carol27 wrote:
I once holidayed at Cloghane,Dingle Peninsula County Kerry, the only time I've been to Ireland, and it was fantastic. Exquisitely beautiful, miles of empty beaches, craggy mountains and loads of little grottos with statues of Mary. They celebrate the harvest with Crom Dubh' s day where people participating climb Mt Brandon to give thanks; one local chap told me that in times past the pilgrimage involved crawling up the mountain but I'm not sure I heard that right.
In Tralee the hunger striker posters are replenished each time they fade or tear and they moved me to tears, some of those men died so quickly.
In Dingle I ate the best fish soup known to man, and enjoyed some wild nights out in the pubs, listening to local musicians and trying to Irish dance.
I hadn't yet developed my increasing obsession with monuments and regret not seeking out any of the apparently thousands of sites in Ireland, but the place I was in was in was so magical and beautiful that it doesn't really matter. I would dearly love to go back one day.
Sounds like you had a great time Carol, magical seems to be the right word. Hope you manage to go back.In Tralee the hunger striker posters are replenished each time they fade or tear and they moved me to tears, some of those men died so quickly.
In Dingle I ate the best fish soup known to man, and enjoyed some wild nights out in the pubs, listening to local musicians and trying to Irish dance.
I hadn't yet developed my increasing obsession with monuments and regret not seeking out any of the apparently thousands of sites in Ireland, but the place I was in was in was so magical and beautiful that it doesn't really matter. I would dearly love to go back one day.
I have only recently started visiting Ireland to look at ancient sites. I recommend West Cork and the Beara Peninsula for stone circles and wedge tombs. I too went to Dingle just last year - the town captured my imagination after seeing Amy Winehouse doing a concert there in a small church hall, before it all went wrong for her. There were no stone circles on the Dingle peninsula but we found a wonderful neolithic tomb, loads of standing stones, Dunbeg promontory fort (partially fallen into the sea), loads of early Christian sites, beehive huts and the Corr Aille Spiral Stone - which was something of a thrill.
I would very much like to visit the north of Ireland next time I go - Donegal in particular.