September 21 2016 Dingle
We left Doolin and went to the Cliffs of Mohrer, which is only about 10 minutes away. It was raining and the wind blowing hard, but we were able to hike up to where the castle is. It was BEAUTIFUL but would have been better on a nicer day. Soaked, we started our drive to Dingle which will be almost 4 hours. Poor Blaine! The rain finally stopped as we got to Tralee for lunch (about halfway through our trip). We had lunch at Bailey's Corner, and the owner gave us some good tips on Dingle. Delicious vegetable soup! We got to Dingle around 5:30, and the sun was out! We decided to do the Dingle Peninsula drive. This is the most beautiful country! 50 shades of Green! Pastures of sheep and cows everywhere. Dramatic Atlantic waves crashing against the rocks!! Our next trip to Ireland will be Dingle.
We got a room at Benners Hotel on the main street in Dingle. But not any room, it was one of the rooms used by Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman when they were filming "Far and Away". It was beautiful with views of main street and the hills in the background out one window, and the Dingle Bay out the other window. We walked across to the Dingle Pub, had a great dinner, and met a nice couple from Michigan. At 9pm, the band was Dreams of Freedom. They just had a guitar and flute, but the lead singer had a great voice. They were lots of fun and got the whole crowd interacting. We checked out a few other pubs, but nothing else going in town, so we went back to hear Dreams of Freedom finish their set. Blaine bought their CD. We then walked across the street to our hotel and stopped at Mrs. Benners Bar for a nightcap. We met some VERY interesting people that evening. James Patrick Riley (possibly running for Lt. Governor of Rhode Island in 2017) was trying to pick up on a few women from La Grande, Oregon. He even tried serenading them. The couple from Melbourne, Australia added fuel to the fire after the Oregon women left. We didn't get their names, but she was from Ireland, and he was from New Zealand. It was quite a colorful evening with singing and interesting conversations (politics--American and British monarchy, women in the workforce, American labor movement). There was supposed to be a golf game the next day, but we are not sure if it materialized because we had to get up early and leave to drive to Dublin.
