Last night when we went to bed, we weren't sure about driving around Slea Head Loop; the forecast didn't look hopeful. But.. the day dawned cloudy but no fog! Margaret had breakfast ready at 8; I had granola, yogurt and fresh fruit; Peter had eggs Benedict prepared to perfection! Chatted extensively with Margaret who has traveled to the US many times. Graceland and Las Vegas are her favorites! She loves traveling in America because it's so much cheaper there (our cab driver in Dublin said the same thing!)
We left the Last Cottage at 9:15 for our drive around 3 star Slea Head Loop. The drive is 30 miles long on the western most point of this green, rugged and untouched peninsula. We followed Rick Steves self-guided tour of the Dingel Peninsula Loop and it was amazing!
We saw a thatched cottage that was 150 years old and it showed the simple lifestyles of the area in the 19th century. All along the drive we saw bleak and godforsaken land. Rocks were cleared and piled into fences that delineated the tilled fields. A village that we passed had a school from 1914 and its two teachers still teach 18 students grades one through six. We passed fields way up high that have been untouched since 1845 when the potato blight struck. You can still see the faint vertical ridges of the potato beds. In the town of village of Ferriter we came across what looked like an early Christian cross in front of the school house. It's actually a prop from the movie Ryan's daughter!
Near the end of the loop we found the Gallorus Oratory, an early Christian church built about 1300 years ago. It is shaped like an upturned boat and is made of finely fitted drystone walls. Inside, the oratory is quite small and has just one small window to bring in light. Peter had to duck to enter the small oratory!
What is truly amazing is that the population of Dingel Peninsula used to be 40,000. It has been reduced, mainly due to the potato famine, to 10,000 inhabitants and 500,00 sheep!
What a glorious, natural phenomenon! It is a wonder to the eyes; the green in contrast to the water in contrast to the hundreds of years old stone takes your breath away!
We arrived back in Dingle at 11:15 and immediately started for our next destination which was Adare, a small city just outside of Limerick. We went to Adare on the recommendation of Liz and John. Their son had been married a year ago in this town. They recommended a restaurant called The Good Room and we arrived there at 2:15 PM for lunch outside in the garden. After lunch we visited the Adare Manor, a fabulous looking manor house.
From Adare we proceeded directly to the Dublin airport. Because this was a bank holiday weekend and because it was 5:30 in the afternoon, we experienced Dublin rush-hour on a Friday at 5:30!
At the airport we returned our car and proceeded to the terminal to check in for our flight next day to Paris.
As we have throughout our stay in Ireland, today we encountered four more people who went out of their way to be helpful. The first was the attendant at the Aer Lingus counter. She recommended highly that we repack our two bags so that we could check the heavier bag right then and there and the other would be light enough to carry on. Not only did this save us 40 bucks but she also promised us we would be very happy the next day because it would mean going through security would be much easier. They expect the airport to be extremely crowded because of the bank holiday. The second was a young man who not only helped us find where to meet our hotel shuttle, but actually walked us there! The third was the shuttle bus driver who was extremely friendly, told us about his family and advised us on taking the shuttle the next morning to the airport. The final helpful person today was the concierge at the hotel. He told us where to eat, how to meet the shuttle in the morning and also to call him if we had any questions. Irish people are friendly, outgoing and extremely solicitous!
We stayed at the Metro Hotel Dublin Airport, a no-frills, modern business hotel. It was exactly what we needed: a clean, decent sized room with all of the amenities that were needed. Plus, it was our cheapest overnight stay in Ireland! We had a light supper and our last pint of Guinness before retiring. Hopefully we will sleep well although our wake up call is 3:30 AM!
Travel teaser: in Ireland what is a "jaunting car?"
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