So we didn’t walk this morning. The weather was OK but we had been pre-notified that Dingle would without power from 9 am to about 5 pm as Electricity Ireland did maintenance work. So we showered and got out of town. To Tralee. Tralee is the commercial capital of County Kerry. Kilarney is the more famous tourist town. Dingle is the much smaller, once hidden, now discovered gem.

Anyway Tralee is actually a very pleasant city. It’s most famous for annual (in August) Rose of Tralee festival (much celebrated in song). We re-visited the Kerry County Museum. It’s an interesting place to spend an hour or two.

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First off, you will learn everything you need to know about Roger Casement, an Irish patriot and freedom fighter, who was executed for his part in a plan to import guns from Germany as part of the fight for Irish independence in the Easter Rising of 1916. His is a long, complicated story.

There was an interesting temporary exhibit of works by local artists that Elaine especially enjoyed.

There is one room dedicated to Antarctic explorer Tom Crean who participated in several trips to the South Pole with Sir Ernest Shackleton. Crean was a resident of nearby Anascual where he was publican at the South Pole Inn after he retired from expeditions. We have been there for lunch and for pints several times and may stop by again this trip. Here’s a picture of Tom and I at the South Pole.

And there is a walking journey through mediaeval Tralee.

From there we walked into the town center to have lunch at Quinlan’s, a well known fish market and restaurant. Alas, no go. Closed because of water damage. So we had a very nice lunch at Der O’Sullivan’s deli.

Then we visited the beautiful St John’s Church. Elaine was especially enamored with one of the stained glass windows. Can you pick which one? Candles were lit for Paul and for both our mothers and fathers.

Then it was a walk through the city park before heading back to Dingle.

I had a quick nap. Then we both went to Curran’s for the odd pint and met some more interesting locals (like ourselves).

Dinner was at home. Barbequed sausages from Mr. Kennedy’s. One final photo of Irish freedom fighters:

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It was sunny looking in one direction and raining in the other. Should we walk? We did. I hit drizzle for a short bit, but it was mostly dry. So today’s walk theme is “Pubs I Pass”. Now, if I walked in the afternoon and stopped in every pub, I would never make it home. Heh, I wouldn’t make it halfway. And this is not all the pubs in Dingle Town. I can take a different route and pass many more.

Here’s an accounting of what’s in the photo gallery:

Marina Inn – We may have been in here, but, if so, it was years ago

James Long Gastro Pub – We had lunch here last year sitting outside in the sun

Paudie’s Bar – Somewhere on the blog is a picture of me sipping Guinness at an outside table.

John Benny’s – a favorite place of ours’s for lunch

Murphy’s – We used to go here a lot but rarely visit anymore (Sorry, Billy & MIanne)

Paddie Bawn Brosnan’s – Paddie Bawn was an old Irish football legend, long dead. I go here usually once a trip for a pint and I think Elaine joined me once.

Hannie Agnus – a local hangout where I don’t think we have ever been.

Dick Mack’s – Probably the most famous pub in Dingle. It was once and technically still is a leather good and shoe shop as well as a pub. They now brew their own beer. Very popular tourist spot with a walk of fame out front with stars of people who have visited.

Curran’s – one of my favorites. You can watch travel write Rick Steves interview the owner, James Curran, on Facebook here.

Foxy John’s – Rent a bike, buy a hammer or wrench, and have a pint.

Adam’s Bar – Seems to be closed. Elaine and I have been in here.

Lord Baker’s – Alaine and I ate in here with her parents, Doc and Lena) 23 years ago.

Paul Geaney’s Bar – Paul, the owner, is the brother of our friend Tom Geaney who runs the Dingle Pub next door.

The Dingle Pub – My local. You already heard all about it

Ashe’s Bar – We eat dinner here every trip and love it.

Walker’s Bar – I’ve never been in and I’ve never seen it open.

Nelligan’s – Very good local music venue. We’ve been a few times.

An Droichead Beag (The Little Bridge) – It’s been ages since we’ve been in here. Caters to a young crowd with loud rock music.

The Courthouse Pub – We have been in. Very low ceilings. I cannot stand straight up in about 3/4’s of the pub.

The Dingle Distribution Point (Not a pub, but it seemed relevant)

Bob Griffin’s Pub – Fairly small and fairly new. I’ve never been in.

O’Flaherty’s – If you don’t recognize this one, then you haven’t been reading the blog.

Nice sunny day again. Are we in Ireland? We did our walks at 7:30 am. I passed a couple of different pubs on this route: Barr na Sraide and McCarthy’s. Never been to the first. Elaine and I have enjoyed pints in the second. McCarthy’s has an interesting two windows. I also passed the Holy Stone, a Dingle landmark – meet you at the Holy Stone. Nothing especially religiously holy about it. Good that there’s a hydrant nearby. Huh? Also saw a Féile na Bealtaine poster – that’s a festival happening this coming weekend. More on that later on. We have tickets to two events.

After lunch at home in the afternoon we drove over Conor Pass to Glanteenassig Forest Park for a walk in the woods. Wonderful mountain views of Carrignaspaniagh’ (or the Spaniards Rock). (It is said that Cucullane had taken away the wife of a Spaniard, whose husband pursued them to Tigh Cucullane, from which she took a walk with him to the top of this precipice and when there he seized her and flung himself and her into the Lake which is underneath.) Then the Lough Caum Loop is a bog bridge that encircles the lake and is bounded by Stradbally mountain, Beenoskee with Reamore hill also to be seen. The weather wasn’t perfect – it was overcast but dry after the sunny morning. After our walk we drove back to Dingle the other way. Yes, I am wearing glasses (for reading) in one picture. I was reading camera settings, and Elaine said I looked distinguished. Hhmmm? And she says the new blue Irish hat sets off my eyes. Hhmmmm? On the whole walk it was just us, the birds, the ducks, and the sheep. No one else around.

Dinner was at favorite restaurant number four – Out of the Blue. Fish only is served here and no fried food (thus no fish and chips). Great meal with a German pinot noir. Elaine had gambas (shrimp) for a starter and scallops for her main. I had panfried lemon sole (OMG good) for a starter and grilled monkfish for my main. They are described in detail on the photo below of the menu. I had apple tart for dessert while Elaine had rhubarb tart.

We stopped briefly at the Dingle Pub to see Richie and Dreams of Freedom. It was teeming with tourists. Then home to bed.

So we rested. The weather was nice. Lots of sun. We did venture into town for lunch at Flannery’s Fish Box. The fish and chips is hard to beat. It’s right across the street from St Mary’s where Elaine lit a candle and I snapped a camera picture.

We hung out at home most of the day. At 3:30 I went into town for a pint at the Dingle Pub. At 5:00 we had cocktails at home. I sat outside for a bit, but it’s chilly. I did take some good camera pics from the backyard (including a shadow picture) and a panorama video scanning the view we see everyday. You can hear the wind in the video.

This morning’s walk was without camera, so no random pictures.

Today’s history lesson is about the Blasket Islands, just three miles off the Dingle Peninsula coast. For a more complete history, read the above link or this one here. The highest population of the Great Blasket (pictured above – not my photo), the largest island, was about 180. It was tough living out there. They raised sheep and lived off the sea. Only three miles away, the mainland was often unreachable for days at a time because of the rough seas. By the 1950’s the population was down to 30-ish. Only one child and no doctor. In 1953 the government declared that the island was to be evacuated and so it was. Oddly enough, many of the Blasket islanders, both from earlier days and at evacuation time, ended up in, of all places, West Springfield, Massachusetts. There are still close ties between the Dingle Peninsula and West Springfield. The Blaskets are also noted for the literature that emanated from there. More detail here. I have read several of the books.

Yes, we visited the deserted Blaskets on one of our visits to Dingle. Now there are two (or maybe three) structures on the island where you can spend the night in a B&B type environment. No heat. No electricity. No food – bring your own. There is, oddly enough, excellent cell phone reception.

The last boy on the island was Gerald Keane (Gearóid Ó Catháin). He wrote a book called the Loneliest Boy in the World. I’ve read it. And we met him and his wife about ten years ago in the Dingle Pub one quiet afternoon. He is still alive and lives in Cork now. When we met him, he was looking for a place to buy in Dunquin, the closest village to the Blaskets. He never bought anything.

So, anyway, today we visited the Blasket Islands Center outside of Dunquin (Dún Chaoin). We’ve been before, but it has been substantially upgraded and improved since about 2019. We had a pleasant visit, and we saw Hannah again as she was also visiting the Blasket Center. We watched numerous movies about the Blaskets and interviews conducted with many of the final residents. The stories are compelling. Most of them are now dead and buried, save for the Loneliest Boy and a couple of others. In general, islanders are buried on the mainland as there is no consecrated graveyard on the island. There is unconsecrated grave site that was used for unknown bodies that washed up on shore from time to time.

Oh, and we had a very pleasant lunch in the Coffee Shop.

It was raining when we left. We stopped at the store for some stuff, and I filled the car up with gas. (Gas is about $7.00/gallon when you convert the euros/liter price.) Dinner was at home – leftover lamb sausages with potato and carrots. Early to bed.

Not much to report today. Did our walks in the morning. Pictures follow. You’ll see Murphy’s Ice Cream Store for which Dingle is famous. You’ll also see Kool Scoops run by Mr &. Mrs. O’Connor, our ice cream store of choice. Elaine loves the honeycomb flavor. You’ll also see SuperValu (our grocery store), the Chart House (our favorite restaurant), the Coach House (our landlady Grainne’s shop), the town gas station, the town street sweeper (out every day!), and a few other landmarks. Oh, and we separately saw a van with NH license plates. He must have taken the new tunnel from Portsmouth to Dingle. And you’ll see the three flags you saw yesterday blowing full out standing limp today. Fortunately the fierce winds have ceased.

We spent most of the day at home. We journeyed out together in the afternoon for the odd pints at Curran’s Pub. Good conversation with Johnny, the bartender, and a couple of locals. Dinner tonight was at the third of our top three restaurants – Ashe’s Bar and Restaurant. Dinner was grand.

Elaine had mussels to start and scallops for her main. I had Glenbeigh oysters followed by John Dory with shrimp. We shared a chocolate brownie with ice cream for dessert.

The highlight of the meal was meeting Hannah (pictured below), a Seattle nurse and Boston College grad (Go Eagles!) travelling alone. Great craic. She has the website url and probably will be reading this. (Hi, Hannah! We loved meeting you. The canal boat trip is on the old blog – here’s a link to the last post from that trip to the Scottish islands and our boat adventure on the canals of Wales. Scroll down from there to see the canal boat portion. Enjoy!)

No music tonight. Early to bed. Told you there wasn’t much to report. There was a pleasant sunset just finishing as we arrived home. Later!

Amazing. We’ve already been in Dingle for a week. And we got yet another sunny day – not a cloud in the sky all day. Temperatures in the upper 50’s. But the wind was fierce. Still, no rain is a blessing.

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We did our walks and I took my random pictures. Find my selfie in the window.

MAPS

Can you find Dingle on the map of Ireland? The other map is of the Dingle Peninsula and the Blasket Islands.

Later in the morning we decided to visit Dingle Oceanworld. It’s a small aquarium that we last visited probably twenty years ago. It was enjoyable then, so we decided to revisit. They have a nice butterfly area. And we learned everything there is to know about otters. Cute, right? No. Smelly, vicious, and anti-social. And they eat anything . . . . or everything. Still, they are endangered, and Oceanworld has a breeding program. And they are fun to watch. Plus they have the usual fish tanks and a nice penguin exhibit. It was fun to visit. Also, note the photo of the world’s biggest predator.

Oceanworld also has a cinematic Atlantic Ocean experience. It’s a movie, sort of, but amazingly well done. Can you tell these are fake?

Right next door is the Boatyard, a recently refurbished restaurant on the harbor. We had never eaten there. We decided to try it for a light lunch. It was good. Elaine had chowder. I had a fisherman’s sandwich which wasn’t really a sandwich at all, but servings of crab salad, shrimp salad, and smoked salmon served with brown bread and a salad. It was scrumptious.

Then it was home for reading, tv, naps, and eventually dinner. Home barbequed pork chops with potato and veg. Wine, of course. Our house wine in Dingle is Oyster Bay Pinot Noir from New Zealand. Very nice meal.

After dinner it was off to O’Flaherty’s. We had a short chat with Fergus, the owner and lead musician. We had Guinness (me) and Smithwick’s (Elaine) – real Smithwicks’s this time, Kris. And we listened to some fine music by Fergus and his friend accompanied by visiting musicians from Maine and Maryland. Pictures and videos follow: Fergus plays, Fergus sings, and Fergus on Bodhrán Drum. After music it was home to bed.

is not Prince Spaghetti Day in Ireland. And we are having very un-Irish weather – bright sun almost all day (and it’s forecast to stay that through Friday).

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We took our usual separate walks (when I usually take random photos). In the first photo you can see our house – second to the right of the telephone pole. That’s St Mary’s Church further down – Elaine stops in daily to light a “Paul” candle. Lisbeth Mulcahy is a noted weaver (and wife of pottery wizard Louis Mulcahy). Sadly, she passed away suddenly very recently. And, yes, we have a Dingle candle in the house.

Lunch was at home. Then we went into town. I renewed my Dingle Library card, and we checked out some books. I tend to read Irish history or stories about Dingle while we are here. We visited the Little Cheese Shop and bought some brie and some Cashel blue. And we visited Fitzgerald’s Hardware to buy a sharp knife (the ones in our kitchen are very dull) and a pair of tongs for my barbequing. Elaine walked home whilst I stopped at Curran’s for a Guinness. Rarely is there a tourist in Curran’s. It’s a local’s hangout.

Dinner was at our favorite restaurant, the Chart House. It’s no connection to the US chain. Dinner was yummy. The wine was Tinpot Hut, a pinot noir from New Zealand.

Elaine: Dingle Bay Seafood Chowder with Croutons and a Dash of Lemon Oil -followed by- Baked Fillet of Hake, Sweet Potato and Burbon Puree, Coco De Paimpol Beans, Gubeen Chorizo, Herb Oil -followed by- Warm Pear and Spiced Ginger Pudding, Rosemary Toffee Sauce, Caramelised Poached Pear and Pistachio Ice Cream

Moi: Local Mussels in a Ginger Sauce -followed by- Roast Rack of Kerry Lamb, Dauphinoise Potatoes, Fig & Red Onion Chutney, Rosemary Jus -followed by- Dark Chocolate Parfait, White Chocolate & Vanilla Bean Cremeux, Salted Caramel, Candied Pecan Tuille, and Chocolate Crumb.

I hate my picture. I look old. Well, I guess I am old. Oh, well. Age is only a number. 80 is the new 79. Blah.

OK, no tacos. This is the 465th blog post. There have been 1,313 comments. Keep ’em coming. Uneventful but pleasant Tuesday. Nice sunny day.

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Walks as usual in the morning. Can you spot the fixer upper I could buy and rehab? Bad building on a prime site. The cat in the window is at Elaine’s hair stylist’s shop. It’s on Dykegate Lane (pronounced Daggot). The second pic is from our backyard looking down the backside of Ard Na Mara.

Then we took a ride up to Conor Pass. Good views but a bit hazy. Can you see Dingle? Can you identify Harp Lake?

Lunch was at home. More shopping in the afternoon. Had to fill the wine cellar. And we stopped at Jerry Kennedy’s Butcher Shop. We bought some pork chops and some lamb sausages. I LOVE those lamb sausages. Dinner was at home – lamb sausages (of course) on the barbeque with fresh broccoli and scalloped potatoes. (That’s, of course, after figuring out the intricacies of a new bbq grill – a big one with SIX burners and a side burner for a pan.)

We rarely venture out after dinner at home, but we headed into the Dingle Pub to listen to our friend Richie O’Brien, the lead singer and guitarist with Dreams of Freedom. And we had up close seats to watch David Geaney, the publican Tom’s son, dance in his magical way as Richie sings “Galway Girl” (which was written by an Englishman, Ed Sheeran). My request from Richie was “Grace” about a young Irish Protestant girl who converted to Catholicism to marry her love, Joseph Plunkett, an Irish republican. They were to be married Easter Day 1916. Alas, that was the Easter Uprising and Plunkett was arrested and imprisoned in Kilmainham Jail and sentenced to death. A priest got Graced admitted into the prison to marry Joseph. The next morning he was executed. Grace never remarried. Listen to the song here.

Busy day.

Camera Talk

People always ask what camera I use. Well, three actually. My camera of choice and most often used is my Sony RX100 VII. If I don’t take that camera with me, then I normally use my Pixel 7 Pro phone camera. It takes very good pictures. Since the Pixel Pro has a sim card that does not work outside the USA, I also have my Irish phone – a Samsung Galaxy A03 which has an OK camera. So mostly you will see pics from the Sony or the Samsung A03.

Walking

Normally, when it’s not raining, we take separate walks in the morning. (Elaine is too fast for me to keep up with). So today we did our first walks. Normally it’s a loop walk – into town one way and back the other way. The Irish are late risers, so it’s normally very quiet in town at 7:00 to 8:00 am when we are walking. We went in opposite directions and usually meet somewhere mid-walk unless we take different routes in town.

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The House – 18 Ard Na Mara.

Very comfortable house. Great sun room and patio. Bed very comfortable. We preferred the master bedroom at #23 Ard Na Mara, and 23 also had a better kitchen. But the view, patio, and sun room are nice. All in all, it’s a wash. The bedroom we use is the one with the yellow blanket. The yellow flowers (which are everywhere in Ireland) are gorse. Our car is a Toyota C-HR Hybrid. The car’s name is Eion ( = Owen in English).

The Drive

It was overcast, but we decided to ride out to Slea Head. We made two stops.

Dunquin Pier is where the ferry goes to the Blasket Islands. It’s a very small passenger-only ferry holding twenty people max. It often doesn’t run because the seas are too rough. It wasn’t running today. Great pics of the road (path?) down to the pier. The last picture is of a picture of sheep coming up the path.

Then we stopped at Clogher Strand, one of my favorite spots in Dingle. There were a bunch of stone towers on the beach that people had built. The waves were crashing.

Dinner at the Half Door

Our first eat out dinner was at the Half Door Restaurant. It’s one of our favorite three. We had kir royales to start. The wine with dinner was a Louis Latour Burgandy pinot noir. Elaine had the pork belly starter and then cod with mussels as her main followed by fruit pavlova for dessert. I had six local oysters followed by a duo of John Dory and turbot. My dessert was lemon posset with strawberries. Fabulous meal!

We stopped at O’Flaherty’s for an after dinner drink. No music on Mondays, but we checked in with bartender Mary and had a quick libation. Then it was home to bed.