Anyone who grew up watching Sound of Music has a certain expectation of Austria — pristine landscapes, luxurious palaces, beautiful music, really old buildings…and I am SUPER happy to say I experienced ALL of this to be true! Eric & I recently returned from a two week trip to Austria & southern Germany. My next few blog posts will cover this trip.
We were only on the Dingle Peninsula for 8 days, but when we took the bus back to Shannon Airport it felt like we were leaving roots behind. At the Boston Airport, we were immediately barraged by news coverage of the 2016 presidential campaign (and all the drama that entailed). Eric and I’s instincts were screaming at us to “go back!” Now typically, by the time our vacations are over we’re ready to be home. But this trip was different and there were several reasons why. For one, it was the longest vacation we had ever taken and it was in a place far removed from our home and workplace. We had very little exposure to the outside world (no TV, little internet) and the bulk of our trip was spent outdoors in remote locations. The people of Dingle ran the gamut of jolly, content, and cantankerous — but they all seemed to have a peace about them…a sense that they were happy with their place in life.
Transitioning from this to our busy, grasping American life was like stepping out of a paradise directly into a war zone. I was shell-shocked.
We chickened out and skipped our walk across Brandon Mt. from Cloghane to Annascaul. Instead we explored the tiny hamlet of Cloghane. On our way down to the beach, we stopped in at a local store/bakery on main street to get picnic fixings. Cloghane was very small, but it was worth an hour or two simply for the old church cemetery and beach. That and the fact that there were very few tourists. Our B&B hostess, Sherry, drove us to Annascaul in the early afternoon and THAT was an adventure. I rode in the backseat of Sherry’s car right beside her cat, who was in a cage and had a cone around his head. Sherry was dropping the cat off at the vet in Dingle because he had an eye injury. That cat was NOT a happy camper on the drive, especially when Sherry whipped around steep cliffs at the speed of lightning.