Day 11: Dingle Peninsula

 After breakfast this morning we headed out for a road trip to the Dingle Peninsula! I fueled up on some delicious watermelon and a couple of pastries from our hotel in Limerick. The views on our way to Dingle were stunning, full of the Irish countryside and North Atlantic Ocean.

Once in Dingle, we made a quick stop for some snacks to hold us over until after Joe gave us our road tour around the peninsula. I ate a baguette, whoops. One of our stops on the tour was at Ceann Sraithe. In this area, we were informed that you can sometimes see puffins, whales, and even sharks! Unfortunately, we were not that lucky, but the view was great nonetheless! In Dingle, we were set free to explore to shop and eat on our own. The town itself was bustling with tourists, so we fit in well. 

Ella, Emily, Corinne, and I wanted to find a cafe for lunch. We all ended up getting coffee at My Boy Blue. I got a Ferrero Rocher Mocha, which was delicious. Corinne and I found a quick lunch at Juice for Thought before shopping around the town. 

Corinne found a magnet with a bronze dolphin on it, so we determined we must find said dolphin. It turns out our bronze dolphin friend is named Fungie. The statue commemorates a real dolphin, lovingly named Fungie, who used to be seen escorting fishing boats to and from port. Fungie was first seen in 1984 and eventually recorded as a permanent resident of the channel by the Ministry of Marine manager. 

The last thing on our list for Dingle was to get ice cream from Murphy’s, recommended by our bus driver, Joe! I got chocolate whiskey and Kieran’s cookies and wow, that was some good ice cream. 

We then headed towards Killarney, where we were staying for the night. On the way, we stopped at Ross Castle built in the 15th century by the O’Donoghue family, who ruled Killarney at the time. 

After arriving at the hotel, we dropped off our bags and headed into town, which was only about a half mile walk. We stopped into the Killarney House & Gardens and looked around at some beautiful scenery. Since we had a late lunch, we decided to do some more shopping before stopping for dinner. I ended up getting myself a Guinness hoodie that I originally spotted in Belfast, but decided not to get at the time. Additionally, I found some jewelry to get my sisters and mom. You’re welcome fam, see you soon! 

After much deliberation, we ended up at J.M. Reidy’s for dinner. It was a very cool place to experience live Irish music with both an indoor and outdoor atmosphere. They were no longer serving bar food, but they had begun their pizza menu for the evening. I got a Classic Meat Calzone and it hit the spot. We hung around for awhile, watching some European soccer on the outdoor screen before moving inside to listen to the live music. Our stop in Killarney is short-lived, tomorrow we travel to Kilkenny Castle on our way to our last stop of the trip, Dublin. It’s hard to believe we are already closing in on our final destination! We’re all working hard to soak in the views and souvenir shop for our loved ones!

Keegan Koenen