Ireland Day 5

Day 5 – Sunday, July 5
We visited the Ring of Dingle on the 5th day! We first visited Dun Beag Promontory Fort, yet another dry-stone ring fort (grr!), but let me tell you – if you’ve seen one ring fort (grr!) you’ve seen them all. From there we went to Gallarus Oratory, a Christian Church. Soon after, we went to Cahtair Deargain stone fort (grr!) which was a typical ring fort (grr!). Stone after stone. Wall after wall. Stair after stair. We departed to Kilmalkedar Church, with a collection of carved stones including an Ogham stone and a 7th-8th century stone cross. From there we went to the Reask monastic site, with 10 carved stone blocks. They all had intricate designs: waves, circles, crosses, and swirls.
Then we went to the Fahan beehive huts, which are dry-stone huts in the pattern of a beehive’s. You can walk around and look at the patterns in the walls. Almost at the beginning of the Ring of Dingle again, we finished the Dingle excursion with Gallarus Castle, a four story tower house.
We finished the Ring of Dingle, and went to Ardfert Cathedral and Friary. Ardfert Cathedral and Friary is a cathedral/friary with pillars and crosses and designs. We could walk through it for a while, before departing to Desmond Hall. Desmond Hall was a great banquet hall, and everything is preserved and set up like it would have been then, giving you a clear view of what a banquet might have looked like long ago. After that, we went to Adare Castle and Friary. Adare Castle and Friary is the ruins of a castle, and we walked around for a while before checking into our next hotel for the night.

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