Kilmalkedar Church

The OPW guy at Gallarus told us of two more sites in the vicinity that sounded interesting: a ruined 12th century church with an Ogham stone, a sun dial stone, and an alphabet stone; and a ruined monastery. We headed first to the church, Kilmalkedar Church, a 12th century Romanesque building, with the aforementioned stones quite intact.

Plus some other old-looking stones

Inside the church; faces, but not funny

The alphabet stone, probably used to teach
writing

Back side

Chevrons, zig-zags, other figures typical of the age

Yes, Romanesque

More oldies

The sun dial

And the Ogham stone

Gallarus Oratory

We visited Gallarus in 2009, but lots of things in Ireland are well worth seeing twice. Gallarus was a small church built in about the 7th century. It is the only remaining intact version of a rectangular corbeled building in Ireland. (Some of the beehives remain, as do several corbeled megalithic tombs, round, which are of course several thousands of years older...). Anyhow, the corbeling here, you'll note, means it's built floor to top in inclined stones, no roof, just an inclining wall that somehow stays up while leaning in. I always figured they'd meet at the top, sort of like an arch, but no, they don't meet, and, at Gallarus, the inclining walls are simply surmounted by 8 capstones. It is all dry-stone work, no mortar, no rebar. The skill involved in making something like this is incredible. That it has stayed up more than a millennium is even more incredible.

But first, a word about the fuschias on Dingle; they grow in huge hedges, go on
and on and on; and we thought they only came in hanging baskets!

Gallarus Oratory

A marker adjacent to the building

Inside, looking up--you can see the capstones; the walls don't touch

Outside

The 8 capstones

Pretty incredible place

Camping Near Slea Head

We drove on from the Blasket Center into some of the more spectacular scenery...

Past a number of sea caves

Reminiscent of Fingal's Cave, on the Isle of Staffa, in the Outer
Hebrides

Not nearly as big as Fingal's, but still spectacular

Eventually we decided to over-night at this violent little cove

There were a couple other motor-homes there, plus several
souls braving the gale in tents

From our back window

Next morning

One of the Blaskets

The Three Sisters (Musketeers/Mouseketeers/Stooges)

More seascapes

More sea caves

Blaskets Center

The Blaskets are a set of islands some few miles west of the Dingle Peninsula. People have lived on them, some of them, for centuries, in relative isolation. The last few left in 1954, under government order, when it became clear they could no longer be provided essential health and other services. In any case, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, linguists and particularly those with interests in strains of Irish less affected by contact with English, discovered the Blaskets, and a flurry of books appeared...both by the scholars as well as by the inhabitants, who had a wealth of folklore and social history to convey. Somehow we missed the Blasket Center, a museum of the Blaskets, on our 2009 visit to the area, but we were sure to see it this year.

A look down the long corridor of the Center

Articles on the various scholars and natives who carried their language and stories
into print

Not least of whom was Muiris O Suilleabhain, Twenty Years A-Growing

Who, along with others, emigrated to New York; compelling photo, I thought

Among the exhibits

Blasket terrain

The big island

The western-most

And a thought to ponder

As we left, clouds were spilling over the hills to the east

Dingle Peninsula

After Tralee, we crossed over to Dingle town, looked around it a bit, and then began driving the Dingle peninsula, stopping at the Blaskets Centre and then over-nighting near Slea Head.

We were on or near the "Wild Atlantic Way" the better part of
the next ten days; "wild" indeed...while the visibility was good,
the wind  was really up

Typical view

Unless you have a death wish, you drive the peninsula clock-wise,
as the tour-buses and heavy goods vehicles are required to do; ever
since Norway, Vicki often handles the camera in order to distract
herself from the road...

This bit of Ireland is covered in stones and stone fences and
stone everything

Looking out toward Slea Head and Ireland's land's end

"The road goes ever on and on, down from the door where it
began..."

Slea Head parking area

Ever on, hoping not to encounter a tour bus...

Wild Atlantic

Tour bus in extremis

More wild Atlantic

One of the world's great seascapes