Dangling in the Dingle: Ireland Vacation 4

This day of the Ireland trip we toured the Dingle Peninsula.  The motto for Michigan is "If you seek a beautiful peninsula, look about you." This should surely be Dingle's motto as well.  And given its size, it feels like a peninsula a whole lot more than Michigan does.

I think for this day, I'm going to keep the chatter to a minimum and let you enjoy these extraordinary views.

This last is the westernmost tip of Ireland, and is also another place that they did Star Wars filming.

The town of Dingle's main attraction (other than the breathtaking scenery) is a dolphin that frequents their harbor, Fungi.  They even have boat tours to go out to see him.  Fungi is getting up in years, and there is some concern that when he passes, Dingle will have no replacement.

The picture above is not the real Fungi.  That's like a statue or something.

This fancy house built near the end of the peninsula was built by the Cranberries lead singer, Dolores O'Riodan.   She took a trip to the area and fell in love with it, and built the house there.  She only lived there a few months, and found the winters too brutal, and sold the house.  Tragically, O'Riodan died recently at the age of 46.

At evening's end, back in Killarney, we saw a very special show of Irish music and dance, called Celtic Steps.  It was very enjoyable.

During the performance, the emcee of the program asked to hear from those in the audience who were from any of the counties of Ireland both the Irish Republic and Northern Ireland.   There was a smattering of applause.  Then he asked to hear from those who were a part of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth.  The applause was louder.  He asked if anyone was from the States.  Much louder applause followed, representing a very robust contingent of statesiders.

Then he asked to hear from any Germans.  The thunderous response was so loud I thought the roof was going to come down!  Germans were EVERYWHERE this part of the trip.  I guess that's what happens when you have a country of well-paid people who take a minimum of six weeks of vacation a year!

I was brought almost to tears when a beautiful female Irish singer did a soul-scalding rendition of U2's With or Without You.  There was a man behind me responding to the music who reminded me of my Dad.  My parents loved to travel, and I was reminded of how much they would have loved this trip.  I still miss them both every day.


These bus tours may seem choady to some, but it enabled us to see much of the island and get to some of the most beautiful parts of it in the short time we had.  The only other option was to rent a car, and I'm not sure Ireland was ready for me to take their narrow roads, especially when I might not remember which side of the road I 'm supposed to be on.

More Ireland posts soon!