The Dingle Peninsula

On the southern part of the western coast of Ireland is the Dingle Peninsula which is situated in County Kerry. It has a number of communities and fabulous scenery. There are also golf courses, and other tourist attractions. There is a village there that goes by the name of Dingle and is not far from the beach that we stopped at. The Dingle Peninsula was made famous by the movie “Ryan’s Daughter”.

Dingle has a number of small restaurants, but all of our group seemed to head for one in particular. It is right across from the bus park, and is quite handy to a small shopping district. I also think that the fact that the bus driver recommended this particular restaurant also helped.

We had enough time to have a lunch in a crowded restaurant that was also a favourite with the local people and to wander up the street. The name is Harrington’s Family Restaurant and their fish and chips are enjoyable.

Once we finished our lunch, my brother and I decided to head up the street to see what was there. We stopped into a couple of the shops. One of the shops was an outlet for Blarney Woolen factory. Once I had a look around and saw the prices of the merchandise, I realized that this was not a shop for someone on a relatively tight budget. So, I continued on my way.

Further up the street, I found a shop that seemed to belong to the Murphy family. They were right beside Murphy’s Pub, and had a sign over the door for Murphy’s B&B. I found the type of shop that I was looking for, souvenirs. I was able to get a number of small gifts, filling the bill for all of my seven grandchildren, my mother-in-law, and my sons. I also found something that I was looking for, a bodrhan. They had two sizes of bodrhans, but I chose the bigger one of the two. When I went to pay for my purchases, it turned out that everything was at half price. As this was before the yearly tourist season began, I believe that they were trying to move out last year’s stock before the new stock arrived. That’s alright, I can handle getting things at sale price.

The Dingle Peninsula, as I have said earlier, does have some tourist spots because of the movie, but I would imagine that a good portion of the income of the area is from farming. The fields were already turning green and the farmers were already spending time in the fields.

I think that it would be nice to return to the area to spend a couple of days to relax and to regroup while on a trip. It seems to be a relatively quiet and slow-paced area, something just to calm the frazzled nerves of touring.