Days 12 & 13

I‘m writing this in the car on our way to Dublin and will combine yesterday and today to wrap up our journeys.

Today I learned a few lessons on what NOT to do in Ireland. We planned to drive a loop known as the Slea Head Drive on the Dingle Peninsula. According to many travel groups and people we met on this trip, this was a must-see.

Dingle town was our first stop, and we thought we’d eat there. I had envisioned Dingle as a small, quaint village by the sea. I was wrong. It felt like a place that catered to tourists, and every shop and restaurant was packed. I wanted to keep moving when I saw the crowds, but we finally found a place to park on the edge of town. We figured we may as well walk through and see what it was all about. Our first stop was a coffee shop, where I got an iced latte and a tart to share with Cliff. We visited several shops, but my favorites were the bookshop and Dingle Art Works. I wasn’t hungry enough to eat at a loud, crowded restaurant, so we decided to keep going and see if we’d come across something.

There were places of interest along the drive, and the first one we stopped at was a leather shop in a secluded area. They had beautiful handmade leather goods that would be a pleasure to own. At this point on our trip, though, we were getting tired of buying things, so I only got a leather keychain. The next place we stopped was a famine cottage, a house from the 1800s that remains much like it was then. They were charging 5 euros per person to see it, which seemed a little surprising. I didn’t want to see it that badly, but there was a beautiful view, so I asked if we could walk up for the views. That was a firm no, so we went ahead and paid. The cottage had some interesting information about life during the famine, but also some really creepy wax people in the bed, kitchen, and loft.

Back on the road, and the views all along were quite magnificent, but sometimes hard to see from our low car. Our next point of interest was the Blasket Center, which had a cafe on site. We’d passed a couple of pubs on the route, but they were all busy. Finally, this cafe was just right.

It was a wonderful day to eat outside, and the view was magical. In retrospect, that was the best part of the whole drive. There was a film or something on the history of the Blasket Islands, but again, €5. We declined. Instead, we walked out to the viewing platform for free and gazed across to the Blasket Islands. At one point, people lived there, but it’s now uninhabited.

The next place we wanted to stop was an old church. By now, we were learning the system, so no surprise it was €5 to see it. We saw plenty of old churches on our travels, so we didn’t have to see this one.

By late afternoon, we had finished the drive, but weren’t ready to go back to our Airbnb. I looked up Killarney and saw it was only an hour away. Supposedly, that’s where my ancestor Bridget O’Connor came from, but I’ve been unsuccessful at finding exactly where she lived. I thought it would be neat to see the town at least, and maybe find a park to sit and relax. So we headed that way, only to realize as we drove in that it’s a massively popular area. Bumper-to-bumper traffic and streets lined with people. We never even got out of the car.

After driving an hour back, we ended up getting fast food in the town where we were staying. It was rather a disappointing way to end our trip. I thought if I could find a quiet place by the water to sit and read for a bit, maybe the day wouldn’t be a complete fail. We took ourselves on a walk, and being outside after so many hours in the car helped lift our spirits. I found a grassy spot to look over the ocean and opened the book of poetry I’d purchased in Dingle. It was the exact balm for the soul that I needed.

So here’s what I learned today.

• I think the Dingle Peninsula would be best experienced by getting outdoors. We considered biking the Slea Head Drive, but decided against it due to the traffic and narrow roads. I don’t enjoy biking in those conditions, but if you’re a confident road biker and not concerned about a lack of road space, it would be grand to tour by bike. There are also walking trails if you have the time to take a slower pace.

• Some parts of Ireland are not worth visiting in tourist season. I would like to go back to Killarney in the off-season, as it did seem to be a lovely area with lots to explore.

• Outdoor experiences are best. A car is great for covering lots of ground, but the best times we had were the days we spent in the fresh air.

There isn’t much to say about this day, as it was mostly driving. We returned our rental car safely, even though traffic was snarly at times. Ask Cliff how many times I’ve gasped over his driving in the last week. Altogether, he did a fantastic job, but there were some wrong moves! When I saw the rental return receipt noted “no change in the vehicle’s condition was detected,” I nearly cried. That was an answer to prayer!

We took the bus to our Airbnb close to the airport. This is the first place we’ve had all to ourselves, and it’s lovely.

And for those interested in what we ate today, I made sure to have a real cafe breakfast one last time. Wild Cafe in Tralee gave me chai, scrambled eggs, and toast,1 and pancakes and bacon with fresh-squeezed orange juice for Cliff. Tonight we’re staying right by Eddie Rocket’s, an American diner. We figured we might as well get readjusted to American food, so we had hamburgers and shared a biscoff milkshake. It was delicious!

We have an early morning tomorrow, and if all goes well, we’ll touch down in Newark around 11:45. The last two weeks have been an absolute dream, but we are looking forward to going home. At some point after we’ve returned, I plan to share some final reflections.