Dingle and the Cliffs of Moher

[Fri 5/26 - Sat 5/27 - We're home now... I'm just trying to catch up!] 

It's an easy - and beautiful - 1 hour drive from Killarney to Dingle. As usual, we stopped a few times along the way to take in sights and attractions. We started back in Killarney National Park with a stop at Ross Castle, then continued along the coast toward Dingle.

15th-century Ross Castle

Boats tied up near Ross Castle

16th-century Minard Castle on the shores of the Irish Sea

Beautiful, quiet beach in front of Minard Castle

We arrived in Dingle around 2pm. Drove along the waterfront edge of town, which was packed with tourists, then continued a few minutes to our B&B, Milltown House - a waterfront spot with views back across the water to town (and where Robert Mitchum lived in 1969 while filming 'Ryan's Daughter').

Our home for the night

We relaxed a bit, then decided to find some lunch and explore the peninsula. Karri found a driving loop and a few places of interest to check out along the way.

Taking advantage of the view from our room

Lunch at Paidi O Se's outside Dingle - great spot

Cliff overlooking the Irish Sea

Beautiful Coumeenoole Beach on a postcard day

1000+ year-old Gallarus Oratory - an ancient church

The drive around the Dingle Peninsula was spectacular. We both thought it rivaled the Ring of Kerry in terms of beauty, with fewer tourists - which was a blessing, as the roads were the narrowest we experienced!

We relaxed back at our room for a bit, then walked to Dingle to explore and find some dinner. Dingle turned out to be much larger than our initial impression from driving the waterfront. It's a bit touristy, but there were plenty of locals walking the streets and hanging out in the pubs.

Houses along the road into Dingle

We ended up at The Dingle Pub, which had live music and a crowded bar. We got one of the last tables in the restaurant section, which was perfect as we were able to hear the music and watch the dancing while we enjoyed Guinness stew, fish-and-chips and a couple pints of Guinness - a fun night!

Saturday morning we had breakfast at the B&B then hit the road for our longest drive of the trip. Our ultimate destination was Dublin, but we had decided to detour north to the Cliffs of Moher, adding a few hours to the trip. An hour or so into the drive, we realized that Google Maps was routing us to a car ferry crossing of the Shannon Estuary that, if all worked out, would save us 40 miles of driving. As is often the case in our travels - all worked out! We pulled up to the ferry 10 minutes before the scheduled departure with only a few cars in front of us. We watched the ferry pull in and unload before driving aboard. My dad would have loved it - the boat was reminiscent of the landing ship he served on in WWII.

Ferry arriving

Unloading

That's our car (black one in the center)!

Short but pretty ride across the estuary

Once on the other (north) side, we had about an hour drive to the Cliffs. Google routed us through some narrow, rural roads. On one single-lane road we noticed a sign warning drivers not to rely on GPS routing, so we turned around and rerouted via a highway, adding a few minutes but getting us there safely!

We arrived to a long line of cars and buses at the entrance to the parking lot. We waited in line, paid, parked and walked to the cliffs - weaving through throngs of tourists. We decided to climb to the highest point to check things out, then work our way back. The views were spectacular - especially on another gorgeous, cloudless day.

First views of the Cliffs of Moher

We waited in line to take in the view from the top of that castle

View from the castle

More Moher

The park has a great trail system running along the edge of the cliffs. We wandered a bit, catching different angles and views. We realized we could spend several hours there walking/hiking, but still had a 3+ hour drive ahead of us and needed to return our car by 9pm. So after about an hour of exploring, we headed to the car and got back on the road - destination Dublin!