Dingle Weekend – Friday July 5-7, 2013

            On Friday, half of the NUIG’s Irish Summer Studies Program loaded onto 2 buses to head to Dingle for the weekend. We drove roughly two hours and arrived at our lunch stop, Bunratty Castle and Folk Park. Bunratty has been inhabited since the Vikings in 970; the first wooden castle was built in 1251. The current version was built in 1425 and the founder of Pennsylvania supposedly grew up in it. We toured the grounds, saw the amazing views from the top, and then went around Folk Park. Folk Park is a 17^th century reconstructed village that now has lots of shops and places to eat. We went to Mac’s Bar for lunch and I had the delicious and filling Irish seafood chowder. Alex and a few others got the fried Cod which received rave reviews. We continued our bus ride for another four hours because of the traffic, but the ride through the winding cliffs and rolling hills was absolutely BEAUTIFUL. It was like the Sound of Music; people would try and sing “the hills are alive with the sound of music ahh ahh ahh ahh”. We finally got to Dingle and checked in to the nicest hostel that I have ever seen, the Dingle Harbour Lodge Hostel. All 12 CEA girls shared a room with bunk beds and ONE bathroom. Other than the cramped spaces, the accommodations were completely fine. They had some difficulties with the Wi-Fi when 50 Americans with iPhones arrived, but it was okay because most of the pubs had Wi-Fi. We went to Harrington’s Fish Restaurant for dinner and I had the veggie burger, it was scrumptious. We went to SuperMaxx and got a few drinks to have by the Harbor and watch the boats and kayaks go by. We ended the night at Danno’s and ate in their tiki hut. We were the only people there and then all of a sudden, everyone was there. Luck of the draw!

            We had eggs and toast for breakfast at the hostel and hit the road on the bus again. We went to see the early Christian round huts (aka Beehive Huts). An archeologist from Dingle took us around all day and showed us the significance and meaning to all of the old architecture that we were visiting. The Beehive Huts were so small and cute and sat on this huge hill filled with sheep around it. After some exploring and harassing of the sheep we went to Coumeenoole Beach.

The beach was beautiful and down a hill so there were cliffs all around. After taking way too many pictures, we were off to the Blasket Island Cultural Center for our lunch stop. We watched a documentary of the history of the island when we arrived. This agrarian island was inhabited by 200 people at its prime and gave rise to a whole literary subject. We went to lunch after our nap; I had the delicious appetizer of garlic bread for lunch. You’d think that we would be dead tired after all of our running around all day, but we still had two more sights before our return to Dingle! Next we went to the Gallarus Oratory. This tiny, ancient church was built in the 9^th century. The church was built of large cut stones that were smoothed to the cone form it has today. The next church we went to was the Kilmalkedar. It was built in the 12^th century and is a fine example of Romanesque architecture. Both of the churches were tiny and could barely hold our group. Kilmalkedar Church was home to the alphabet stone and another stone with a circle punched in the top. Supposedly, when a man and a woman touched their finger through the hole, they were considered married… so we did that of course! What happens in Ireland stays in Ireland right?! We drove back to Dingle and sat by the water for a while. We adventured further and found a whole new part of the city. We ate at the cutest vegetarian hippie place called Cúi Gairdín, where I had a yummy fresh herb and cheese crepe. We traveled to a few bars (Hannie Agnes’s and Marina Inn) for some traditional Irish music and a pint!

We had another delicious breakfast at the hostel, packed up our belonging and hit the road to go back to Galway. We had our lunch stop in Adare. This sweet little town consisted of thatch roofed houses, a beautiful manor, and an Irish golf course. We went to this restaurant called The Good Room to eat yummy tomato basil soup. After lunch, we went to explore the Holy trinity Abbey Church and then returned to the Adare tourist center. Shortly after, we were in Galway. Home Sweet Home. The whole town was filled with excitement that night for the Dublin v. Galway Hurling finals. We unfortunately lost L but it was an interesting and fun game to watch!