Saturday 29 September 2018

The Rose of Tralee



When you haven’t visited a beautiful place for too long, the result is that its breathtaking natural beauty and the creative culture can become an all too distant memory. 

And yet Ireland’s far south-west is easily accessible.  It’s available without having to endure the irritation of security at airports and ports.  To avoid the discomfort of security queues and the invasiveness of body-searching when going abroad, the relaxing alternative is to remain on terra firma.

My wife and I decided on a late summer tour from one end of the island to the other, from County Antrim to Co Kerry, from Belfast to Dingle.  The children, now parents, were very young when we last set foot in Killarney.  
Regardless of prognostications about impending gloom in the wake of Brexit, a lot of history - much of it good - has been recorded on both sides of our “seamless” border since then.

To make travel easier, not to mention our retirement objective to reduce carbon footprint, this journey offered the ideal opportunity to leave the car locked up at home.  We would travel by train, tram, and buses with a couple of short transfers by taxi.  Where we live, there is a wonderful benefit for resident 65+ year olds to use all forms of public transport at no personal cost.  Apart from buses, trains, and trams it even includes publicly-run ferries, a generous facility which operates equally in both jurisdictions (hopefully unhindered in the future by Brexit). 

So, apart from the bragging rights for good green credentials, driver fatigue and road rage disappear.  The chauffeured traveller can peacefully read a thriller novel while sipping green tea, and delight in making family and friends jealous with photos of beautiful scenery.

The novelty of our experimental trip was instanced at the end of the first stage of the journey when, on arrival in Dublin, we transferred from Connolly station direct to our hotel[i] on the new (to us) Luas line.  This sleek modern tram took us efficiently (Luas being the Irish Gaelic word for speed) across the city centre at our leisure and without fuss, thence a short walk to our overnight stop.   
The choice of hotel was determined because it is adjacent to Hueston station from where, next morning we would take the train to Tralee, the county town of Kerry, population about 35,000.

The best things we did on this three-night stay based in Tralee[ii] were a visit to Dingle, a tour round the beautiful Ring of Kerry, and a theatrical evening at Siamsa Tíre.

Lying thirty miles south-west of Tralee, Dingle provides – apart from an array of sights[iii] - an impressive range of restaurants, mostly specializing in fresh locally-caught seafood.  These are sufficient reason for a visit and probably explain the droves of discerning foreign visitors from Europe and north America.  These tourists are attracted by the same catch as the town’s most famous resident.

One of the best things to do in Dingle is to go on a boat trip, the most popular being the short journey to see Fungie the dolphin.  Having arrived in Dingle Bay in 1983, Fungie has become such a huge attraction that a bronze sculpture of him is on display at the harbour. Several operators provide tours “all day, every day, all year round.”  Apparently it can border on chaotic in high season when numerous boats jostle for position.

Nowhere else in the world, apparently, has a dolphin adopted a place long-term like this, meaning that this bottlenose’s continuous presence over 35 years is unique to Dingle.

Our journey along “Ireland’s most spectacular mountain road, the Ring of Kerry” started and finished in Killarney, long famous for its jaunting cars. The commercial bus tour took us, along with about 20 mostly American visitors anti-clockwise around the Iveragh peninsula which lies on the southern side of Dingle Bay. 

Killorglin village was the first place of interest, being famed for Puck Fair.[iv]  The clue is in the name – poc being the Irish Gaelic word for a male goat.  The high point of the annual event is the crowning of a wild goat as a King of the Fair.  He sits in an exalted position for the duration of the 3-day event keeping a watchful eye on proceedings.


The main attraction of the Ring, however, is the magnificent coastal scenery and rugged countryside which includes the lakes of Killarney.  The broadcast of a television documentary a few days after our return home helpfully explained that tourism in this part of the country owes its origins to the advent of the railways in 1853 when Killarney’s station opened, followed by the Great Southern Hotel in 1854.   
Celebrity endorsement followed with a subsequent and successful visit by Queen Victoria in 1861[v].  The monarch was responsible for naming one beauty spot Ladies View.



On an otherwise amusing and informative tour, the only aspect of the driver’s commentary which dismayed me was his remarks about the island of Skellig Michael which lies 8 miles off the coast.   
He repeated the story of the filming of part of the latest Star Wars film[vi] and the benefits to the local economy.  He omitted to mention its significance as a World Heritage site,[vii] being the location of one of Europe’s earliest Christian monastic sites, a place of enormous archaeological importance and also a special haven for wildlife.  
When I advised some of our visiting colleagues of these facts, they were more impressed with this than by the Hollywood angle.



After plenty of bracing fresh air, a cultural evening of “mirth and music of the land” is the perfect match.  Siamsa Tíre means exactly that, a pleasant diversion with musical entertainment.  It is the name of the National Folk Theatre of Ireland which is celebrating its fiftieth anniversary this year and lies next to the centre of Tralee. 

The company’s repertoire brings Irish folklore to life through music song and dance.  I was lucky enough to see its original show Fadó Fadó, Long Ago, a tale of rural life on a simple homestead over the four seasons.  The mesmeric quality of singing, both solo and choral, alongside the intricacies of traditional Irish dancing and backed up with skilled musicianship were an uplifting combination of perfect harmony.



Tralee is a good base from which to explore County Kerry.  Less touristy than resort towns like Killarney and Dingle, it is the venue for the enduringly popular Rose of Tralee pageant.   Incidentally, the county’s other main town, Listowel, has won the award as Ireland’s Tidiest Town 2018[viii].   
As the county town, Tralee has a bustling commercial town centre, a beautiful central park complete with an impressive rose walk and garden, and a pleasant riverside walk to the Blennerville Windmill.  Roses abound.


©Michael McSorley 2018


[i] https://www.ashlinghotel.ie/ Aisling in Irish means vision or dream.
[ii] https://www.therosehotel.com/
[iii] https://www.authenticireland.com/14-things-to-do-in-dingle/
[iv] http://puckfair.ie/history
[v] An Irishman’s Diary Irish Times 30 April 2011
[vi] Irish Times 9 December 2017 https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/travel/ireland/experience-the-force-a-guide-to-the-star-wars-magic-in-kerry-1.3317637
[vii] http://www.worldheritageireland.ie/skellig-michael/
[viii] Irish Times 24 September 2018 https://www.irishtimes.com/news/environment/tidy-towns-listowel-in-co-kerry-announced-as-2018-winner-1.3639448
Note:- Photos by the author, except for those of the sculpture & Skellig (sourced from google images), and Siamsa Tíre (from its Facebook page).

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