Dingle Peninsula, Ireland
We caught our (two hour late) tiny tin-can plane from Edinburgh to Shannon and made the short flight while I tried not to claw the armrest to pieces at every bit of turbulence. For most of the flight the sea and ground below was obscured by a thick cloud cover, but when we finally sank down below the heavy clouds, my jaw dropped.
Green. Green. And more green.
I've done a lot of flying in my life, flown over a lot of heavily vegetated places: Washington, Northern California, the east coast, Hawaii...but I have never seen land below a plane looking like this did. Everything, everywhere is this luminescent jade that practically hums with life (and sheep and cows), growing wild and unfettered throughout the entire year, never dying or going brown, evergreen.
I took a time lapse video of the last 5 minutes of the plane journey (you can see the bumpiness!):
Click to viewWe took a bus to Limerick where we'd be spending the night (Limerick was a better jumping off point for our next part of the journey), which was a real hardship due to the horrible ugliness of the countryside. NOT.
Btw, no color enhancement here. Not even a little. It really is THAT GREEN.
The first thing I really noticed about Ireland in general besides the green beauty and the awesome accents was the attitude of the people. In England I got a certain vibe from the locals, random people we asked for directions, and other English people we encountered--it felt like the majority of them heard our American accents and immediately looked down on us. Of course, there were some very nice and welcoming people, particularly at the places we stayed and those that regularly dealt with tourists, but I felt like a lot of the general public resented American tourists being in their cities, or immediately stereotyped us or something. In Scotland, the locals we came across were friendly, but still treated us as tourists, and weren't really welcoming OR off-putting (probably due to the high amount of tourists they're used to dealing with at this time of year).
The people of Ireland have been an entirely different story. From the first local young woman we came across who was ridiculously friendly and chatted with us and gave us lots of tips while we waited for the bus to Shannon, to the bus driver who gave us the discount for students even though I didn't have my ID, to the numerous people who've given us extremely helpful directions and not stopped talking with us until they made sure we were "alright, my loves?", to the 13-year-old guy who helped with our bags and walked us to the bus station in Cork so we'd know where to go, to the wonderful older gentleman at the bar who insisted on buying us pints and glasses of wine (more about him later)....etc etc etc, they have treated us like family.
Every single person we have encountered has been lovely to us, extremely engaging and helpful, and just plain sweet. It's half the reason I warmed so quickly to this place--the attitude of the people is just fantastic, and really made us feel immediately welcome.
After a night at a rather nice hotel in Limerick, (where a really helpful employee came by twice to help fix our TV when it wasn't working, continually assuring us it was no trouble at all) and a bit of stress getting to the bus station in the morning and almost missing our bus, we were on the way to Dingle. Everyone we knew recommended we go to Dingle, and boy, are we glad we listened.
Dingle (An Daingean) is a tiny little fishing village whose entire economy depends on fish and tourism. The whole main part of the town is only a 10-minute round-trip walk (and has at least 12 pubs in less than a square mile radius). In the 70s, the movie Ryan's Daughter was made in and around the Dingle Peninsula, which brought tons of tourists pouring into the town. Despite the tourism, it still very much has a "small Irish village" vibe, and there are still plenty of places in town where the locals hang out alongside the tourists. Plus, they LOVE us! Everyone is really welcoming, because the tourists drive the economy and come spend all their money there. Good deal, really.
The quaint streets are lined with colorful buildings, shops, restaurants, and pubs, making it a great place to just walk around.
The harbor is also lovely.
After getting a feel for the town, we decided to get lunch. Now, I'm not a big seafood person--in fact, the only fish I will routinely eat is salmon and fish tacos from Rubios, and only because those taste more like chicken than fish--but I knew that I had to get fish & chips while in the UK, and I decided Dingle was a good place for it. BEST DECISION EVER.
The cod was caught that morning from the harbor, so fresh it was practically still flopping around. The chips came from potatoes that had been uprooted less than a week earlier. It was the best fish and chips I have ever had and probably will ever have. We devoured it.
SOGOOD!
I also tried my first local Irish brew (yes, at 1pm, this is Ireland)...which was delicious!
While at the restaurant/pub, we made friends with the owner as well as another local named Micheal, who owned the music shop in town. After walking around by the harbor for a bit, where we experienced a little Irish shower:
we went to Micheal's music shop where we got to hear him play accordion while another man played a traditional Irish frame drum called a bodhrán (bode-ran).
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The hostel we were staying at is probably one of the best hostels in the world. It's pretty big: about 16 rooms, many of which are dorm rooms, and has a nice dining room, huge kitchen, and very comfortable living room where the many people staying there can socialize. We both rested there for a little while before splitting up to explore the town.
I walked through the streets, loving the town with my whole heart. There are lots of touristy shops, but lots of shops selling local wares as well. Everyone greets you with a smile and is quick to engage you in conversation and see how you're doing. I walked east to the edge of the buildings and stood looking out at the countryside, thinking about how lucky I am. I've wanted to go to Ireland since before I could coherently understand that desire...and I'm finally here.
While heading back to the hostel, I passed a pub and the sound of music--guitar, sax, and a gravelly voice singing one of my favorite songs (Mad World)--stopped me in my tracks. I went inside and found a tiny bar, only 10 feet across and 25 or so feet deep. Around the perimeter of the room, the walls were lined with shelves portraying pictures of a family, shoes, cobbler tools, and various memorabilia from years past. A man was sitting on the bar, playing guitar and singing, while his friend played sax along with him. There were only a handful of other locals in the bar (this was around 4pm).
I stood by the door, listening happily for a few minutes, before a kindly older gentleman sitting at the bar gestured to the stool next to him, making it clear I should sit. He (Tom) immediately introduced himself and engaged me in conversation, telling me about the men playing and asking me if I wanted a drink. I declined, not sure how I long I was going to stay, and he began telling me all about his life and adventures. Turns out Tom was a pilot in WWII, and once flew from Dublin to New York in a little over three hours. He also used to be a part of the film industry, a sound technician for movies, and told me all about the famous people he met and heard perform--including Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald.
Tom was incredibly charismatic and sweet and when he offered again to buy me a drink I got a half pint of Guinness (and discovered that draft Guinness here is a world away from the Guinness in the states--it's PHENOMENAL). After a little while, a man playing banjo and a (very drunk) man with a flute joined the other two playing together, and I listened for a long time, heartily enjoying their sound. Tom kept making me laugh and we talked with the "band" and the other locals in the bar and I just felt so at home.
I left to go meet up with my mom and had dinner, but assured them I'd be back, and sure enough my mom and I came back an hour later. The pub had filled up quite a bit, and most of the boys were still playing. Tom loved my mom and talked to both of us for quite a while (quote of the night: "if I were sixty years younger, I'd have you both!"), while insisting on buying me another half pint and my mom a glass of wine. We also met a lovely Aussie couple. After the band stopped playing I went over to sit on the bar-table with them and talk, and showed them the few chords I knew on guitar when prompted. They told me all kinds of stories about their childhoods and even taught me some Irish phrases and a song. It was just amazing.
By the way, I found out later that this pub we were at was called Dick Mack's, and is actually a rather famous pub. I like that I stumbled upon it by chance, it feels like fate.
Later on, my mom and I said goodbye to all our new friends and went to another famous Dingle pub (An Droichead Beag, which means small bridge pub) where there was to be more traditional live music.
Really, in Dingle, any pub you go into after around 8 will have fantastic live music. I met three people my age from a hostel near ours and had fun talking to them, trading recommendations about the places we'd traveled. The band was phenomenal.
The next morning, my mom and I hopped on a small tour around the Dingle Peninsula, run by a local family. They told us all about the history of the area and the drive was just spectacular.
This is called Sleeping Man Island: the man is lying on his back with his head on the right, hands on his stomach from drinking too much Guinness, or so they told us! It's part of the Blaskett Islands.
We saw lots of ancient things:
"Beehive" huts, built by people who lived here over 4000 years ago (!!!).
We also visited the remains of the Riasc Monastic Settlement: "Dating from the 5th to the 12th century, the monastery site lays in ruins with traces of walls, inner walls, beehive hut residences, a square oratory, and an outside grain kiln operated for the surrounding farmers. An incredible Celtic pillar stone dates from 1,000 B.C., with a monk-carved Maltese-type cross, inscribed over the Celtic scrolls."
Later on we saw the Gallarus Oratory, which was built without mortar around 700 AD. It's been standing all these centuries completely undisturbed. They haven't restored it at all; it was built so perfectly that it is supported purely by the balance of the stones and the shape.
After the lovely drive, mom and I stopped in at a local cheese shop and got some cheese that was made right there in Dingle and had seaweed from the harbor in it! We got some other stuff from the store and made a great lunch out of it--delicious.
Later, we hiked down to the mouth of the harbor, which was so picturesque I couldn't put the camera away the whole time.
About 30 years ago, a wild dolphin moved into Dingle Harbor. They named him Fungi (for some reason) and he's been a huge tourist attraction ever since. There are many boat trips that go out to the mouth of the harbor to see him, and he always makes an appearance and swims with the boats--I think he's lonely. Anyway, we spotted him for sure, although I wasn't able to get a good picture--I've overdone the contrast so that you can see his little dorsal fin poking up to the left of the boat here:
After walking back and having dinner, we went out to listen to music at the pubs again. We had a really nice time having a glass of wine and listening to this family singing and playing various Irish folk songs...I think they've been my favorite live music in Ireland:
Then we went to another pub to hear more music...
And another...
And another! Yeah, that is a kid in the pub. You'd see kids with their parents in the pubs until well after midnight! Also, you were welcome to stay and listen to the music without being pressured to buy anything AT ALL. So different from the states.
At the last pub I met a guy from Germany and his sister from another hostel who I'd met the night previously, as well as a girl from Arizona (we commiserated about our craving for Mexican food together). I ended up talking with the three of them for a long time.
Dingle is a MUST-SEE if you go to Ireland. Even though it's so tiny, the locals are extremely welcoming and it's just beautiful all around. I would happily spend a few weeks there!
So since this place we've been to Killarney, Kinsale, Kilkenny, Dublin, Conwy, and Cardiff, and are heading to London today. Maybe one day this will be actually up to date! =P