At long last, we had an easy day today. We slept until around 8 and got ready for breakfast. The B&B had options of a hot meal or continental breakfast, so Jeff had an omelette, sausage, and Irish bacon (ham), and I had scrambled eggs on toast with a side of “bacon.” They gave us complementary toast, both white and brown, which I think is the soda bread. I really liked the brown with Irish butter. Now that butter is the real thing!

We have a Rick Steves travel book of Ireland, and decided to follow the path he laid out for our own tour of the peninsula. I programmed Google to take us to various towns along the ring road, not thinking about how Google was going to give us the quickest path instead of the scenic route. So our first go-around, we skipped about half of the path from the travel guide. Still, it wasn’t a loss because we were able to get some great pictures of ruins without the traffic we would have had on the main road.

We reached Ballyferriter, where Jeff took some pictures while I figured out where we turned wrong.

I suggested going around the other way to see what we missed, but Jeff insisted on going back the way we came and taking the path laid out in the book. I’m really glad he didn’t listen to me. The route got extremely narrow in a couple of places where there was a cliff on one side and a mountain face on the other on a road that really should be one way. We got behind a tour bus going our way, and some unfortunate soul met the bus head on. The car had to back down the curves of that tiny confined space until the bus could pass. That could have been us if not for Jeff’s good instincts.

The views along this drive were spectacular. Every curve brought a new photo-worthy sight of animals, beaches, ruins, clouds on mountains, and neat cottages. We pulled off whenever we could for pictures or to explore the ruins and cemeteries. Everything is just so old here, not like at home.

The primary site we wanted to see was the Gallarus Oratory, a tiny stone church built roughly 1300 years ago. The rocks are stacked so intricately, that after all this time, the building is still watertight.

We ended the tour at Kilmalkedar Church, a ruin with an extensive graveyard around it. It was a beautiful wilderness around the church, and we got some lovely pictures of the flowers surrounding the graves.

We came back to the B&B for a nap. Jeff went out to explore Dingle town while I rested, and came back with some really great pictures of his experiences. By the time he came back, it was getting close to suppertime, so we went to the Dingle Diner, a place that tries to emulate an American vibe. We had pepperoni pizza that wasn’t the typical “cardboard and cheese” that Jeff has experienced elsewhere in Europe, so we were pleased.

Then we stopped at a family owned ice cream shop called “Kool Scoops” and had really great chocolate ice cream varieties. The owner was so funny. I said it was hard to choose a flavor, and he said, “You can get three if you like, wait twenty minutes, come back for three more, and then after another twenty minutes try three more so you can try them all.” When Jeff said you can’t have enough chocolate, the man said, “Ah, you can, but not of this ice cream because it’s so good.” I really appreciated his passion for and pride in what he was making and selling.

We stopped in a souvenir shop for a few minutes, and then started on the walk back to our room because it was 8PM. Maybe we are boring old people, but neither of us wanted to be out when the bars started doing their prime business. Tomorrow we will drive through part of Killarney National Park and maybe see Blarney Castle on our way to Cork, where we will return the car and use public transport for the remainder of our trip.