Sunday
It’s become boring to say the weather was again perfect – sunny, cloudless, and warm. We skipped church. OK, I could have omitted that fact. We did a bit of shopping at a very quiet Supervalu on Sunday morning. After a nice lunch of sandwiches and crisps (which is what potato chips are called in Ireland), we decided to take a walk. The plan was to go all the way to Dingle Lighthouse, but that proved to be a bit too far. But it was a good walk nonetheless.
Click on the galleries below to bring up scrollable windows with full size pictures – the gallery previews may show just thumbnails of the pictures. By the way, the pictures look much better on a tablet or a computer than they do on your phone. Just saying.
For awhile we were still on Dingle streets, but not where I ever remember taking pictures before. The mural is on the wall of the local football (Irish football and soccer) field.
Then we ventured along the shoreline and made it as far as Dingle’s almost hidden beach. Here are a couple of galleries of random shots.
To the Beach
The tower on the mountain is Eask Tower. We’ve climbed to it a few time. I’ve never done it as an octogenarian, and I suspect I never will. The tower along the shoreline – well, more about it in the next gallery. There are wind surfers at the beach, but nobody in the water.
Home from the Beach
The tower at the end of the beach is Hussey’s Folly. (Hey Bob, tell Jim Hussey we were there) The large building you see in two pictures is the Skellig Hotel, Dingle’s largest tourist accommodation. It gets bigger every year we come, I think, and they are building something new there now. Our friends, Barb & Kris (avid blog readers) stayed here on their tour in Ireland. The birds you see are hooded crows. Not as pretty as oyster catchers, but, hey, I’m not as pretty as some either. (These tiny little birds migrate to West Africa in the winter, and return to a number of out-of-the-way sand and shingle beaches around the Irish coast to try and raise their young. As seabirds that rely on a diet of fish, they’re excellent ecosystem indicators to give us an idea of what goes on beneath the waves.)
After our walk we stopped at Curran’s for a pint. We chatted with Craig, the ex-pat American who moved here when he-who-will-remain-unmentioned was first elected president. He hasn’t been back to the USA since he arrived. I bought Mike Flannery a drink to reciprocate the few he has bought me over the years. (He’s off the beer but apparently not off the vodka.) And an American couple (Joe and Sandy from Portland, Maine; she grew up in Hull, MA) came in from a bus tour making a 45 minute stop because they had read about Curran’s and wanted to see it. They had watched this Rick Steve’s video. They celebrated with pints of Guinness and shots of Dingle whiskey, chatted us up, and they were off to catch their tour bus. They wanted to meet James Curran, but, alas, he wasn’t in house. But they did get to meet Joe and Elaine! I must say that 45 minutes in Dingle is not quite enough time to enjoy it. Our first stay in Dingle on a vacation in Ireland was in 1999 when we stayed at Greenmount House (still going strong!) for two nights, and we fell in love with the town. Our first extended stay (six weeks) was in 2020 before we moved to Arizona.
Dinner was a new spot for us and new spot in Dingle – the Fish Factory. It’s owned by the people who run Solas (where we’ve eaten tice this trip) and located in the old fish processing plant (hence, the name). It’s run by their daughter. Elaine loved the hanging fish lamps (as will her brother Greg). They are the skins of Icelandic Cod. The food was Asian fusion. Ireland has come a long way food wise since I first visited in the 1960’s!
Our Meal
Refer to Menu above for details
And everything was delicious!
Spanish Rioja Wine (shared, of course)
Rock Oysters (for me)
Shrimp Dumplings (shared)
Pork Belly Dumplings (shared)
Prawn and Coconut Curry and Rice (Elaine)
Korean Friend Chicken and Rice (me)
Passion Fruit Sorbet with Pineapple Salsa (shared)
We cancelled a visit to the Dingle Pub for music. Too tired and too full. Another night.
For a picture of Elaine with new birthday earrings, stay tuned.
Pix yesterday and today, of scenery, food and two human subjects have been the best so far, and each day, they’re fabulous, in my neophyte Dingle opinion! All are what I’ll call picture perfect! I feel the “Dingle pull” getting stronger by the day!
Boy you are not kidding food has come a long way from your over the years pics! Looks incredible!
How large is Dingle – think of it as a small town but you keep showing places even you have not seen on prior trips?
Elaine is my hat lady there?
Wish we were either you maybe next time!!
Population 1,671 in 2022. Your hat lady is there.
I love when you take random photos on a walk-about — and that was quite a long walk-about (especially for an octogenarian)! It’s like being on a walking tour with you the way you include interesting and historical facts and stories.
Sounds like you had a very fun and busy time at Curran’s Pub. And a great meal at the Fish Factory with a very interesting menu. I too love those lamps made from the skins of Icelandic cod. Very cool. I can see why you passed on a stop-off at the Dingle Pub.
Looking forward to seeing Elaine’s birthday earrings.