That’s it above. Irish Summer in late July.
I should be more specific, though. Co. Kerry/Co. Chiarraí is sticking out into the Atlantic ocean. It gets a lot of weather like this.
Why should you visit Kerry? It’s one of the top tourist spots in Ireland. You’ll also be able to hear the Irish language spoken there. The Gaeltacht is the name for such areas.
The Dingle Peninsula/Corca Dhuibhne
We had some friend visiting from Slovenia, so this was the perfect place to bring them. The Dingle Peninsula features the Conor Pass/An Chonair. You get to do some climbing, like us going up to Pedlar’s lake (above).
At the top of the Conor Pass, is the sign below. Dingle town is twinned with sunnier places:
Dingle/An Daingean/Daingean Uí Chúise
There has been a bit of controversy over what Dingle town should be officially called – whether it should be named in English or in the Irish language. We’ll call Dingle as An Daingean from now on, as we are all about learning the Irish language!
An Daingean is a town on the sea:
Irish Language Around Town
There are lots of Irish Gaelic signs to be seen around An Daingean:
“Gaelainn” above is a different local name for the Irish langauge. The standard name is Gaeilge.
The sticker says:
- “Ag Foghlaim” (Learning)
- “Cúpla Focal” (A couple of words)
- “Seo Leat!” (Here you go!)
Last Tip: Go here and practice your Irish with the barman!
Find O’Flaherty’s/Ua Flaithbheartaigh in An Daingean. There’s lots of spoken Irish to be heard in here. Remember that if you ever intend on visiting Ireland.
(Do you want to learn to speak the Irish language? Sign up for our online lessons, and you’ll get started today.)
These pictures are amazing! I recently decided to trace my ancestry on ancestry.com, and found, pleasantly, my family goes back to County Donegal, Ireland. This led me to a deep desire to learn the Irish language, which I started 3 weeks ago with Rosetta Stone, then added Bitesize to my learning regimen. I cannot wait to come visit Ireland, and hope to be conversational in Irish by then. These pictures make me yearn to see Ireland so badly. Thank you for posting them!
Ireland rocks… my favorite places are Killarney National Park, Dartry and the Wicklow Mountains. Is mian liom go Eirinn taisteal.
Yup, I agree about Cill Áirne, although I have not yet been to the Wicklow Mountains.
You haven’t been to Wicklow? You should make a trip sometime, every picture I have seen is absolutely gorgeous. I myself love the mountains. I lived in Colorado for many years in the shadow of the great Rocky Mountains and also in New Mexico by the Sandia Mountains; spent many days climbing. An mhaith leat sleibhte a dreap?
Is maith liom sléibhte a dhreapadh!
There’s a nice hill quite near to Limerick called Keeper Hill. It’s nice in that it’s not too tough, but it is a good walk. There’s also Croagh Patrick, for example, which was interesting, especially with really heavy rain up there.
I’ll have to pay Cill Mhantáin a better visit.
Absolutely beautiful, i have thought about this trip for a long time … you have just convinced me to do it. towards the end of August i will take afew days off my UK trip to spent in your beautiful country and share the MAGIC. I cannot wait. Thank you for Sharing.
Do it!
You will wish you had more than a couple days. I was there for two weeks last year, driving the whole time to different places, and it wasn’t long enough. Next year I am going for three weeks. You will love it no matter how long you’re there. Enjoy!
Dear Eoin,
It was interesting to learn that An Daingean is twined with Santa Barbara, CA. It is a beautiful city on the Pacific Ocean in southern California. Did you know that at this time of the year and through the summer Santa Barbara has fog much of the day?! Perhaps that explains their “twining”. We live in northern CA in the San Francisco area. SF, too, experiences fog during the summer but not the winter.
Kathleen, thanks for dropping by. Oh, we did see the fog in Santa Monica last October. Santa Barbara was very sunny, but I can imagine how the fog comes in from the sea too.
Well, I tell you, Eoin and Sasa, that a friend of mine just returned from her 1st trip to Ireland and emailed me a picture of Dingle with a bright, clear, sunny sky. I hardly recognized the place! That cool, mystical, gray overcast that gives me the feeling of Ireland was entirely missing! Your photos of downtown Dingle and the Connor Pass are giving me hunger pains for another trip. I did practice a bit of my Irish there in Curran’s and had a couple of very good Irish coffees in Benner’s, not to mention some intimate conversation in the authentic snug in Dick Mack’s. Nice memories. When are you coming to Beantown?
That sunny Dingle photo must have been Photoshopped! 😉
Sher, no immediate plans for Beantown, but we can never rule it out!
Wonderful pictures and great way to learn the language. Thanks, Eoin
Go raibh maith agat, a chara.
I am not Irish, but I love all things Irish. I visited twice last year (2011)’ and I just purchased my ticket for another trip in September. I travel alone and make lots of new friends each visit.
Wow, that’s lots of travelling. Seems like you’re hooked! Did you come in contact with the Irish language while visiting here?