So we didn’t walk this morning. The weather was OK but we had been pre-notified that Dingle would without power from 9 am to about 5 pm as Electricity Ireland did maintenance work. So we showered and got out of town. To Tralee. Tralee is the commercial capital of County Kerry. Kilarney is the more famous tourist town. Dingle is the much smaller, once hidden, now discovered gem.
Anyway Tralee is actually a very pleasant city. It’s most famous for annual (in August) Rose of Tralee festival (much celebrated in song). We re-visited the Kerry County Museum. It’s an interesting place to spend an hour or two.
Click on the galleries below to bring up scrollable windows with full size pictures – the gallery previews may show just thumbnails of the pictures.
First off, you will learn everything you need to know about Roger Casement, an Irish patriot and freedom fighter, who was executed for his part in a plan to import guns from Germany as part of the fight for Irish independence in the Easter Rising of 1916. His is a long, complicated story.
There was an interesting temporary exhibit of works by local artists that Elaine especially enjoyed.
There is one room dedicated to Antarctic explorer Tom Crean who participated in several trips to the South Pole with Sir Ernest Shackleton. Crean was a resident of nearby Anascual where he was publican at the South Pole Inn after he retired from expeditions. We have been there for lunch and for pints several times and may stop by again this trip. Here’s a picture of Tom and I at the South Pole.
And there is a walking journey through mediaeval Tralee.
From there we walked into the town center to have lunch at Quinlan’s, a well known fish market and restaurant. Alas, no go. Closed because of water damage. So we had a very nice lunch at Der O’Sullivan’s deli.
Then we visited the beautiful St John’s Church. Elaine was especially enamored with one of the stained glass windows. Can you pick which one? Candles were lit for Paul and for both our mothers and fathers.
Then it was a walk through the city park before heading back to Dingle.
I had a quick nap. Then we both went to Curran’s for the odd pint and met some more interesting locals (like ourselves).
Dinner was at home. Barbequed sausages from Mr. Kennedy’s. One final photo of Irish freedom fighters:
Love all the photos of both of you with the historical and ancient folks. There are so many interesting and very sad stories in Ireland’s history.
Elaine, did you buy one of the local artists’ paintings to take home to Scottsdale?
Nice walk through Tralee city park.
No purchases. Yes, lots of sad stories with ballards about all of them.
Beautiful church. I suspect Elaine’s favorite window is the BLUE – gorgeous. Nice photos, Joe, keep ‘em comin’.
Correct
I love all the stained glass windows, but agree with Mianne, the beautiful, blue window. You picked a great place to walk around. And Joe, who knew one of the Irish Freedom Fighters would look just like you. Hat, camera, and glasses, haha.
Erin go bragh
Darn. I forgot to guess on Elaine’s favorite window. I agree with Cindy and Mianne that it’s the beautiful blue one.
You were all right.