Slea Head Loop Drive

On Thursday we started a long day with a drive around the Dingle Peninsula, otherwise known as the Slea Head Loop.  It's about 30 miles, and the views are absolutely breathtaking.  It was by far Matt and I's favorite part of the whole trip.  It helps that it started to warm up a bit and the sun was shining brightly!

 

Posing at the western most point in Europe....

Winding, narrow road....

Blasket  islands out in the distance, no longer inhabited...

Posing seagull....

Gallarus Oratory, built about 1300 years ago, is one of Ireland's best preserved early Christian churches.

We stopped here for our first picnic (and at the time the only picnic we thought we'd be doing) of the day.  And had sliced Dubliner cheese.  You can buy blocks of Dubliner in the US, but we had never seen slices before.  YUM!

After our picnic lunch, we headed for the Cliffs of Moher.  We had two choices.  Drive around the River Shannon, or save 80+ miles and take a ferry.  We opted for the ferry....  which in the end took us a lot longer, because we got stuck in some miserable traffic through a small town, and then behind a wedding party also taking the ferry.  We ended up being the first car they wouldn't let board the 3:30pm ferry.  So we had to wait an hour for the next one.  And subsequently why we ended up doing two car picnics in one day.

Here are all the rest of my pictures from the amazing Slea Head Loop Drive:  Slea Head Drive