Dingle

My friend P told me if I had a chance to go to Dingle I should. And so we did. And let me tell you, it was worth it. The scenery and landscape on the West side of the Island is very much what you think Ireland coastline would be. Lush, severe and beautiful.

The little town of Dingle is very quaint and full of tourist.  Our guide was telling us today that most the shops in Dingle close from Nov - Feb because there aren't very many tourist that come through. Those are some hard times I bet.

Dingle has the wonderful Dolphin who has lived in their waters for over 30 years, Fungi. We didn't see him today out in the water, but the locals assured us he was there. They have tours that go out specifically to meet Fungi. Crazy. Luigi met Fungi today too. 

I also got to meet an ass today.

As I mentioned, the countryside around Dingle was just gorgeous. The greens are so green. I keep thinking that it's as lush as Washington, and yet its a different kind of lush.

We took this scenic route called the Slea Head Drive. It goes out along the coast and the drop off from the road is, well, let's just say you'd have a bad day if you made one wrong step.

We spent a lot of time on the bus today and my butt was getting tired of sitting. Still, the scenery was gorgeous and I just can't get enough of the green, lush landscape.

We got back a bit later than planned and we were starvings. So we walked down to this little pub called Murphy's.  I ordered the Beef and Guinness stew...and oh boy was that a treat. So rich and delicious. They served it on top of a big scoop of mashed potatoes. Why have I not eaten stew with mashed potatoes ... ever?

But the best part of dinner was Janet's meal. She ordered the Beef Stroganoff. Now we've all had beef stroganoff and we all know that it has beef, mushrooms, and sour cream in it. Maybe onions even. Her's had bell peppers and...wait for it...PICKLES. Dill Pickles. Crazies thing ever.

And just for fun, let me share photos of the other things I ate today.

Fish and chips at some restaurant that Grand Circle set up for us to eat at. It was good. In fact, it was one of the few fish and chips I've had there in which they didn't have the skin on the fish. Who does that? Gross. The last couple of times I've had fish and chips they leave the skin on the fish. Ick.

Murphy's Ice Cream is a big deal here. We had it once before in Dublin and decided today seemed like as good as time as any to have another cup. I had Malted Chocolate both times and it's delicious.

In Dingle I got a wee bit chilled so I decided to pop into a restaurant and get a hot chocolate. They asked, what I thought was, do I want whipped cream. Naturally I said yes. It came out with whipped cream AND marshmallows. Where has THAT been all my life? I really have lived a sheltered life.

Tomorrow we head out to drive around the Ring of Kerry. More landscapes. More beautiful scenery. We'll have time in the after noon to actually see Killarney. We've seen almost nothing of it. I did spy a pub called Mustang Sally's. Might have to check that out.