Monday, April 14, 2008

The Ring of Kerry, Dingle, and upwards towards Galway

We arrived in Dingle after a long day traveling around the picturesque Ring of Kerry. The weather cooperated to a degree, treating us with sunny spells throughout rain and hail showers. In the meantime, we enjoyed at least thirty of Ireland's reputed forty shades of green. We checked into our B&B and talked a bit with John, the owner, over tea. As is typical for our conversations thus far, topics ranged widely. Mostly we discussed the economy, surprisingly enough, and how the US housing crash has affected the EU in general and Ireland in specific. He sounded a bit worried about how the next tourist season will shape up. As he noted, "when the US sneezes, Ireland catches pneumonia."

John had to head to the neighboring town to pick up his car. He had flattened a tire driving too close the curb on a narrow road. Hearing that made me feel a bit better about driving there myself. No one is immune.

After watching John's apparently very well behaved dog Rio snatch a slab of butter off the table while she thought no one was looking, we headed into town to explore.

Dingle's a quiet town, and we had three days to slow down in it. We popped our heads into and out of a few pubs along our walk, and also met the owner of the local music shop as we looked for a CD by Paul Brady (a folk singer well known in Ireland, but only recently discovered by us). After finding the disc and chatting with Michael a bit, he mentioned that he'd be playing with a few of his friends down at The Small Bridge that night.

After biding our time talking with a pleasant French transplant named Johanne as we waited out the rain in Dick Mack's, we grabbed a quick dinner and headed down to The Small Bridge to check things out. As promised, Michael was setting up. He recognized us immediately, and invited us to front row seating as they got started. The evening flowed on, and we thoroughly enjoyed the trad session, and a pint or two as well.

The next day, we hopped back into the car for a trip around the Dingle Peninsula, then back into town for food and a bit of socializing. After some very fresh seafood from a restaurant who draws their menu up on a chalkboard based on the catch of the day, we found ourselves once again back in The Small Bridge. Music again this time, but the place was much more crowded with the Friday night scene.

We gravited towards a makeshift game of quarters going on in the back of the sprawling pub, played with Euros of course. As usual, we met a few people, but hit it off best with a localish trio around our age. We chatted it up with Patrick, who talked about growing up around Dingle, getting scorned by his mother for speaking Irish instead of English, and about the evolution of Ireland as a whole. Sadly, he's convinced that the Irish language will be gone and forgotten within the next 50 years. The government seems to agree with Patrick, which is likely why they've designated Dingle as a Gaeltacht. They've subsidized Gaelic-only schools in the region, and pushed to have local road signs displayed in Irish (with subtitles for us tourists). They've also encouraged communities to adopt their Irish names. Dingle (or An Daingean) is the exception, however, because it's name is so well established.

The town itself felt more authentic than others we've visited so far, partly because it is a functional fishing and farming village even when there aren't throngs of tourists around to watch them work. It was a treat for us, as pre-season tourists, to see the town generally as it is in the sleepy offseason.

We headed up to Galway yesterday. Along the way, we visited the Cliffs of Moher and wound our way through the rocky and barren Burren. The cliffs, while beautiful, were host a small swarm of tourists. Though not nearly as many as I would imagine on a summer's day, their presense was somewhat jarring, as we were a little better acclimated to quieter environs populated generally with locals. Now that we're in Galway, however, we'd better get used to it. Though only numbering about 65,000 or so, it's a great deal larger than the tiny towns we've gotten used to so far.

We're staying right on Eyre Square in the city's center, so I'm sure we'll adapt back to city life fairly quickly, with a war story or two to share with you soon.

Another footnote: Unfortunately, sharing some of our photos with you is proving to be a bit more difficult than I expected, so you're still stuck with my attempts to describe our travels. Please be patient. It will be rewarded. ;)

3 comments:

Blo said...

Thanks for the travelog. Great to see you're having a wonderful time. Cheers from San Diego!

Anonymous said...

We lost your email address, and our daughter in-law found your blog! We'd love to be able to send you the pictures we took in the restaurant! Can you email me at czechmate3 at yahoo . com ?

(In your subject, put your names "Brad & Beth" so I know it's not spam!)

Glad to see you're doing well!

- Frank and Ludmila Svara

オテモヤン said...
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