Almost seven years ago Matt and I made our first (and only) trip to Europe. This was partially inspired by watching Wills and Kate's wedding the year before; that really made me want to go to London. We had also just started the adoption process when we were planning this trip and figured it might be our last chance to (easily) go to Europe for awhile. We were officially listed for adoption a few days after we got back and 10 months later we got Luke.
We spent 2 weeks overseas, visiting the English countryside, London, Paris, Edinburgh, and Ireland. Of all the places and cities we saw, three of them made my top 5 favorite places we've ever been: London, Paris, and Dingle.
London had a similar feel to New York and was just foreign enough to be exciting but a little bit familiar with them speaking English and just seeing it in media so often. Paris is Paris. We only spent 8 hours above ground and I still want more. I took French in high school so had learned a decent amount about Paris and it was so exciting to see it all in person.
Dingle we had never heard of until I was working on prepping this trip. It was in Rick Steves' Ireland book when he talked about how Dingle is gorgeous and less busy than the Ring of Kerry. I dislike crowds (despite my love of New York and London) and was sold instantly. We were going to Dingle.
We liked Dingle from the very beginning - the B&B I had booked had a parking lot. We had rented a car for the English countryside and again in Ireland and this was our only lodging anyplace that had easy parking, as in a lot. Everywhere else was cross your fingers for close street parking! And then try to figure out how to parallel park with everything backwards and that we read the signs right and it didn't get towed and we paid enough and and and, it was 7 years ago but I am still slightly traumatized by our driving in Europe experience, and I didn't even do any of the driving! (I've never learned how to drive a stick. That really worked in my favor in Europe.)
So we parked the car, dropped our dirty laundry at a place next door (never not weird leaving your dirty laundry with strangers), left our bags at the B&B since we were still hours before check-in, and picked up lunch. We had a picnic on the grounds of the B&B and then set out to do what we came to Dingle to do - drive the coast.
We remarked many times that it felt similar to driving the Road to Hana, in that we were on vacation and driving a slow road that went along the coast.
We stopped often to take pictures because the scenery was just amazing. The water was the most perfect shades of blue and green. It was a beautiful blue sky day. The grass was the greenest grass I had ever seen. There were stone fences and sheep grazing and lots of rocks along the coast. It was one of the most gorgeous places I've ever been. We have pictures from this drive framed in 4 different rooms of our house.
There were other cars on the road and we saw other tourists in spots but it certainly wasn't busy. We never felt rushed or crowded but had plenty of space to go at our own pace and stop often.
When we came to the spot in this next set of pictures I remember thinking it was the most beautiful place I had ever seen. And that in the US the coast would be crowded with expensive houses instead of sheep getting the best views. There were a surprising number of sheep.
It was about 60° but sunny when we did this drive. In later pictures I have my jacket on. Yet, when we stopped near this beach there were people sunbathing on it. Which seems crazy then and now. We didn't walk down to the beach and I've regretted it ever since! I don't know why I didn't want to then!
I have video of this next part, saying we thought the earlier part was gorgeous but this was even more gorgeous, even though now in pictures I feel the opposite. These next ones are gorgeous but I don't think the pictures do it justice for how we felt being there in person.
Even with all our stops it took less than 2 hours to drive the whole thing. It was a perfect way to spend an afternoon in Ireland.
By the time we got back we could check into our room and then headed out to explore Dingle. We got supper, walked around the harbor, and visited a couple very authentic pubs for pints and local music. This was just our second night in Ireland but it was the first time we had gotten to experience the pub atmosphere. It was exactly what I expected Ireland to be.
The next morning was breakfast at the B&B and that was hearty, as always. Then it was onto our next stop in Ireland - Cobh and more perilous driving and parking. We were in Dingle less than 24 hours but it was our favorite Irish stop and a definite highlight of our whole trip.
If you ever find yourself in Ireland, I highly recommend trying to stop in Dingle. The B&B was top notch, the people were friendly, and the views were spectacular. If we make it back to Ireland it will definitely be on our list.
Blog posts from that time: Doolin to Dingle | Awesome | Dingle to Cobh
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