We saw this on many signs, and tombstones..."O sweet Adare, O lovely vale".
And how apt, because it was a lovely vale, indeed. It was one of my favourite overnight stops. Something about it was comfort, through and through.
This might have had something to do with the fact that it was Gaelic speaking town/area - and that there were thatched rooves. Not on living history museum homes or anything, on real live homes and shops. It thrilled me to my core. Walking through the tiny little downtown just felt like - how is this real life?!
On a tour we at this point had yet to take, our guide (about mid forties) said when he was younger he remembered the "thatching parties" of the town getting together to re-thatch a roof. It is certainly less common now, as things get updated to modern standards, but. When I go back I want to stay in a place with a thatched roof.
Someone got a new roof!
Adare seemed to be quite into hurling. It's a sport that seems like a mixture of lacrosse and ...field hockey maybe? It's a stick and ball sport, and Brian's grandfather played it. Adare must have still been in the running for a tournament, because there were signs all about.
If this is not the cutest thing. I love it.
And we discovered - the name of the cup in hurling is the Bolger Cup!! Here is a google image of the Bolger Cup! - being presented to star player by...Jim Bolger, which is the name of Brian's Dad, lol.
the underside of a thatched gazebo.
Probably a bank - looks like a cult 😂
Where we stayed. It was "grandma vibes" in the best best best way. Our host was the cutest lady, and the room keys were skelton keys! The only place we stayed that served breakfast.
We went to a gastro-pub (a pub known for good food and not just drinks) for dinner and live entertainment. This dish was one of the best things I ate while there - so flavourful! It was a cajun chicken tagliatelle, Brian's panini was called Ath Dara (which is Adare in Gaelic) - it was like Thanksgiving inside with turkey, cranberry, stuffing and bacon.
This was deep fried Brie. YUM
Peri Peri shrimp!
A cider and an NA beer. I tried the Guinness. Ew! Can't do it.
Maybe because I grew up in a home next to a graveyard?...Or maybe just because I love to imagine lives in the past - but I love graveyards. They don't creep me out at all.
💕
A little common area for sitting. This place was so quaint and wonderful!
Our host specified a "cold breakfast" would be served. This was fruit, toast, meats (cold cut style), cheeses, oatmeal, and muffins/crossaints. There was Barry's tea served hot to our table in little pots, and I haven't had Blackcurrant jam since I was a kid - I definitely haven't seen it offered anywhere in the last 20+ years I've been in the States. Full of nostalgia for me, as we had two massive currant bushes when I was a kid - one red and one black, and we harvested tons of currants and canned them in various ways (jams & juice are two I remember)
Our next stop was Dun Chaoin, unofficially anglicized to Dunquin. This is a "Gaeltacht" area, meaning it is primarily Gaelic speaking. You can expect to hear people speaking Gaelic, and for there not to be any English interpretations on the signage. Dunquin Pier is a very unique (and gorgeous pier), these cliffs have an unprotected edge (no fences), and it overlooks the Blasket Islands.
The whole unprotected edge thing is mind blowing to me. It's so freaking dangerous. And scary
In this pic you can see that downward sloping straight line/path on the Right - look for it below...
In the "I'm not even looking" video where I say I can't look at what I'm filming because I don't want to fall off the edge...well - the pathway to the other side leads you around the curve of the top edge there...about 24inches or less from the actual CLIFF EDGE, as seen in that video.
See that same downward sloping path/line again? Well, when we got over to that side, Brian decided to DESCEND THE CLIFF and go down there. I stayed on solid ground (see video content), but he was gone for a long time. So long in fact that I started to low key panic and think through what one might be expected to do if their husband disappeared off a cliff into the Atlantic. When he finally made it back, he declared that next time he needed to bring real hiking boots. Mental note: next time, HIDE ALL THE HIKING BOOTS. It looks reasonable from these angles, so you think I'm being dramatic. The angle is very very steep. Walking the pier, it was the kind of steep where you could slip, and it hurts your knees to hold your body at such an upright angle for so long.
Billy goat Brian
Looking across to other tourists, honestly that is about as close as you want to get to that unprotected edge. It's windy!
The colour combo of brown/grey, green and teal is etched in my soul. A forever fave.
An adorable harbour town, Dingle was a bit of a disappointment because we couldn't enjoy it for the rain. It rained harder here than ever before - it was torrential. We had umbrella, and raincoats, and were soaked to the skin. We ducked into a souvenier shop and Brian bought a hat to try and keep the rain off his glasses a bit.
There had been a dog sitting on top of this donkey, with a homeless looking fellow playing the flute. but the dog jumped down by the time I got my camera out.
We had previously stopped at a Lidl for "car snacks" - apples, pretzels, bottled water, crackers, cheese etc. We did a lot of driving between locations in our loop around the country, and we generally got by with eating out 2 meals a day (lunch and dinner), but the timing of such was always different, and especially the first few days we were hungry at "American" times, not the 6 hrs off "Irish" time. We saw this SuperValu grocery store in Dingle, and stopped in for a few replenishments. I LOVE grocery shopping in other countries.
I know that basically North America is the only place in the world that washes the eggs, and thereby needs to refrigerate them. But still. It seems really strange to just have them out in an aisle. On the day I'm posting this, free range eggs at my local grocery store (Kroger) are $6.49 for 12, and this is 4.60euro for 12. Converting to Euro, in the Virginia, 12 free range eggs are 5.50euro - Making them cheaper in Ireland. We noticed the pricing on food, and in restaurants was much more affordable than here.
It was a cute, bright town. I was sad it rained so hard.
I thought this was so funny, because at all our stores here, the soda aisle is the length of the entire store, and both sides of the aisle. This was the tiniest selection (which tracked consistent with the other stores we were in). No wonder Americans all have sugar related illnesses! To escape the pouring rain, we ducked into The Boatyard for a bite. It was a phenomenal steak sandwich. Perhaps "traditional" Irish fare (remember those mushy peas) isn't the greatest - but the food offerings on the whole are top notch. We ate so well here, and super afforadably.
