 | Dingle Things To Do | Tips 1 - 10 of 96 |  |
Not far from Gallarus Oratory you may see Kilmalkedar ( Cill Maolcheadair ) with its small graveyard and a famous "Ogham-stone" and this famous early celtic cross.
The celtic cross on the left was made of 1 piece of stone and the ogham-stone on the right of my picture is that small needle-like stone, that even has a small hole drilled in on the top. Such ogham-stones were taken as a calender maybe, but scientists are not really sure about it. Another ogham stone of Kilmalkedar cemetery might have been used as a callender, BUT nobody knows for sure - see my last picture. Leave a Comment Directions: Kilmalkedar is in a distance of 4km from Gallarus Oratory, at the north-west cost of Dingle peninsula.
|
Visiting Dingle?
Read reviews about Dingle Hotels
Real Reviews from Real VirtualTourist Members.
Beehive-huts are a great attraction on Dingle Island, mainly west of Dingle-town : These buildings date back hundreds of years, but their exacte age is unknown. All of these Beehive-huts are situated on private land ! You may enter them , after having payed a small fee of maybe 1-2 Euros. This system of "private museums" in Ireland is quite simple: On one hand it is a steady income for the landowners during the main season.On the other hand the maintenance of these small sights by a museum and an extra person selling tickets would be too expensive.
You better carefully watch your step !!Most of these beehive-huts are situated on meadows with plenty of sheep, who never care a lot, where they powder their noses... Leave a Comment Directions: When you drive on Slea Head Drive (R559) , the scenic circle-road west of Dingle-town, you will pass by many of these buildings.
|
This old stone-age village is to be found not far from Gallarus Oratory . It consists of several houses, also called clochans . These buildings are quite usual in that area and they were built by heaping up stones and rocks of all sizes, forming a flat and narrow house, only the roofs are missing today, obviously they had roofs made of straw.
Nowadays there is a fence around these buildings, BUT of course you may climb over it and take a closer look at this great remains ! Leave a Comment Directions: You have to keep your eyes open, when driving through Dingle Island in order to find these treasures of Irish history. This village is about halfway between gallarus Oratory and Kilmalkedar.
|
Dunbeg Fort ( An Dun Beag ) is the best-preserved of the Irish Forts dating back to the Iron-time. Dunbeg Fort ( An Dun Beag ) is about 6 km west of Dingle-town, when you drive on road R559 ( the Slea Head Drive).
On my picture you may see one of the small doors leading from one of the rooms into another, the stones are just heaped upon each other, but in a perfect and absolutely wind-proof way. At some places these walls are 1 meter thick. Leave a Comment Directions: You will get to Dunbeg Fort, when you drive on Slea Head Drive (R559) , the scenic circle-road west of Dingle-town. Dunbeg Fort will be on the right of the road, next to the cliffs !
|
The Blasket Islands are just a few hundred meters off the west-coast of Dingle-Peninsula and Great Blasket, the biggest of these islands was still inhabited by a few farmers untill 1953. Most of the inhabitants had left the islands in the 19th and 20th century and searched for their luck in America, because life became too hard in the remote islands.
Nowadays you may easily take the ferryboat from Dunquin in order to explore the Blasket Islands. You may still see the remains of the church and several houses there.
In 1588 the Santa Maria de la Rosa, a ship of the spanish armada sunk in that area around the Blaskets.
You may click here in order to see the Blasket Islands on a map :
www.multimap.com Leave a Comment Directions: The Blasket Islands are just a few hundred meters off the west-end of Dingl Peninsula. Take the "Atlantic Drive" from Dingle-town and take the ferry at Dunquin.
|
Visiting Dingle?
Read reviews about Dingle Hotels
Real Reviews from Real VirtualTourist Members.
Gallarus Oratory is without doubt the main attraction in Dingl Island ! It is a tiny church dating back to the 6th century and it was built like a boat standing upside down. There is no seperate roof, but the walls are meeting on top and all of the stones were perfectely set togeather without any kind of a cement. There is just an open door at one side and a tiny round window at the other side of the building.
Get inside of the tiny church, and you will see that wind and rain have NO chance at all to get inside these perfect walls - it might even be a good idea to find shelter there in case of a sudden rainfall, like they happen quite often in Ireland. The monks also left a small cemetary and on my last picture you may see the most beautiful tomb of it.
You may park your car only on a small car-park next to the oratory, and you have to pay a small fee for the parking.
The entry to Gallarus Oratory and the tiny cemetery around of it is free of charge and also possible any time of the day. So you don't have to stick to opening-times, you may even be lucky and park for free, when you come very early or very late ! Leave a Comment Address: Gallarus Oratory / Dingle peninsulaDirections: Gallarus Oratory is north of Dingle-town,take the road R559 !Plenty of signposts will show you the way to Gallarus Oratory !
|
 | |  |
Funghi the Dolphin is a single Doplhin, who decided to stay in the bay of Dingle harbour a lot of years ago and plenty of boats offer cruises to watch it, some even offer to give your money back in case that Funghi will not show up...
BUT of course Funghi will show up, it seems to have great fun to watch boats and tourists - that way Funghi became one of the best known tourist-attractions in Dingle town.
The boats start to watch Funghi
daily between 10.00am and 06.00pm, weather permitting
The tours start at the Pier of Dingle's fishingport
Prices are 12 Euros for adults, 6 Euros for children under 12 Leave a Comment Address: Dingle, Co.Kerry - at the pierPhone: 066/915-1967 (or 2626)Directions: You may drive your car directely to the pier, where you see a large parking. The pier is in the very centre of town, opposite of the restaurant "the singing Salmon"
|
| | |
Connor Pass is a steep pass-road through the mountains north of Dingle town.
This road is restricted to vehicles with less than 2,8 tons, but local people and some tourists go there anyway with cars being much more heavy .
The road over Connor-pass is really very narrow at many places, it has only a few small passing-places and some overhanging rocks that might damage high vehicles, especially motorhomes. Still it is worth to go there, because the panorama-view is overwhelming. A few years ago, when I came to Dingle with my big motorhome of 4 tons , I also had a small "Di Blasi" motorbike with me - you may see it , when you click on my picture ! Leave a Comment Address: Dingle - Connor-passDirections: Connor Pass is only 5Km north of Dingle town, just follow the signposts and try to explore also a bit of the northern part of Dingle-peninsula !!
|
When you are lucky, you may get into a "Dingle-trafic-jam" with local sheep - it will even make a great picture, in case that you are able to find a perfect place to stand with your camera.
Simply try to be quicker in finding a great place to take the picture, than I did ! I simply was 2 minutes too late to climb up one of these side-walls, but I was lucky anyway somehow...
Believe me, if you want to arrange such a picture by waiting at a crossing for some sheep, it SIMPLY WILL NOT WORK, it might be the best to arrange such a picture with the help of the local farmers, who will of course expect some tip ! Leave a Comment Directions: I took this picture in one of the side-roads in Dingle-island. Speak to the local farmers and ask them, at what he will pass by...
|
Dingle-town is the main village of Dingle-peninsula, and mostly the island and also the village are simply called "Dingle". Dingle has only 1300 inhabitants but recently it became quite popular among young tourists - certainly not only for Funghi, the dolpin, but also for the many pubs offering live-music sessions every night in summer. Dingle is also a good place to go shopping for things that you are used to from home, but cannot get at most places in Ireland. I mean things like special camera-accesories and camping-articles. Many shops have specialized and offer such things for the tourists.
In summer, between May and October there is a good bus-service to Dingle, taking you directely to Dingle-Main-street. Leave a Comment Directions: Dingle Peninsula is the nothernmost of the 5 fingers reaching out into the Atlantic ocean at the south-westcoast of Ireland.
|
| | |
|
|
on March 29, 2006
