Blasket Islands Centre

A large, white crucifix marks Slea Head, which affords the first view of the Blasket Islands (Na Blascaodaí), alternately sparkling like jewels in the blue ocean and disappearing under dark clouds a moment later. Around the point, the scattered village of Dunquin (Dún Chaoin) and the Blasket Island Centre come into view. The building is impressive, with exhibits lining a long corridor that leads to an observatory overlooking the island’s abandoned village. Remarkably, this tiny, isolated island abode produced an outpouring of music and writing. Three classics of Irish literature emerged with Peig Sayers’ Peig, Thomas Crohan’s The Islandman, and Maurice O’Sullivan’s Twenty Years a’Growing. The islands have been uninhabited since 1953, when the last islanders evacuated their windswept homes. The center’s large, airy dining room serves food and provides enticing island views. (Open all year, tel: 066 9156444.) Before you visit the center, take a left turn, park on the cliff top (opposite the two yellow bungalows), and walk down to Dunquin’s pier, which sits away from the scattered village and is reached by a steep path that zigzags down the cliff. As you round the last twist, you see curraghs turned upside-down looking like giant, black beetles stranded high above the water line. Curraghs are fragile boats made of tarred canvas stretched over a wooden skeleton. St. Brendan is reputed to have discovered America in such a boat.