Mary,

Welcome to my forum. You have lots to do in a short time.

1. A quick summary of the car rental crisis in Ireland is nigh impossible. I note that you live in Germany. Certain USA and Canadian credit cards may cover CDW in Ireland. Otherwise you need to purchase it from the car company. There is a deductible. If you want less or no deductible you need to purchase Super CDW from the car company or from a company like insurance4carhire.com

2. Why not bring Skin So Soft and insect repellant? The don't take much room. If one does not work use the other.

3. You are staying in a very rural area. In Dingle town is Dingle Internet Cafe. 

Since you dislike crowds and traffic I think you will enjoy Castlegregory. There is a fabulous beach there. The Dingle Peninsula is very scenic. 

Are you looking for restaurant suggestions for the birthday? Tomasins in Castlegregory has very good food. There are more restaurants to choose from in Dingle town. 

Hope you have a very relaxing holiday.

Michele

Mary,

Midges usually hang around vegetation and not by the ocean. Hopefully the sea breezes will blow them away. I have encountered them in early morning and late afternoon. I haven't encountered them in the rain - but I'm not a midge expert!

CDW and Super CDW are not "compulsory". You might want to check with Budget to see what you have actually purchased. Otherwise be prepared to fork over a lot more money on arrival.

For music you need to ask locally. It is very spotty and can be spur of the moment.

You do have indoor options if it rains. Oceanworld in Dingle, Blasket Island Center, Mulchay Pottery (free pot throwing), inside aqua dome in Tralee, Kerry County Museum (Tralee). Ross Castle & Muckross in Killarney.

The farmer's market has all sorts of food, etc. Maybe pick up some exotic goodies for the cottage?

The Shores Country House B&B operates a cafe during the summer months. I don't think they are open at night but it might be a good stop for lunch. Annette and her daughter are fab cooks.

Michele

A couple of notes since I spent a couple of days there in June.

Annette rules...best cook we had in Ireland, bar none.  Great suggestions too  (my wallet didn't thank her for the extensive shopping list she gave my wife).

Spillane's was really good food in Castlegregory, you have to drive through town and keep going almost until the road ends in the middle of a lot of beach area.

We also ate at the Seven Hogs restaurant which is on the Tralee side of Castlegregory a few miles up the road.  Good food there as well.

Beach- Annette steered us to the Fremoyle Strand which was a mile or so from her place.  Good beach and compeltely deserted.

Stop at the top of Conor Pass if its clear enough.  Incredible scenery.  Both the wife and mother in law have height issues but I just sat up there for 15 minutes or more just looking around.  Also had a conversation with a lost baby sheep who found my company comforting I think.  I understand fog and weather can be dicey and the roads are narrow (putting it mildly) but well worth it IMO.

Oceanworld was just so-so.  Its small and ok as aquariums go but my family are zoo/aquarium snobs and were underwhelmed.

Slea Head Drive a must.  Awesome, Stunning, Outstanding.  Must. Do. It.

Blasket Center- Depends on what your interests are.  I found the place interesting but I'm pretty sure my kids wanted to kick me in the face for dragging them in there.

Lots of neat little stops on the Slea Head Drive.  Well worth a look if beehive huts and ruined churches are your thing.  Great views everywhere too.

We actually didn't spend much time in Dingle Town so thats on my itinerary if I can get back to Ireland in the near future. 

Dingle Peninsula was my favorite bit of Ireland I believe...

Wonderful suggestions--I am jotting them into my travel notebook as I read.

The birthday boy and I decided to do seafood at Out of the Blue, along with the children who are all old enough not to do foul things with eating utensils and are actually fairly pleasant company. We will then see what the weather allows, but Friday is looking fairly wet at the moment. If nothing else we will pick up what we need to build a fire in the fireplace and simply "be"--something we sadly don't get enough of.

Again, thank you for the many and varied ideas. They sound right up our alley--and I intend to look for your friend, now grown a bit. We are staying on an active sheep farm, which will certainly enhance our trip one way or another:)

Any ideas for music? We want to find something earlier than later, something more traditional than not.

:)
Mary

Absolutely wonderful trip! We spent the first day in Dingle for the most part, as well as a visit to Inch Beach to watch the surfers. Managed to get a glimpse of horses racing since it was a racing weekend, and we did go to the acquarium--which was ok. I guess we are a bit snobbish there too:) Connor Pass was amazing and we promised the children a climb another day.

The second day it rained so we stayed in until it started to clear. We took a trip to the woods, hiked around the house and sheep farm and spent some time relaxing.

The third day we spent in Castlegregory and we went up to Brandon Point. Amazing! Lunch at Spillane's may have been my favorite meal because it was good and so reasonably priced.

The fourth day we did Slea Head Drive. Absolutely. Gorgeously. Amazing. Blue skies and views that were out of this world. We got a taste of music at the archeology/Celtic museum when the owner played for us. That was really neat, especially since we had weighed out the live music versus relaxing at home and home always seemed to win.

We loved having a house to ourselves and thoroughly enjoyed our family time. On our way back to te airport we stopped at the windmill museum and then went to see the church in Ardfert--wonderful curator there who greatly enhanced our time.

I still cannot believe we went for four days and are home in Germany already. Thanks again for all of the wonderful information!!!

Oh yes, One more thing. The church in Dingle, St. Mary's, has a plaque on the wall to the left of the door as you enter. It describes exactly why I tend to enter churches everywhere I go. Add in the peace that seemed to exude from the walls, and I do believe that church is one of my favorites ever...

Mary

PS--as for the dreaded midges, I saw nary a one. The children saw them when they climbed to the peaks of the mountains behind our rental house just outside Glenteenassig Woods, but that way it. :)

Dinner was good, but I guess I am not ready to spend that much money when I can get almost as good for half the price--

I would. It was 350 euro for the week, plus 75 euro for the cleaning fee. It can be found at Home Away Holiday rentals and is just across the lane from An Tea Beagh's--another historical home. It is called the "secluded valley of the waterfalls home."

Property ID 469961 in Dingle Peninsula

Tom manages it from the US and even called to make sure we had good directions.

Our next Irish trip will be to hunt down "the ol' ancestor" James Clarke, from Donegal County.

Again, thanks to all for the great info. We had the kind of time that has everyone oohing and ahing over our pictures.

:)
Mary

True that!  And, the food was quite good--:)