June 16th "Vacation from our vacation" in Dingle

Today was our "vacation from your vacation" day - time to regroup and relax.  Bud and his tour friend Al hiked around town taking photos.  We met at noon and went to the nunnery at St. Mary's church to see the Harry Clark windows of Diseart.  These stained glass windows were commissioned in 1922.  The workmanship and attention to minute detail was spectacular!  It was ashamed that he died a few years later, at age 42.

Full Window

The lines are the chicken wire that is on the outside of the window.

The detail, color and shading was amazing.  There were 10 windows and each one was just as good.

We planned to take a boat tour of Dingle harbor, but the wind had made the water so choppy the boats had to come in.

We went to the 6 p.m. Mass at St. Mary's church so we could hear our tour friend Mary play the organ.  She is a professional organist.  She asked the priest in the morning if she could play their organ to keep in practice and he asked to play at the service.  She is really good. 

Bud and I went to a local "home style food" restaurant for hake ( cod-like, yum!) and a bottle of wine.

June 15th Stone Huts and Troubadours

A gray day, but no rain.  Note the stone walls.  This was what many parts in the highlands of Ireland.  The farmers just cleared their fields and stacked them on the property lines.

Communing with the nature trail

Our group took the bus on an all-day scenic drive around Slea Head and the Dingle peninsula.  A local tour guide gave us information on important historical spots in the Dingle area.  Then we drove around Ventry Bay, named after the last English lord in this region.

We stopped at the Beehive Huts - circular stone huts built without the use of mortar for monks and clergy.  We circled the peninsula to the Blasket Center, a beautifully designed building built to commemorate and educate about those individuals who lived on the Blasket Islands off the west coast of Ireland. 

This structure has no mortar and has been here about 1000 years.

We also stopped at the Gallarus Oratory and Kilmalkedar Church and churchyard to see more stone buildings left by the early settlers to this region.


After dinner we all went to a concert of traditional Irish music at St. James' church.  We heard performances of Irish ballads on the accordion, guitar, whistle, bodhran (drum), and uilleann pipes (Irish version of bagpipes).

Since we can't get enough Irish music, we stopped at O'Sullivan's Old Courthouse Pub -again- to hear a guitar/fiddle duo on the way back to the hotel.