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The Dingle Peninsula is a place of intense, shifting beauty. Spectacular mountains, long sandy beaches and the staggering splinter-slatted mass of rocks that defines the extraordinary coast at Slea Head all conspire to ensure that, remote though it is, the Dingle Peninsula is firmly on the tourist trail. The mountain scenery is at its most dramatic at Mount Brandon , which rises to 3119ft and affords splendid opportunities for hiking. The steep Conor Pass road that runs south of here between Dingle town and the peninsula's northern coast is much-loved by cyclists determined to prove their stamina. There are very fine beaches all around the peninsula: at the tiny village of Inch three miles of sand stretches out into the ocean; Castlegregory on the Maharees Peninsula acts as a magnet for surfers; and, as you travel west both the inland and coastal scenery intensifies, with superb beaches at Ventry (the best place for safe swimming), the Blasket Islands, Murreagh and Ballydavid, to name but a few. There's plenty of myth and history too: the peninsula has one of the greatest concentrations of Celtic ruins in Ireland. Ring forts, beehive huts, oratories and stone crosses are prevalent here and the vigour of the Christian culture that set out from here to evangelize and educate the rest of Europe is almost palpable. The best of these ancient monuments lie west of Dingle town and include Dun Beag , just outside the tiny village of Ventry; the early Christian Gallarus Oratory and the medieval church of Kilmakedar are both further west still. The now uninhabited Blasket Islands once generated a wealth of Irish literature, and indeed the area at the far west of the peninsula remains a Gaeltacht region (Irish-speaking), with the language still very much alive in and around the little villages of Ballydavid and Ballyferriter - both of which offer a handful of places to stay and eat and are within easy reach of fabulous sandy beaches. As if all this were not enough, the peninsula has a place in film history too: Ryan's Daughter was filmed here, as were parts of Far and Away , starring Tom Cruise. For all its popularity as a tourist destination, the Dingle peninsula remains magical. On a fine day exhilarating views stretch out as far as the monastic settlement on Great Skellig, off the Iveragh Peninsula to the south; but it can be more exciting still in the rain, when the cloud shifts down over the land and you find yourself in a white mist through which the dim shapes of oratories and beehive huts loom.
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