Sabbatikos

We ended our driving tour around the Ring of Kerry in the town of Dingle. We planned to spend a few nights here and take a full day to explore the remote, rugged and windswept Dingle Peninsula along the scenic and narrow Slea Head Drive.

We checked into the quaint and cozy Quayside B&B located right across from Dingle Harbor, where one of the frequent residents was Fungie, a wayward bottlenose dolphin who Dingle adopted as their resident mascot. Unfortunately, Fungie was last seen in 2020.

After checking in we took a quick stroll around town enjoying the sights and sounds (and mayhaps a tasty pint or two) of the small remote Irish town. Dingle is so far removed from the rest of Ireland (and English influence) you are more likely to hear Gaeilge or Gaelainn than English spoken here.

It wasn’t long before we found a record store with a storied past; the Dingle Record Shop, the smallest record store in Ireland! This tiny store has a mighty reputation, as a place of musical influence throughout Ireland and beyond. Run by the intrepid and inspiring Mazz O’ Flaherty who has run what may be the original Tiny Desk series from her small store, called Sessions from the Shop. In proving that the world is indeed small, we mentioned that a friend of ours, Hanz Araki, is an Irish musician, and she immediately knew who we were talking about, asking us detailed questions about him and his wife. Mazz is inspiring not only for being a champion of traditional and contemporary Irish music, but for her trust of her patrons. Mazz is blind, which we only realized after a long conversations with her, when purchasing an album, and she asked us to make our own change and she’d trust us.

The next morning we headed out for drive around the Dingle Peninsula on the Slea Head Loop Drive. This road is so narrow everyone must drive it in a clockwise fashion. Our first stop was the Irish Famine Cottages where you could hold a baby sheep, walk around old cottages (with bizarre and disturbing mannequins) depicting life during the great potato famine that lasted from 1845-1852. This was a difficult time for Ireland that saw the population of the country drop by nearly 25% as more than two million people left the country in hopes of finding better opportunities in the new world.

It was here we also saw our first beehive hut (clochans) which sat on this property behind the old house. This one appeared to be original construction and was known as “Pig’s Hut”.

A little further down the road was a cluster of reconstructed beehive huts, that showed how ingenious this no-mortar construction was.

Our drive continued on towards Coumeenoole and Coumeenoole Beach for a short walk down the cliffs to the sandy beach to stretch our legs and take some photos. It was breathtaking!

Just a little further down the road was Dunquin, another spectacularly dramatic scenic stop where you can walk down a steep rocky pier to the water. The walk is flanked by jagged rocks, including one that seems close to a perfect triangle.

From here we started our drive back towards Dingle. On the way we stumbled upon Reask a medieval monastic site near a field located in the back of an otherwise normal looking residential neighborhood. Here, there were interesting ruins dating back to the 6th century.

Our last stop on the tour was the most impressive. The Gallarus Oratory, a 1300 year dry masonry (no mortar) early Christian church that resembles a boat hull. It is remarkable for the near perfect selection and placement of the stones that make it a structure that is still water-tight today.

After an inspiring day of sights and scenery we drove back to Dingle for a pint at Dick Mack’s before heading to an exceptional dinner at Fenton’s Restaurant and then a little live Irish music at Murphy’s Pub. It was a really interesting set of Irish songs with political overtones, intertwined with some traditional Irish classics.