9/8: Delightful Dingle Town Walk

 After a really fun drive along the north shore of the Ring of Kerry and meandering along some of Ireland's prettiest byways, we finally made it to Dingle in southwest Ireland by late afternoon. Our B&B was just a couple of (thankfully) quiet blocks up from Main Street, so, after checking in, we began exploring. 

While Steven waited outside, I popped into the Fiadh Handwoven Design Shop to admire the array of lovely woven items made from local wool. 

Another shop had traditional Aran sweaters with their beautiful cables, popcorn stitches and other fancy stitches that are so hard to keep track of for a knitter. I speak from experience having made one a god forty years or so ago and it was bloody difficult to make as my mother would have said! I fancied one but wise Steven wondered out loud when I might wear one - I guess one of us must be practical!

The wool throws and blankets were so, so pretty but we had neither the space in our bags nor the need to buy them.

As we continued up the street, we saw Benner's Hotel which was Dingle's first hotel used when the Tralee stagecoach ended in Dingle. The Georgian facade and door had still survived. 

As soon as we saw the shell on the pillar, we knew it was a symbol of direction for pilgrims walking along the Camino or religious walk, normally referred to as the Santiago de Compostela in northern Spain. But, since just the day before we'd seen the sign for the Dingle Camino, it may have been for that one instead. 

St. James Church, built by the Spanish, is said to be where pilgrims started out their journey to Santiago de Compostela in Spain to visit the shrine of St. James. They traveled by boat from Dingle to the port of Corona in northern Spain where they joined others in their hike to Compostela. We were so looking forward to returning to the Anglican church the next night to listen to some great traditional Irish music when the church would transform itself into a concert venue! 

What a peculiar combination Foxy John's was - a hardware store by day and a pub by night!

The West Kerry Craft Guild was an artists' co-op that had so many one-of-a-kind things that appealed to me so I bought a few things I couldn't resist. 

Darlene: I thought of you right away after seeing these felted soaps! 

Adam's Bar would have been the perfect place for you to sit a spell and quaff a couple of pints, Adam!

Suellen and Janina: When I saw these adorable figures in one shop window, I so wanted to buy them but they weren't for sale, darn it! When's the last time you saw something so, so cute?!

Scenes from the 1969 film Ryan's Daughter were shot all over Dingle and its peninsula. I'd love to see if it's still available and watch it when we get back home!

The big Temperance Hall on Main Street was a 19th century church-sponsored effort to reduce alcohol consumption, something that is also very important nowadays as Ireland still has a critical alcohol problem. AA groups, youth groups and other social and support groups meet there now. 

Right across the street was a plaque that marked a safe house prepared during the French Revolution for Marie Antoinette, the French queen but she never left France. Her head was chopped off in 1789!

The owner/artist of Carol Cronin Gallery has had her own shop and art studio in Dingle since she returned to Ireland in 2009 after spending ten years in Amsterdam. Her sea paintings were very compelling and not ones I'd quickly forget. The five foot by three foot Summer at Sea oil painting could have been ours if we'd shelled out a hefty 8,750 euros! The price showed what a tourist mecca tiny Dingle is to command that for an oil painting, as beautiful as it was.

We'd really hoped to see the Harry Clarke stained-glass windows in the former Presentation Sisters' convent a few blocks away. The sisters had come to Dingle to educate local girls during the Great Potato Famine that lasted from 1845-1850. The dozen windows in the Neo-Gothic Chapel of the Sacred Heart were the work of Ireland's stained-glass master, Harry Clarke, in 1922. Considered Dingle's single most important cultural sight, we'd really hoped to see the windows and the abbey, now a center for sharing Christian Celtic culture. Unfortunately, the center was closed then and another time we stopped by, but the third time was indeed the charm as I will share in another post. 

The sweet little St. Mary's Church was in front of the abbey. 

There were still more scallop shells atop the shrine located between the convent and church, another symbol of direction for pilgrims walking along the Camino. 

Almost within spiting distance of the church was Dick Mack's Pub; it was once a tiny leather shop that became a pub at night! The newest Mack has begun a microbrewery out back and changed the focus from ale to whiskey as the latter is very trendy in Ireland now.

Dick Mack's and the church were so close to each other, the sign on the pub's gate said it perfectly: 

Where is Dick Mack's?

Opposite the church.

Where is the church?

Opposite Dick Mack's!

You've heard of the Hollywood Walk of Fame - well Mack's had its own stars out front, too, indicating famous visitors! 

Dingle's small library was a gift from the Carnegie Foundation. 

Freda: I couldn't help but think of you when we saw Fenton's Restaurant in Dingle! 

Part of what totally captivated me about Dingle were its brightly colored and very cheerful storefronts by the harbor. Traditionally, the shops would have all been a drab gray or whitewashed, but Ireland's Tidy Town competition many years ago encouraged everyone to paint their buildings in eye-popping colors. The brightly painted stores and flags festooned across many of the town's streets made for a very pleasant impression. 

There was no way I could possibly not try Murphy's Ice Cream after no other than Conde Nast Traveller named it one of the Top 10 ice cream shops in the world! The shop had so many esoteric flavors that were totally lost on me, however, as I am a vanilla kind of gal or chocolate fudge if I'm living on the wild side! The shop was packed, though, so unusual flavors must mean I am out of the loop!

Which of these might you have picked: Dingle sea salt, Irish brown bread, Dingle gin, elderflower, butterscotch or possibly mango sorbet? Lina: I imagine Caroline would have picked Kieran's cookies, don't you think?!

We should have known after being in Ireland for a couple of weeks by then that either Irish dinners are always humongous or they think North American tourists are gluttons and need lot of grub because the portions were enough for two without either of us going hungry at the end of the meal! The amount of food was just overwhelming. Our roast beef dinner wouldn't have won any culinary awards but the pub's atmosphere was charming and we were hungry after not eating since breakfast. 

Natalie and Adam: This one's for you!

One of the reasons Dingle felt so traditionally Irish, apart from all its bars, is because it and the Dingle Peninsula are part of the Gaeltacht, an area where the survival of the Irish language and culture are subsidized by the government. While English was readily spoken, the signs and songs are in Irish-Gaelic in an effort to stem English-language encroachment. That was an issue I was so familiar with growing up in Ottawa where the local French speakers felt their language and culture were being absorbed by the English-speaking majority. 

The only interesting bathroom sign all trip and only because it was in Gaelic, not for any fun design! 

In the harbor was a bronze statue of Dingle's most beloved dolphin, Fungie, a bottle nosed dolphin that is the town's greatest marketing tool as tourists like us sign up to take a cruise out into the harbor for the likelihood of seeing Fungie, pronounced FOONghee!

Just up from the harbor was a big street called The Mall. At the beginning of it were two red pillars that were the entrance to the police station and were all that remained from the 19th century British Constabulary when they attempted to put down the local insurgents. The station, a sign of the British ruling force, was burned down in 1922 during the country's Civil War. 

The big white crucifix up the street was a memorial to local patriots who died in the 1916 Easter Rising that helped being independence from British rule to Ireland. It was dedicated "For honor and glory of Ireland, 1916 to 19-." I found it intriguing that the ending date was left blank until all of Ireland is united and free. 

Further up The Mall was a cross etched into a stone atop a wall. It marked the spot of a former holy well which would have been a sacred location for people here 2,000 years ago. 

This was an important place for beer lovers in the Dingle Peninsula as it was the local distribution center for Guinness!

If we'd been hungry, the Courthouse Pub would have been a perfect place as it had a great reputation. 

There was still more to explore about Dingle but we'd gotten a good sense of the delightful town that left us wanting more another day. 

Next post: Driving around the Dingle Peninsula, the westernmost tip of Ireland and Europe.

Posted on September 30th, 2019, from Oban in the Scottish Hebrides.