The second week

We spent hundreds of miles 

and what felt like hundreds of hours 

driving along the Wild Atlantic Way -

  through countryside, small villages

 and beautifully remote vast expanses,
complete with fjords.
(The Connemara Loop was fabulous!)

 We toured abbeys, gardens, stopped in small pubs/restaurants 

and were forced to take harbor in a charming town
during a hurricane;

 an extended stay which also forced us
to cut several other towns

off our itinerary.

We eschewed tourist traps 

(bye, bye, Blarney Stone and Cliffs of Mohr) 

in favor of more remote, moodier offerings

(Hello, Slieve League).

We gave in and went to Dingle -

which was on everyone's list of 'must see's' -

although for the life of me I can't see why.

The peninsula itself was exquisite -

quintessential Ireland -

green hills, white sheep and blue sea.
(well, grey; not that that stopped the surfers!)

The namesake town however might just as well be called the Mall of Ireland -

anything made in China that was green, 

had a shamrock, shillelagh or Irish flag plastered on it 

was available for sale;

you could gain 10 lbs just walking past all the fudge and ice cream shops.

 There might be the appeal of a seaside boardwalk town to it in the summer

but in the cold wet fall, 

it was just another tourist trap filled with buses and retirees.

The next few posts will be images from the trip,
with notations (if I can remember) of where they were taken.

I also found my ideal cemetery...
what a blessed space.