Day 15 - Dingle

The west coast is renowned for seafood, and we have had some good chowder, fish, and mussels here.  When ordering each meal, we are always asked "would you like baked potato, sliced potato, mashed potato, garlic/cream potato, or chips with that?"

The west coast is extremely windy all year round.  We have been told that in winter it is gale-force.

We passed an electricity generator which is powered by coal imported from Poland.  They also have oil generators and wind generators in Ireland.

During the property boom (before the GFC), banks were lending more than 100% of the cost price of a property.  Repayments are well in arrears now, but the banks are not foreclosing because the values of properties have fallen so much.  This helps to explain why there are so many small holiday homes around the coastline, all of which would be in arrears with repayments.

Blasket Island still has some holiday accommodation, although the island has been unoccupied since 1953.  Before that, there was a thriving community which considered the mainland almost as a foreign country.  They were self-sufficient, and faced the mainland rather than the wind-swept ocean.  The island is only one km offshore.

We visited a pottery centre which had some beautiful pieces for sale, but of course it is not possible to bring home large or heavy pieces.

Two quotes to show the humour of the Irish:

"God sent the Irish to Canada to keep them from marrying Protestants"

"In Ireland the inevitable never happens and the unexpected constantly occurs"

Beehive structures used for housing 2000 BC.  Each stone has been expertly chosen and placed for these to last so long.  They were constructed by master stone builders using no mortar.

Several more Beehive Structures, this area was without power until recent years.

House used in the making of the film "Far and Away". House owned by an 83 year old lady who charges  €2 each as an entry fee which she uses to visit her daughters in U.S. once each year. She also featured in the film "Far and Away" which starred Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman

The most westerly point of Ireland.  The film "Ryan's Daughter" was made here.

The unforgiving and tumultuous coast line and seas along the west coast.

The remains of the settlement on Blasket Island with the mainland in the background.

1300 year old church named the Gallarus Oratory.  Built east to west by master stone builders.  No mortar  was used in these buildings, Walls 4 feet thick at the base and each stone sloped outwards so that the inside was completely dry, even today.  Door and window faced exactly east-west on the date of the summer equinox.

View from the inside.  Each stone was hand chosen to make a tight fit.

Bandon was an adventurer who left from here 900 years before Christopher Columbus. ( around 1680 AD), sailing in a timber framed boat covered with animal skins.  He went in a northerly direction initially and then west to Newfoundland and onwards to what is now known today as America.  He was away for 7 years and upon his return nobody believed his story.