We made our way to Portmagee and were delighted with the town, it’s shops, it’s fantastic food and good whisky.
It is located in a Nationally recognized Dark Sky National Park but too cloudy to see the brilliant stars when we were there. We took a boat tour out around the Skellig Islands. On our boat tour we watched dolphins frisking, fat seals basking in the sun and even caught sight of a jellyfish! It was magical.
I was especially fascinated with Shellig Michael, It was impossible to obtain tickets for a landing tour - they are booked months in advance. There are 15 boats with licenses to land on Skellig Michael and each boat is allowed to carry 12 passengers. That means there is a maxiumum of 180 people allowed to land on Skellig Michael per day. Shooting for Episode VII – The Force Awakens took place on Skellig Michael in September 2014. My fascination is with the puffins and the ancient monk’s housing. I am determined to see a live puffin before I leave this earth. Not here. The puffins had already migrated back out to sea by the time we had arrived.
The magnificent Skellig Michael is one of only two UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the Republic of Ireland. On the summit of this awe-inspiring rock off the Kerry coast is St Fionan’s monastery, one of the earliest foundations in the country. The monks who lived there prayed and slept in beehive-shaped huts made of stone, many of which remain to this day. The monks left the island in the thirteenth century. Following in the monks’ footsteps involves climbing 618 steep, uneven steps. I had dreamed of doing this but it likely would have been a bit too much of an adventure given my current state of fitness. Little Skellig is the second-largest gannet colony in the world.
Pressing on around The Ring of Kerry, more stressful driving with curves in the roads and fast moving traffic coming right at you. And moments of magic! We took our car on a ferry ride to Shannon. As we eased form Kerry County to County Clair the roads became easier and the scene changed from hillsides of sheep to hillsides of cattle. “Cows!!!!” I delightfully cried. Instant relief swept over us.
We stayed at a delightful Airbnb near Camp, walked the beach along Tralee Bay and collected some stones and shells. We (she) drove across Connor Pass to Dingle. The day was both breathtaking and terrifying, - as is much of life.
The next day on our way back to Dingle we stopped at Inch Beach, far more famous, pristine while, and we collected again.
We had been seeing signs for Irish Ice Cream all along the way and finally sampled some at Inch Beach. The creamiest, most delicious ice cream I’d ever tasted; we were hooked. The following two nights we stayed downtown Dingle. It was way too touristy for our tastes however, it was a town that loves it musicians and honors the traditions. We focused on that aspect.
I had hoped to see faerie rings or some elementals or at least evidence of them in the land. Had we more time or even more knowledge of what we were doing, where we were, and who to ask I am sure we could have experienced more of that. One of my purchases in a small town on our route was a sterling silver necklace, a replica of the three ring spiral that is found at the entrance of Newgrange. I had not seen anything like it after that and was happy I had purchased it when I saw it.
When we entered a shop in the matchmaking town, Lisdoonvarna, a clerk made a comment to me about this necklace, “Oh I like your trinity necklace.” We didn’t linger in this town yet it was fun to sense love in the air. September is when people come from around the world to find a partner - there was much dancing in the middle of the day in the town.
In nearby Doolin, we entered a retail woolen mill and the clerk there, named Rina, also made a comment about the necklace. I ask Rina, “It’s not a trinity symbol, right?”
Rina said it was a Druid symbol they used to clarify water but when they did that the spirals were made of copper and were twisted to make the water pure. I was much comforted by her remarks. She informed me that it was obscure knowledge, many people did not know. That was some magic! We had found a sage. Oh how I wished I’d asked her more questions.
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