Dingle, Ireland

After I left Cashel I went on to Dingle, Ireland. It's on the west coast and one of my favorite places I've traveled to. A huge part of the experience was owed to the B&B I stayed at. The owners were wonderful. They picked me up from the bus station, gave me maps and advice of the area and hooked me up with another couple that were staying there to go on a taxi tour with a great old character. The couple I met, Michael and Laura were from Santa Barbara and so nice. I ended up hanging out with them for most of the time I was in Dingle. It's funny how you start to observe manerisms and accents. My guess from their first, 'hello' was that they were from the West Coast. My kind of people. We went to some great pubs walked all around the town. On the tour we got a history lesson of the area as well as a little filmogrophy. Far and Away was filmed there much to the chagrin of the townfolks. They thought Tom Cruise's accent was horrible and couldn't figure out where his phrase, 'You're a corker Shannon,' came from for it certaintly wasn't Irish. But aparently a movie called Ryan's Daughter was filmed there in the 60's or 7o's and it's a big deal in the town. The wind on the cliffs was incredible, I could see how you could literally get blown off into the sea. The Spanish Armada was dashed to bits there in a storm. One of the things I love about most of Europe is that they don't block everything off with railings. If you are stupid enough to go next to a cliff and fall off, well you should have used a bit of common sense. It seems much more practical and doesn't obstruct the scenery. I was sad to leave Dingle and would go back in a heartbeat!