Today was our last full day in Ireland. After two weeks of driving around Isabelle was tired. We both wanted a low-energy day to relax and close out the trip so we booked a trip on the “Paddywagon” to take us around the Dingle (hehe) Peninsula (hehehe).

We met up with our driver Michael at the Heritage Society right down the street at 8:30AM. There were a few other people already on board, but the bus was hardly full.

Our first stop was in Killarney, where we took a horse-drawn carriage ride.

Isabelle thought it was going to be a romantic two person situation, but we were on board with four other folks from our bus. The tour took us around Killarney National Park where our driver, Eric, and our horse, Paddy, pointed out various points of interest. More Eric than Paddy, really.

Our next stop was Inch Beach which is…a beach. For us, it was nice but not revolutionary; this was the same water we can see at home (the Atlantic), but colder.

Next up, we followed the Slea Head Drive all along the coast of Dingle. This was marked by some precipitous drops into the sea, which caused Isabelle to reiterate how glad she was that she wasn’t the one driving.

If the day had been clearer, we could have seen Skellig Michael, the monk’s abbey made famous by Star Wars. As it stood, we could only see a hazy shadow of the island from where we were. However, the iconic “bee-hive” huts found on the island are not only on the island; they are also on the mainland, specifically where we were.

These are about 1500 years old and are protected heritage items, yet people have been allowed to build homes and have these in their back yards so long as they don’t do anything to them. We were able to step inside the one shown above, and found that they were built very much like how the vault inside Newgrange was built.

This particular hut was on the property of a man who also allowed us to handle some lambs.

The lamb that Isabelle held fell asleep while she was rocking him, but we couldn’t find a way to slip out of the barn with the lamb undetected, so we had to return the baby to the pen.

Then it was on to Dingle (hehe) Town. This is a coastal town, so the seafood choices were fantastic. It was crowded, but not overly so, and the place was 90% Americans or Unassuming Canadians. We were recommended to lunch at Harrington’s on account of their good food and fast service, both of which panned out as Isabelle and I each had fish & chips.

We took a spin around the shops — every little town in Ireland has shops, restaurants-slash-pubs, at least one pizza place, one convenience store, and a freaking ice cream place because the Irish apparently have a pathological need for ice cream — and picked up a few of the last souvenirs that we needed. We then went back to the harbor to await the return of the bus and while waiting, we paid respects to Fungi, the dolphin who loved humans and who would always seek out boaters and swimmers in the area. Sadly, Fungi vanished during COVID, and left no forwarding address.

The ride back to Adare was long. We did it in one shot, as opposed to the original direction where we had several stops to get out and stretch our legs. All told, we were out for about 11 hours, taking up the entirety of our day.