Continuing the Journey...

 Later on Day 3

 Driving around Ireland is such an adventure! No, I'm not referring to the scenery, although it is splendid. The excitement comes in driving on the wrong...oh, excuse me...the left side of the road. I was not the driver, thankfully. Jared was our chauffeur and only frightened us half a dozen times! Actually, he did an excellent job. The roads were all quite narrow, as you can see in the picture above. The yellow lines here are cautionary, warning you against getting too close to either side of the road. The actual road is only one and one half car width, so beware of on-coming traffic!

 We stopped for lunch at the beach, which was very rocky, but abundant in sea shells.

Windy and cold, but Gracie braved it!

This is one of the many "Potato Famine" cottages along the way. These are homes that were left behind  from families that either died or fled the great famine in Ireland from 1845-1851. The famine was caused from a blight that affected the potatoes, destroying the plants. Since poor Irish farmers depended on the potato harvest to feed their families, this was devastating. Over a million people starved.

On a lighter note, as we drove along, we spotted this castle ruin in some farmers pasture.  There was a sign along the road that said we could access it from the farm.  So we drove up the lane and turned into the farm. All was quiet. Not a soul around. We pulled up to the gate and noticed in a tree by the farm house a dead black bird hanging from a branch.  We decided to leave....

This is called the Gallarus Oratory.  It's about 1300 years old and is an example of dry rubble masonry, made from gritstone, from the area. It was built by early Christians. It is still waterproof after centuries of wind and Atlantic storms.

Picture from inside Gallarus. It was used for church services but not fitted with benches, as early church goers would have stood for services. And we complain if we can't sit on the soft seats when we go to church???

Another old stone church with slate roof that we found along the way...it still has a bell in the tower.

This ruin is Kilmalkedar Church (Cill Mhaoilchéadair in Gaelic), founded by St. Maolcethair who died in 636. This church was built in the middle of the 12th century in the Irish Romanesque style. It originally had a stone roof. The cemetery surrounding it is still used today. It was interesting to walk around, as most of those bumps you see in the grass are actually headstones that are no longer standing or readable.

View of the graveyard from inside Kilmalkedar.

This is an early sundial...

This is called an ogham stone. It dates from the 4th century, and has the Ogham alphabet or the "Celtic Tree Alphabet", noted by the carved lines you can see on the sides. Legend has it that the hole in it was used by ancients to strike a bargain. Two people would stand across from each other, touch thumbs through the hole and "swear before God" on the graves of their ancestors. It was also used to renew wedding vows.

One of the many grave markers.  Notice the shamrocks.

We wrapped up the day with dinner in Murphy's Pub in Dingle. Mandy said they had the best Irish Stew she has ever tasted! Of course it was the only Irish Stew she's ever tasted...

So in case you were wondering, this is what a real Irish pub looks like.

And that wraps up Day three for us.