Ireland Day 7...

Day 7.

We made our way from Dingle to Adare this afternoon. This was one of the destinations on the tour that I was most looking forward to.

Although it’s only for a single night, we are staying in what was a real manor house.

The evening was planned to take advantage of all of the manor's amenities. We had dinner at the manor in their restaurant. The food was excellent. The option existed to choose a 7 course tasting menu, but our whole table would have had to make that choice, and there were a few at the table that were less adventurous than others, so everyone decided to go ala carte. After a wonderful meal, we spent the evening in the pub located on the lower level. They had a guitar player who played some songs from the U.S. as well as some Irish tunes. We had a great time in sing-along mode. We enjoyed many beers and whiskeys before returning to our rooms for the night.

ND and Adare Manor House

Our traveling companions Sheila and Brian decided to take our driver David’s suggestions to practice some falconry while at the manor. They invited me along, and then gave me a treat by asking me to participate on their dime. Hell… when am I going to get that opportunity again...? I agreed to participate even though it means an early morning. 

Brian with the golden eagle

There were 8 or 9 birds, with the largest being a golden eagle. Brian was the only one who held the eagle, but the rest of us held all variety of birds, including an Asian owl. 

The handler with the asian owl

After holding the birds, two were selected for some flight. This involved the handler placing a piece of meat on the glove and letting the bird fly in and land on your hand to grab it. It is quite an interesting experience to have a hawk swoop in and land on your gloved hand. After many flights the birds were well fed and the falconers were ready to move on to our next adventure.

Brian catching a hawk

After the falconry we boarded the bus and headed toward Dublin. Adare was wonderful.  I’d love to stay at the manor house again.

-ND

Ireland Day 6...

Day 6.

The day began with a trip to Dingle Crystal. It was an interesting comparison to the crystal we saw being produced at Waterford Crystal just days before. The owner and primary crystal craftsman gave us a tour of his workshop. He demonstrated cutting a few pieces. While I admittedly am not a fan of cut crystal, I do love the craftsmanship involved.  

The Dingle Crystal Workshop

We spent the day touring around the ring of Kerry. There are some beautiful stops along the highway that simply must be conveyed visually.  The hills surrounding Dingle become mountains, and the road that takes you through them becomes more of a goat path. It is so narrow that it doesn’t even have a center stripe. 

Along the way we found a beach with a path from the mountainside and a car park. We decided to make a stop for some quick photos.  It was really a beautiful beach, and the stop turned into about an hour of milling around on the beach. I learned that writing in sand is harder than you would think. (I suspect that it helps if you have something better to write with than a plastic knife that washed up out of the ocean.)

We had lunch while at the visitor center for the Blasket Islands, and then headed back toward Dingle. We spent the afternoon visiting local shops and pubs. We found this local art gallery and decided to take a quick visit.

We found no Dillon's on display

Our evening ended pretty much like every other one… pubs, pints and people watching. Tom and I once again closed out the evening together. We met a really nice family who was visiting Dingle, and they directed us to a great “late” pub. In reality it was more of a dance club, but the people we met were nice, and everything else was closed. 

Dingle was a great experience, and I’m already looking forward to visiting again in the future. A special shout-out is necessary for my friend Colette for her recommendations on where to visit. I’m really sorry we only missed you by a few days.  

-ND