The latest buzz on Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way is a holistic healing bee experience. As Paul O’Neil was tending to his new beehives one day, a family with three young children walked by. There was nothing unusual in this, except that this was a remote patch of Valentia Island in Ireland, that few people stumbled upon.
The father spotted Paul dressed up in his bee suit and immediately started waving eagerly. This was Anton Tovarnitskyi, a Ukrainian man who had just escaped the war and relocated with his family to the island, which is tucked away in one of Ireland's most westerly points in County Kerry. As it turns out, despite having little shared language at the time, he managed to explain to Paul that he, too, had been a beekeeper.
Immediately, the pair bonded. Over time, as his English improved, Anton started telling Paul about how, in Ukraine, they used to fashion beds over beehives for therapeutic benefits. As they researched together, they discovered that bee beds were as ancient as beekeeping in Eastern Europe.
“We said let’s partner up and build the first bee beds in ,” explains Paul, “and we managed to build our first one in just a few months.” Due to demand, they quickly built a second. Valentia Island is no stranger to tourists, as it’s on the , a breathtaking 2,500 km coastal route along the west coast of Ireland.
The island, which is reachable by car ferry and road, or bus or train from Killarney, receives around 20,000 visitors annually. Most tour.
