Monastics and Moriarty's (08.21.12)

08.21.12

Today was our last full day in Ireland, as well as our last day with Eric, who we have grown to really like over this past week. We headed out in search of some family history today, though loosely informed, we were excited. Driving out to Dingle, I dozed a bit in the morning before getting into the coast, and being swept away by winds. More large beaches presented themselves, a place I could have stayed all day if it hadn’t been for the chilled wind.

We continued along the farmlands once more, and stopped often to take shots of the rocky cliffs and stretched green lands. (My stylist - the wind.)

Headed farther out onto the Dingle peninsula, we came across many more sites, including these beehive huts. These were built for monastic purposes, where monks would live on what they believed to literally be the edges of the earth – falling off if one went further into the ocean. Of course, some stubborn individuals with beehives on their farmland make you pay to see the insides, and also falsely claim these sites are “Prehistoric.” Silly old men, beehive huts are for monastics! 

This loop drive along the peninsula, Slea Head, presented us with scenic landscapes of cliffs, more sheep, famine cottages, and even more. 

Returning to the town, we ate lunch at a local in before exploring the town. Mum had written down a few local hotels and bars we were in search of. First we found Foxy Johns, which turned out to be the oddest thing we’d seen. Not only was it a bar, but the other half upon walking in was a hardware store. A few stragglers hung out, and a young, local bartender told us he was a young Foxy John, so vaguely related, but a long ways down the line. We left the odd site and went on to take pictures of O’Flaherty, where the musician inside turned out to be the very man some of mum’s family had met, and was another distant relation. His name was Fergus, and he seemed not too care too much, but apparently this is how it is.

Headed out of Dingle, we drove towards Limerick county and the Adare Manor, which has proved to be a place I never want to leave. Decorated in a sort of gothic revival Victorian style, it has multiple restaurants, golf, a river, formal gardens, and even it’s own ruins down the property. I wish we were staying here longer!