Ireland Day 1 - Friday

So our first day was a very full day and we were only there for half a day.  We started the journey heading to Frankfurt Hahn and our first trip on Ryan air.  We have heard a lot about the airline and we had no problems and were right on time. 

 

The boys were very excited about our trip, waiting for the shuttle to the airport it was sooooo cold, we weren't sure if we brought enough warm clothes and I packed quite a few for the boys.  The weather forecast for Ireland was sun on Friday and Saturday and then rain the rest of the week.

 

 

A shot from the air as we were coming in for a landing.  One thing about Europe they have lots of wind machines.  AJ took this shot and not a bad picture.

 

We were met by a wonderful man, Dara, at the airport.  The first place he took us was Ballyseede Castle.  It was built in the 1590s and abandoned in 1918 and then restored around 1965.  It is now a hotel with a beautiful golf course on it.  Ballyseede Castle was the chief garrison of the legendary Fitzgerald’s, Earls of Desmond, many of whom refused to swear allegiance to the crown, which resulted in the infamous Geraldine Wars that continued intermittently for three centuries and concluded with the beheading of Gerald, 16th Earl, in the Demesne of Ballyseede and whose head was exhibited in a cage on London Bridge.  It was originally the castle plus 3000 acres. 

 

Heading in for some tea and coffee

David stopped to pet the local wildlife

 

Michael - isn't he cute?

The boys and I went outside to play a little tag in their beautiful back yard.  I love this gazebo the boys used as base

 

These pots were all around the castle, so many gorgeous items in and around the castle.

 

After the castle we got back in the car and drove to the Kishanig graveyard.  Some of Dara's family are buried there.  Most of the graveyards there had huge headstones or big tombs.

 

This has one of the best views I think a graveyard can have, it is right on the water.

 

 

 

Isn't it beautiful and peaceful?  (look at the blue sky!!)

 

Here Mr. Dara is showing the boys about sand hoppers.  They both screamed and ran the first time they saw them.

 

But then they were hunting for them after that and actually made David turn over a really big stone so they could catch even more.  They also hunted for shells and found quite a few.

 

AJ enjoying the rocks to climb on!!!

 

These boats are called Curagh.  It is all built of wood on the inside.  When they were done with the wood frame, they pour tar on it to make it waterproof.  They used these boats for everything, including getting cattle from the islands to the mainland.  They would put rope around the cattle's necks and then hook them together and had them swim.  It wouldn't be good if one of them sunk because then all of them would go down.  Dara also said the currents were treacherous and hard to sail across especially in these little boats.

 

Here the boys are checking out the spider crabs.  I have never seen a spider crab, but there were some fishermen there that were bringing in their fresh catch.  They are actually fairly large crab and Dara scared the boys with the pincher's of a dead one.  :-)

 

They catch the crab in wooden crates.  They sink it down for a certain amount of time and then go back for them I think it was about a week, but not positive on that one.  This one was still in the water waiting its turn to be brought up on land.

 

Next he took us to Mahres district which is big for planting potatoes.  Here is the Castle Gregory cemetery and church.  This church is still used every Sunday.

 

Just a beautiful view of the Mahres district

 

This is called Harp Lake - can you tell why?!?

 

This is the oldest glacier in the world.  It is in West Kerry and called Pedler's Lake.  We had a bit of an adventure here.  Dara told the boys to stay on the rocks because it had been raining a lot lately and was pretty muddy.  Well what did Michael do?  He of course stepped in the mud, his shoe was stuck in the mud and then he stepped in the mud with his sock.  Luckily there was water nearby to wash everything out.  You can see him with one pant leg up hopping to the water to get clean.  Gotta love them.  He did try to step in the same mud on the way back down too.  :-)

 

David enjoying the warm weather and sunshine at the lake

 

AJ trying to get wet also, he was close to getting his shoes wet.  Who knew I should have brought three pairs of shoes for each boy?

 

Glad we are on vacation in a beautiful part of the world!!!

 

Dara helping the boys down and keeping them on track to stay on the rocks so we didn't have any more muddy shoes.  :-)

 

The boys at the waterfall at the bottom.  There were many there that stopped and filled up their water bottles here because it was such clean water. 

 

At the top of the hill was an ice cream truck.  It was warmer than Germany, but not that warm.  But the boys say it is never too cold for ice cream and Dara said he had the best ice cream.  It was almost as big as his head.  :-)

 

So the boys enjoyed ice cream while I had a hot chocolate.  I think I had the better choice.  :-)  If you look past the boys you will see the town of Dingle - which I will tell you more about later.

 

In Dingle they had a new brewery open about two years ago with really good bear called Crean's.  It was named after a famous Irish man.  He joined the British Navy (by force) and went on to join 3 of the 4 major British expeditions to Antarctic.  It was during the 1911-1913 expedition that Tom Crean, with only 3 biscuits and a little chocolate for sustenance, no tent, no survival or navigation equipment, walked 18 hours to cover 35 miles to Hut Pt.  Thanks to Crean two others named Lashly and Evans that he brought back to base camp alive.  I couldn't imagine doing it today with all of the advancements let alone with nothing.  We walked through the brewery and learned about some of the history of that and other expeditions.

 

AJ giving it the thumbs up

 

David trying Crean's beer and he said it was very tasty!!

 

Michael getting in on the act.

 

Next we went to Sla'ndin beach.  You can see a watch tower in the background.  They had these all over Ireland.  They made sure that there was one within site distance of each other to send out the alerts if there were invaders coming from the sea.

 

David wrestling with Michael on the beach.

 

The boys enjoying running along the beach and rocks and staying mostly dry.

 

 

This is the beach were the famous dolphin Fungie leaves.  He is the resident dolphin in Dingle.  This picture and the next one I borrowed from Dara.  It was the end of the day and we did see Fungie, but he wasn't jumping like this.  That is actually Dara in the boat there that Fungie is jumping over.  Fungie came to Dingle about 30 years ago and has never left.  He has his own cave that he hangs out in and everything.

 

He LOVES playing with boats, especially the smaller ones.  It is quite a phenomena because dolphins don't usually live alone or stay in one place.  I guess about two times a year, some other dolphins come and visit Fungie and then they are on their way again.  There are people that will go out on the water for 14 hours and just play with Fungie all day.

 

 

Finishing up a wonderful walk on the beach and a great first day in Ireland of sightseeing

 

 

We were told the best place to eat in town for a family was Marina Inn.  David tried his first Guinness in Ireland and Michael with his pop.  I do have to say Guinness does taste much different in Ireland and I actually enjoyed it in Dingle. 

 

AJ and Mommy giving the thumbs up to a great dinner!!!

 

After dinner back in the bed and breakfast the boys dog piled on David!  It was such a great first day with lots of beautiful country side that we saw during the drive and walked around.  We were very excited to see what the next day would bring!!!