Since I wasn’t flying home till Thursday afternoon, I decided on Tuesday to make use of my rental car and drive the rest of the ring of Kerry and go visit the Dingle Peninsula.

One last look out toward the Skelligs.

Looking over towards the Beara Peninsula, where I spent the last two weeks.

Drove through the Killarney National Forest

I then drove over to the Dingle peninsula where I stopped to look at the ruins of a stone fort by the edge of the bay

I stopped by The Great Blasket Centr and Island and learned a bit about the Blasket Islands.  These islands were inhabited until about the 1950s when the population of the village on the island declined significantly and all the inhabitants moved over to the mainland. The Islanders were known for their stories and their maintenance of the Irish language. Apparently a number of books have been written about the islands and also by islanders.


Great Blasket Island

Since it was getting a bit late, I continued my journey around the Dingle Peninsula, stopping to take a few photos at an overlook

And stopping by St Brendan‘s Oratory, which is connected with St Brendan.

For my last night out on the peninsulas, I stayed at the Murphy Farmhouse, which had some lovely flowers out front.

Wednesday I took a train back to Dublin.

In the evening, I went to St. Patrick’s Cathedral for Evensong and a guided tour of the building after the service. The cathedral choir is on holiday in July and August so it was a spoken Evensong.

There’s a lot of fascinating history in this building. I didn’t take a lot of pictures, since cathedrals are best experienced in person.

On Thursday morning, since my plane was delayed until late afternoon, I puttered through some of the shops on Grafton Street till it was time to go to the airport.

After which I went to the airport and flew to Philadelphia.