Day 7 The Dingle Peninsula

Italics tour company description


September 9 2015

THE DINGLE PENINSULA. After breakfast at 9am today you will meet your driver/guide and travel west onto the edge of a continent. The Dingle Peninsula is a journey that takes in the wild and rugged beauty of the Slea head Drive. The peninsula is littered with Archaeological remains and secluded sandy beaches, here you can walk on one of them and feel the splendid isolation that the Neolithic settlers must have felt in 4,000 BC when they made the area their home. 

We start today by checking out of the hotel and going to Muckross House which was on the agenda for one of our days.

We pick up a jaunting cart, spread our green plaid blankets across our knees and Paddy the horse is ready to escort us around the grounds.

The Abbey.

Time for a coffee break.

And a wander in their gardens.

We took the hour long tour of the house which is fantastic. Our guide was charming and eloquent. However, no photos were allowed.

But I did "steal" this one from their website just to give you a taste.

The gardens as we leave the tour.

Mick greets us with a new and improved hair cuT!

The Dingle Peninsula or Corca Dhuibhne stretches 30 miles (48 kilometres) into the Atlantic Ocean from Ireland's south-west coast.

So we stopped for lunch and had figured we would be on our own once we checked into the hotel. No, not to be so, Mick had plans. A drive along the Slea Head.

We do a drive around Dingle.we check out some stuff. The sun is shining but the breeze is strong So seemly Mick hasn't checked these out either. Let's just say you need your walking shoes. And maybe some weather proof gear. The climbs are hard going.
The proper spelling is Dun Beag.


Dún Beag Fort is an impressive and elaborate example of a promontory fort dated to 500BC. We viewed an introductory film and then crossed the road and climbed down to the fort.

Adorable!

Some prehistoric creatures I meet on the way. It never pays to step off the beaten path.

A mere inches down the road we are in for some more climbing. There are some thatched cottages that were abandoned during the famine. They have been turned into a makeshift museum.

The peninsula is dominated by the range of mountains that form its spine, running from the Slieve Mish range to Mount Brandon, Ireland's second highest peak.

The coastline consists of steep sea-cliffs, broken by sandy beaches, with two large sand spits at Inch in the south and the Maharees to the north.

We make many wonderful stops.

Dingle Town is one of Ireland’s quickly disappearing Gaeltacht regions where Irish is the first language and one can almost sense the difference here. Your driver/guide will teach you a “cupla focal”, a few words in Irish. You will spend the day exploring the region and in the afternoon check in for an overnight stay in 2 deluxe sea view rooms at Emlagh House.

We finally arrive at our destination for the evening around 6PM and are met by Adele, the owner and taken to our charming rooms.

Dingle comes alive in the evening with music and craic and the evening is free for to relax, dine at your leisure and enjoy some great traditional Irish music.

John and I head out for the evening. We run into Mick on our strolls, in his t-shirt and jeans I almost didn't recognize him. We learn the next morning that he did a few songs in a pub in town.

Entertainment in the pub where we had dinner.

Day 4 - Cork and Area

Italics are tour description.

6th September 2015: EXPLORING CORK

After a delicious breakfast which included fresh strawberries Mick picked us up at 9AM.


Today we include a full day with your driver/guide to explore Cork City and the English market. 

It turns out it is not open on Sundays. But never mind, Mick had a back-up plan, The Cork City Gaol.


Brief History of Cork City Gaol: (Opened 1824, Closed 1923)

The Cork City Gaol in Sunday’s well, was designed to replace the old Gaol at the Northgate Bridge in the heart of the city. The old Gaol was nearly 100 years old on a confined site, Overcrowded and Unhygienic.

Some highlights.

Stepping inside visitors are taken back in time to the 19th century. Wandering through the wings of the Gaol, the atmosphere suggests you are accompanied by the shuffling feet of inmates, each representing their particular period in Irish history from pre –famine times to the foundation of the state. The cells are furnished with amazingly life like wax figures; original graffiti on cell walls tell the innermost feelings of some inmates while a very spectacular audio visual tells the social history and contrasting lifestyles of the 19th century Cork and why some people turned to crime, and some ended up in Australia.

Governor's office with Queen Victoria over the fireplace.

Guilty!

"By a lonely prison wall

I heard a sweet voice calling,

"Danny, they have taken you away.

For you stole Travelian's corn,

That your babes might see the morn,

Now a prison ship lies waiting in the bay."

You will also visit the Queenstown Story in Cobh. At the Queenstown Story you will learn about the tragedy of the Irish Famine and the story of Irish Emigration. You will also learn through story boards about the sinking of the US ship Lusitania, and the last stop of the ill-fated Titanic at the port of Cobh. 



This is a stunning multimedia exhibition is located in Cobh’s restored Victorian Railway Station.

From 1848 to 1950, over 6 million adults and children emigrated from Ireland – over 2.5 million departed from Cobh, making it the single most important port of emigration. This exodus from Ireland was largely as a result of poverty, crop failures, the land system and a lack of opportunity.

Annie Moore was the first emigrant to pass through the Ellis Island immigration facility in New York Harbor on Jan 1, 1892. She had traveled from Cobh on the steamship Nevada with her brother Anthony and Phillip.

A statue of Annie and her brothers stands on the quayside in Cobh.

Mick pointed out a mural as he knew my interest in them.

Time for a quick bite, well, not so quick...but good. 

Later you will visit the Midleton Distillery. A tour of the Jameson Experience is a journey through the story and making of Irish whiskey. Guided tours are available throughout the year and all tours commence with an audio-visual presentation, retracing the history of whiskey in Ireland. Guests are then guided through the old distillery, where they can admire the old kilns, mills, maltings, water wheel, still house, distiller’s cottage, cooperage and warehouses.

Late afternoon as we pass through Cork. We had asked Mick if we could find the new monument of nine eagle feathers erected to commemorate the donation from the Choctaws. it so happened we spotted it from the motorway.

Just 13 years before the Famine, the Choctaws were forced by the American army, at gunpoint, to march across mountains and snow.

They were stripped of their land in Alabama, Mississippi and Florida, and had to walk 500 miles to Oklahoma.

Despite the oppression faced by the Choctaws in the years preceding the famine, on hearing of the plight and hunger of the Irish people in 1847, they raised $170 to send to the Irish people and ease their suffering. This figure is equivalent to tens of thousands of dollars in today’s currency.

Cork

 In the late afternoon its back to Kinsale for an evening at your leisure.

Laura had made reservations at Man Friday's for 7:30 and we walked over there. Another delicious set menu of three courses.