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Dingle Peninsula

Irish countryside

I don’t think I’ve mentioned just how gloriously beautiful Ireland is. Seriously, it is beyond words. Neither photos nor waxing poetic can do it an ounce of justice.

landscape

I do know that the words that will immediately pop into my mind every time I think back on our time in Ireland are:

GREEN.
Rock walls.
Endless fields of sheep and Jersey cows.
100’s of shades of green.
Rows of rock walls.
Immensely kind, hospitable, gracious Irish people.
Did I mention Green?
    and
More rock walls.

So very many Rock Walls!

master stone stackers

One thing I know for sure, the Irish really know how to stack rocks and make sturdy and good-looking rock walls!

Not a drop of cement or mortar is needed!

beehive hut

con in the hut

Even in prehistoric times, there were rock walls and rock huts, known as beehive huts.

beehive huts

We visited some beehive huts on our way around the Dingle Peninsula.

roadside sheep

We spent one glorious afternoon making our way around the Peninsula and the rest of the day walking the streets in the town of Dingle, for which the peninsula is named.

stones and sheep

The peninsula exists because of the band of sandstone rock that forms the mountain ranges at the neck of the peninsula. Ireland’s second-highest mountain, Mount Brandon at 951 meters, forms part of a beautiful high ridge with stunning views over the peninsula and North Kerry. (Those dots of white are sheep, there are lots of sheep in Ireland!)

top of connor pass

Connor Pass, which runs from Dingle on the south-western end of the peninsula towards Brandon Bay and Castlegregory in the northeast, is the highest mountain pass in Ireland.

con waterfall

It is a narrow, twisting road that weaves its way around the sharp cliff faces and past the high corrie lakes.

father and son

It is like being up in the clouds and on most days, you actually are!

sandles

After coming down from Connor Pass…

gps

… we drove to Dingle and Connor posed next to his namesake signpost.

Connor Pass

Dingle is a pretty town with shopping and plenty of pubs, exactly what we were looking for.

dingle stonehouse

Well, me the shopping and the boys the pubs.

dingle creek

Cute and unique shops on every corner.

foxy johns

On the day we were there there was a farmer’s and crafter’s market in the square. The tomatoes were red as could be, the earth still clung to the potatoes, the carrots were huge and beautiful handmade wool clothing was abundant.

market

Oh, and how the Irish love their Guinness.

guinness or gluttony

We’d always been told that the Guinness in Ireland is nothing like the Guinness in the States.

So True! It’s easy to see why it replaces gluttony as one of the “deadly sins.”

If you go to Ireland, be sure to set aside a day to drive the Dingle Peninsula and have a frothy Guinness in a Dingle pub.


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3 comments

1 Marissa { 07.23.14 at 8:03 AM }

So so pretty. Words cannot begin to describe how jealous I am.

2 Linda Hopkins { 07.23.14 at 1:30 PM }

Lassie, you and I will come back together, after you’re a married woman. Can’t afford it until then! xoxo

3 Tram Mai { 07.24.14 at 10:44 AM }

So beautiful and fun!!!

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