Travelers Should Go Across To The Blasket Islands When In Dingle, Ireland
The Blasket Islands are a group of islands off the west coast of County Kerry a few kilometers from Dingle. Nobody should finish their Dingle holiday without taking a day trip to the Blasket Islands. There is nobody living on the islands nowadays but they were inhabited until 1953 when the remaining inhabitants were evacuated. Most of them settled on the mainland but many others emigrated to America where their relatives had gone for many years before. Their descendants are still living in places such as Springfield , Massachusetts.
Irish (Gaelic) was their language – indeed very few could speak any English – and quite a few eminent scholars visited the islands to study their language, culture and folklore in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. These scholars encouraged some of the islanders to make a written record of some of the rich oral tradition of storytelling that they knew of and some of these works are now Irish language classics and famous internationally following translation into numerous foreign languages. The most acclaimed writers from the Blaskets are Tomas O Criomhthain who wrote An tOileanach (The Islandman), Peig Sayers famous author of “Peig” and Muiris O Suilleabhain (Maurice O’Sullivan) who wrote Fiche Blian ag Fas (Twenty Years A-Growing). These works show the poverty and bleakness but also the humour and courage which the people used to overcome tragedy.
These islands are often called ‘Next Parish America.
The main islands of the Blaskets are:
The Great Blasket Island which is the largest and contained most of the population, Beginish, Inishnabro, Inishvickillane and Inishtuaisceart.
In more recent times, Inishvickillane was owned by Irish Prime Minister Charles J. Haughey.
The population of the Great Blasket was only 176 at its highest and historians are amazed that so few people could produce such a large volume of literary work, tradition and folklore. Undoubtedly the life of poverty, hardship and cruelty and the daily struggle against the elements generated a deep reservoir of tales and verses which were told and retold and passed on through the generations.
Regrettably, life on the island which was sustained by fishing, growing of potatoes and a few crops and keeping a few sheep became impossible and the empty islands are now just a monument to the past.
Nowadays people visiting the Blaskets can see first-hand the beauty of the place, see the remains of the dwellings where these people lived and feel the echoes of the past.
The Great Blasket is a hillwalker’s paradise with lots of captivating spectacles including An Tra Ban (White Strand), Seal Cove where you can find a large colony of Grey Seals and you get a good view of the other islands in the group. At the southern end of the Great Blasket there is a chance you will see Common and Bottlenose Dolphins, Porpoises and Minke Whales, and Basking Sharks if you are lucky.
Birdwatchers can see Gannets and Choughs and you might even catch a glimpse of a White-tailed Eagle which has been re-introduced to Kerry recently.
There are a number of ferry boats available from Dingle and Dunquin.
Stay in Kerry has Bed and Breakfast in Dingle and Dingle Hotels available for visitors to The Blasket Islands.
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- seals cove blasket island
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