Thru Ron's Digital Lens

Gallagher's Seafood Restaurant Murphy's Ice Cream Shop John Benny's Pub Music Session Tommy O'Sullivan, Eilis Kennedy, John Benny Spending ten days in Ireland, the majority on the Dingle Peninsula, we have gathered some thoughts on the Irish dining experience. First, let us say that the pervasive impression that Irish food does not equate well with other culture's offerings just didn't hold true for us. We found that our dining experience was very enjoyable over all. Ron made it his personal quest to identify the best bowl of Seafood Chowder available on the Peninsula. After many tastings over the 10 days, his number one choice was the chowder at John Benny's Pub , followed very closely by the offering at Ash's Pub . Ann was up to her challenge of identifying the best slice of Irish Brown Bread . (Always served with soup and breakfast) Her favorite was served at a small pub in Ballyferriter. She claims her decision was based on their bread's swee...

Farmers Work With Their Dog Finnbar , Tommy And Others The Traveling Trio On Their Last Day Well here we are on our last day in Dingle. We will be leaving soon to drive over to the Shannon area so that we can leave in the morning about 11:00 am. Yesterday was another wonderful day, made more so by the first full day of no rain and mostly sunny weather. We went to church at St. James Church which is the local Church Of Ireland church in Dingle. A small group, only the vicker and 6 others besides ourselves. It is a great little church, very simple but just what you would expect in Dingle. This church hosts music concerts 3 times a week during the summer. With the Sun out we took a drive out by Eagle Mt and down to Don Quon at the end of the peninsula. And then we found two archaeological sites just down the road from our cottage that were absolutely wonderful. While we were there our neighbors were out herding a flock of their sheep with their sheep dog, this was just a delight to...

Dona At Beehive Hut Gallarus Castle Ann & Dona Taking Tea At Bric's Pub The Bar At Brics Pub The Fireplace The Sea And Rocks Weather wise this was a real wind blown, wet one! Because of that we didn't do quite as much site seeing, but still had a wonderful time. Ron went out early on his own to look for a castle that we had read about, called Gallarus Castle. Not a real old one, 15 th century, built by the Fitzgerald family and occupied by them until the 17 th century. Later after lunch we all went out and stopped at a cute little store and bought peat and candy. Then to St. Branden's Creek, where St. Branden, the navigator, was said to have left to sail to North America. This is where a fairly large creek comes down and meets the sea. The wind was truly blowing a gale at this time. There were warning signs that during high tide and high winds people had been blown into the sea and lost at this place. Next we went back to Gallarus Castle so that Dona and An...

Irish Sea Gulls The Waves Rolling In A Typical Dingle Landscape The Cliffs Along Dingle Way The Blasket Islands (Sleeping Giant) Sean Daly Shows How It's Done Day four started with some clear weather and sunshine. It was our day to go to the Crystal shop and see Sean Daly work his magic. He showed us how he cuts the Crystal, polishes it and gave us an opportunity to buy as much as we wanted. And we wanted a lot!!! After visiting a few more spots in Dingle, we headed around the Dingle peninsula drive and it seemed like we stopped every 10 minutes to see one more spectacular view of the Atlantic and the rocks. We also were able to see the Blasket Islands even though the fog and mist was moving in and out most of the afternoon. Around 4:00 we found a nice pub in Bally Fueritor where we could get a bowl of soup and a toasted sandwich and a pint of Guinness. In Ireland, the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday is called Pancake Day. Everyone fixes pancakes for dinner before the beginnin...

2/17/07 We left Chicago on time at 6:00 pm with a full flight, kind of jammed in. The flight was pretty uneventful and we arrived in Dublin on time, but then things slowed down. Apparently there was a connecting flight from Boston that was late due to weather. The weather (ground fog) was a problem at both airports. Finally got to Shannon at 11:00 am. Long drive to Dingle getting used to driving on the left, the "round abouts", the narrow roads and the Irish drivers. Got to Dingle about 4:30, went to the Internet cafe to email everyone. Haven't gotten a phone yet, maybe tomorrow. Did some shopping so that we could fix dinner and breakfast for today. We left for our cottage just after dark, which was a mistake! However, after several misses we finally found our new home for the next 10 days. It is a wonderful cottage. More to come in another entry on the Cottage. After a time of unpacking and fixing dinner it was time to go to bed. We had been up for over 35 hours with o...

For those of you who are planning on following our upcoming trip to Ireland we want to give you a general itinerary. We say general because for most of the trip we will be living in our "self catering" cottage. ( http://www.kilmalkedar.co.uk/ )It is not our intention to be held to a strict schedule that will dictate our every hour of the day. Friday, Feb 16 Leave Milwaukee on a bus to go to O'Hara airport, Chicago about 12:30 pm. Leave Chicago at 6:00 pm Saturday, Feb 17 Arrive in Shannon Airport at 9:00 a.m. Shannon is in the west central part of Ireland. We plan to take it easy going from Shannon to Dingle what with learning to drive on the left side of the road and on narrow roads and jet lag. They say that Dingle is 3 to 31/2 hours from Shannon. We will probably stop at a few places along the way. Once we get to Dingle we will plan to look around a little, buy some groceries and then head to the Cottage (5 miles). I'm sure we will plan to go to a pub that nigh...

As most of you know, Dona, Ann (Dona's sister) and I will be traveling to Ireland from February 16th to February 27th. We will be staying in one location for our entire trip and taking day trips out from our "home" base. We are staying in a self catering cottage called the Rambling House, which is over 200 years old. It is located at Kilmalkedar which is 5 miles from Dingle Town, Co. Kerry. See the links next to this posting. The weather should be okay; temps in the 50's, but with the promise of rain and mist. However, the number of tourists will be way down this time of year. We plan to spend a lot of time exploring castles, monastic sites, old forts, etc. Also on the agenda are considerable nights in the local pubs listening to traditional Irish music. Dingle is one of the great centers for this. Of course, Ron will be spending many hours every day taking pictures, which we will share with everyone. We have access to an internet cafe in Dingle, so we are planning on...