Unless otherwise noted, all photo credits go to Niki Erickson, an
awesome photographer, a fantastic friend, and a really top notch
traveling companion. Thanks, Niki!
Yes, I really did just make you read a terrible pun. I'm sorry? JK, I'm really proud of myself.
Anywho, Dingle. It's a really quaint little town on the Dingle Pennisula on the west coast of Ireland. I know that quaint is a stupid word, and I hate myself for using it, but f'reals, this town. Tiny, adorable shops, brightly colored houses along the bay, bearded chefs, dolphins. But I am getting ahead of myself.
View from the bay. Love those colored houses.
We stayed in a great hotel on Main Street in Dingle. First reason I loved it-we stayed there two nights in a row. I know there's a lot to be said for marathon vacationing, but sleeping in the same bed twice was such a pleasure. Also, they had great breakfasts there. They had the breakfast buffet, which included an assortment of fancy cheeses (which is genius. I want fancy cheeses for breakfast all the time now). And then you could also order off the menu, and if you got the waffles, they brought you syrup in the tiniest, cutest pitcher. We joked about stealing them as souvenirs, they were that cute. Another thing to love about breakfast was the American family who was seated at the next table over. Clearly the parents, who were pretty conservative, middle class looking people, were trying mightily to relate to their son, who has only taken a break from occupying Wall Street in order to educate his parents about the hypocrisy of capitalism. I can also imagine him sitting in a coffee shop, writing sad poetry and feeling misunderstood. Needless to say, they were very entertaining.
Dingle Main Street. Look how cute it is!
Also great about our hotel-the guy who worked there was super helpful. The first thing he did when we got there was give us a map of town with attractions and restaurants highlighted. He asked us what we planned on doing and gave us (really helpful) suggestions to have a more awesome stay. And he told us which restaurant in town was his favorite, and unlike that lady in Edinburgh, he actually knew what he was talking about. It was an awesome restaurant, with delicious food. Also, the chef, who was a cute redhead with a beard (!!!) came out of the kitchen and asked us if we liked our food! I felt pretty fancy. But the best thing about the restaurant was what they put on all the desserts-chocolate pop rocks. Honestly, they were amazing! And chocolatey! And they popped! It turns out that Sticky Toffee Pudding with chocolate pop rocks is delightful.
We saw this dog riding a donkey near the harbor. Very mysterious/amazing.
The next day we explored Dingle, the bay, and the peninsula. Apparently, there is a Bottlenose Dolphin (now named Fungie, which is a terribad name, guys) that has lived in Dingle Bay since 1983! That's as many years as I've lived on planet Earth. According to the interwebs, the good people of Dingle don't give him awesome snacks to make him stay or anything. He just likes it. We also likes it, so we went on a Fungie Dolphin tour of the bay. You really can't lose, because if you don't see Fungie, you don't have to pay. But we totally saw him! A lot! He was swimming right by our boat for 15 minutes or so of the hour and a half boat ride. So awesome. We love you, Fungie! He's also ginormous. I never knew that dolphins got so big. We read that dolphins can live up to 40 years, so I hope that Fungie is in the bay for years to come.
Moi, avec the Fungie statue. I think I'm surfing.
Eeeeeee! There he is!
He didn't jump (he is at least 30 years old, after all), but he did come out of the water a lot.
My favorite was when Fungie swam really close to the surface like this. He's so cool.
After we saw Fungie, we drove around the peninsula on Slea Head Drive. The Drive is something like 37 miles long, and in 5 hours or so driving, I think we made it 12 miles. There was so much to do and so much to see! We went to several museums, including this awesome prehistoric Ireland museum, where we saw a wooly mammoth skull and I bought my super fantastic dragon. We also went to some potato famine houses. The man who worked there had the thickest accent of anyone we met on vacation. I really thought he wasn't speaking English at first. He had to do a lot of gesturing for us to understand him. And then when we got back from the famine huts, he was gone! It was very mysterious. He was probably a ghost. The other museum we went to was about the Blasket Islands, a group of islands a few miles off the coast. No one has lived there since the 1950s, but up until that point, the people who lived there had been basically an unchanged society for hundreds of years. It was very interesting, but Niki totally fell asleep while we were there. :)
Ta da! The guy who ran this museum/best gift shop ever was American. Why don't I live in Dingle? I'm an American!
Touring the famine huts, no big d...HOLY CRAP WHAT IS THAT???? Yes, the famine huts went for nightmare inducing rather than realistic.
One of the views from Slea Head Drive. These rock walls were all over Ireland, even up mountainsides. They really want you to know that this is their land.
The other reason it took us 5 hours to go 12 miles was because everything was beautiful. We kept thinking it couldn't get more beautiful, but as soon as we rounded the next bend, we were proven wrong. The views were stunning. Unfortunately, when we came out of the last museum, it had gotten really foggy, so we basically drove the last 25 miles in half an hour. Nothing to see, nothing to do (the museums were closed by then). Still really pretty, though. And then we went to eat at
another really good restaurant. That hotel guy knew what he was talking about. My favorite thing about 2nd day restaurant was that I wanted my burger well done, and it was actually well done! Not just cooked around the edges. C'mon, America. Get it together! Also great was the fact that the weather had started misting. Not really rain, although we got pretty wet, just tiny little water droplets hanging out in the air. I've never see weather like it anywhere else.
Slea Head Drive. Pictures don't do it justice.
After that, we planned to go to a pub to hear some real Irish music, but Niki was sick, so we went back to our hotel and she basically slept for 13 hours. I got the same disease right when we got home, so I know exactly how she felt. Still, even with the black lung (note the absence of capital letters) afflicting Niki, Dingle was still a definite vacation highlight.
Next time, on
The Black Lung...We get some germs and do not have a great time in Dublin.
To Be Continued...
2 comments:
This was awesome. Although I don't understand your dislike for the word quaint. I like it! And it sure did seem fitting for Dingle...berry. I'm sorry, every time I hear dingle, my brain immediately adds berry to the end. It's terrible and I'm ashamed. However, I can't wait for your next installment, even though it's for the most disappointing place on your trip.
That is awesome that a dolphin is right there. It is very random and cool. It will be super sad when he dies.
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