We spent the night in Dingle! Population: almost 2,000. It's a fishing/tourist town located on a peninsula on the west coast of Ireland. I'm staying in my very first Bed and Breakfast, and it's absolutely adorable. The keys are actual, old-fashioned, metal keys. There are keyholes in the doors! They were a little tricky to handle, but fortunately the mechanics of the locks are similar to those of the locks on the doors at home, so I caught on pretty quick. Breakfast is at 8:30 am, and the landlady takes your order the day before so she knows exactly how much she needs to prepare of everything.
Speaking of food, everything here tastes better than it does at home, and I am of the opinion that that is because it is fresh. Everything comes from nearby. You don't think of Ireland when you think of great cuisine, but I've definitely become a believer. We're going out for fish and chips tonight--my first time!
We left around 10:00 am for the peninsula coast.
There are a lot of cool things to see that date from around 500bc to 500ad. We stopped first at Dunbeag Fort (or Dunbeg Fort or Dunberg Fort or Dunbag Fort...take your pick). Basically it's several large ridges in the earth followed by a small stone circle inside of a larger stone circle, with some doorways and tunnels for getting inside and out. They don't know much about these prehistoric rock formations and can only speculate on what they were used for.
A little ways down the road we came to the Beehive Huts--stone "houses" shaped like beehives that people used to stay in when they were on their pilgrimages across Ireland. Basically, they were the hotels of the stone age. You found one that was empty and spent the night. What was funny was that they told us these were prehistoric too, but while we were there there was a guy building one next to us. He said it had fallen down and they'd had to start building it up again, but I still found it a little ironic. We climbed all over these ancient stone formations, and I can say that I'm shocked they've survived for this long. They're basically stacks of rocks--not cemented together or anything. You have to be careful where you step, and I learned that the hard way! No, I did not knock over a prehistoric building. Yes, I did step on a rock that tipped over with me on it. Don't worry, no scrapes. Not even a bruise. But it was a little frightening at the time!
We rode on our giant coach bus to all of these locations, and we had to switch our schedule around because the coaches are only allowed to go one way on those roads. And no wonder! Some of the roads are only a little wider than the coach itself, and they're meant to be two-way traffic! I must admit, I never knew what a hairpin turn was until I took one that turned 180 degrees on a coach. We've done that at least ten times today. When other buses or trucks come by, one of us has to pull halfway off the road and wait for the other pass before continuing on. I have pictures--you'll see what I mean. It was crazy! Our bus driver told us about one bus that had a driver that wasn't from the area and who didn't know that his coach was only allowed to go one way. Long story short, he got stuck on one of the hairpin turns and they had to cut the bus in half to get it off the road. Crazy, huh?
But what beautiful scenery! We drove past several almost Caribbean-looking beaches with white sand and blue-green water, and we even spent two hours at Inch Beach, playing in the sand and getting blasted by the coastal winds. A couple of the girls were brave enough to try wakeboarding and told us that the water was actually quite warm, thanks to the Gulf Stream. Funny, considering how far north we are.
This has gotten insanely long, but there's just been so much going on! I can't wait until I can post pictures--I've taken nearly 700 already, but don't worry! I won't post them all! Just the ones relevant to these posts. One of the girls has been kind enough to offer me the use of her computer for a little bit whenever we get somewhere where the internet actually works. It's spotty here, especially in the afternoons and early evenings.
Let me say one more thing: It was sunny today! Still is, even! There has been more sunlight today than on the rest of the trip combined. Guess that made today a good day to go to the beach. :) And on a related note, as it's the Summer Solstice (or it was, yesterday) we had sunlight straight until 10:00 pm last night. And this morning the sun was well into the air when I got up at 7:30.
Okay, done. More on Irish Pubs and Fish'n'Chips later!
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