September 4 – Dingle

 

The Alpine Guesthouse in Dingle has a breakfast menu just like the last two inns that we stayed in. That has become the norm. I decided to have the full Irish breakfast – an egg, sausage, bacon, white pudding, baked tomato, toast, coffee, juice and fruit. It’s not as big as it sounds. Ann had poached eggs with her juice and coffee. Our meal started at a very civilized hour of 8:30. No early risers here.

We dropped off our laundry down the street at the Esso station – it’s really in a mini strip mall. The estimate was to get our clothes by 9:00 tomorrow morning. Because all of my shirts and underwear are in our load, it looks like I’ll be wearing some slightly dirty clothes for breakfast. Oh well. As Ann says, my clothes don’t stink, they just smell like me.

We decided to be carless today and to get some exercise. That’s good because if I don’t get some exercise, I’ll be in serious trouble when I start riding my bike in Tuscany in a couple of weeks. We followed a local walk that was recommended in Rick Steves tour book. It took us on the perimeter of the bay out to the mouth of the harbor. Our narrow path had the bay on one side and cow pastures on the other side. We either slid through narrow slits on stone walls or climbed over stiles on them. The sleepy cows watched us but didn’t bother us. We saw lots of dogs frolicking in the water. An ancient stone tower stoop on the hillside watching for invaders. At the mouth of the harbor, there was an old lighthouse that was having some roof repairs done to it. We stopped at the mouth and watched boats filled with tourists trying to find Fungie, the local dolphin who sometimes gives the boat riders a thrilling sighting. Rumor has it that the boat captains have to refund the fares if they don’t sight Fungie.

We walked back the same way we came and extended our route into town. First we stopped at The Skellig Hotel for a nature break. This appears to be a very nice, expensive hotel that caters to older people. We continued on along the rim of the harbor all of the way into town. Our lunch was at the Whole Food Vegetarian Cafe. We sat in the yard in back of the cafe. The weather was sunny and warm enough to do so. We both had vegetarian patties made with guinoa and lentils topped with a red pepper tomato sauce. They were served with couscous and a very fresh salad with beet roots, grated carrots, cucumber and lettuce.

After lunch, Ann went shopping while I went back to our room.

We got lucky this evening – three plusses and one minus. The minus was that it started to rain. It was a light rain but nonetheless it was a soaker. The first plus was that we got our laundry back. Now we have clean clothes and won’t have to wear our day-old underwear. The second plus was that we found a really good inexpensive place to eat dinner. It’s called Ti Koz and it’s an excellent creperie. We both had crepes with smoked ham. Ann’s was with goat cheese and plums while mine was ala Provencal. The crepes were buckwheat – Brittany style. Our dessert crepes were caramel with bananas and caramel with chocolate. We both had traditional cider. The third plus was the folk concert we attended in St James Church. the venue was very cramped and the pews were extremely uncomfortable. But the traditional Irish music was superb. there was Eoin Ouignan playing Uilleann pipes and low whistle, Tommy O’Sullivan playing guitar and singing, Damien Mullane playing the button accordion and Donogh Hennessey playing guitar. I mention their names because some of at my blog readers might know of them. Tommy O’Sullivan owns and plays at the Courthouse Pub in Dingle. We thoroughly enjoyed the concert, especially the accordion player whose skills were outstanding.

It’s getting late, so we are shutting down for the night.