We arrived in Dingle Sunday afternoon. It was warm and sunny so we all walked down
to the marina to look at Dingle Bay. The
bay was very blue and is circled by green hills and mountains. There were some small boats docked at the
marina, but most of them looked like recreational sailboats and not fishing
boats. Dingle used to have a huge fishing
industry, but since Ireland’s entry into the EU, Dingle lost a lot of its
fishing rights to France and Spain.
That evening we made a spaghetti dinner together and ate
outside at picnic tables. It was a nice
end to the day. After dinner I was
pretty tired and was in bed by 8:30p.m.
Diseart Institute
On Monday we had our first day of class. The classes were on the history of the EU and
international criminal tribunals.
Classes are held at a former convent turned cultural center. My roommates and I ate a well-priced lunch at
a little café across the street. I
didn’t really know my roommates prior to the trip, but I have enjoyed getting
to know them. In the afternoon we had a
talk by a local man about the general history of Ireland and the area. We learned about the Irish sports of Gaelic
football and hurling. We also learned a
little bit about the Irish language. The
Dingle area is a stronghold of the Irish language. Many children here learn to speak Irish and
English at home. In other areas of
Ireland children only learn Irish at school and never really speak it like a
native. The man who gave the talk had
even been recorded for the Rosetta stone for Irish.
After class my roommates and I walked around the town for a
bit and we ran into many more tourists than Irish people. Dingle’s economy is highly dependent on
tourism. The shops are not tacky, but
are clearly geared to tourists. Being in
Dingle has been a sort of quasi-abroad experience for me. In some ways I barely feel like I’m
abroad. This probably has to do with the
fact that I am traveling with a group of Americans in a country where everyone
speaks English. Everything here feels
very familiar and tidy compared to my other international experiences. I am enjoying the natural beauty of the area,
hearing Irish, and learning about the area, but I hope I can get away from some
of the touristy parts of the area.
On Tuesday we had classes in the morning and then had a bus
tour of the area with an older local man named T.P.. T.P. seems to know just about everything and
everyone in the area. He pointed out the
ruins or ring forts, told stories about movies shot in the area, and let us
know that there are a lot of vacant houses for rent. Ireland has a big bust in the late
2000s. In Dingle the real estate bubble
burst and property that had sold for $8 million dropped to $1 million.
Blasket Islands
Our first stop was a lookout to see the Blasket
Islands. The Blasket Islands are off the
west coast of Ireland. Fishers inhabited
the islands until 1953 when they were forced to abandon it. The islands are important to the Irish
because their inhabitants were key to the revitalization of the Irish language. Many of the islanders wrote or told stories
in Irish. These writings were then used
to promote the language through out the country.
Coum Dhíneol
Next we walked down the cliffs to a beach called Coum
Dhíneol. We were lucky and had a very
nice day for the tour. It was warm
enough that we all took off our shoes and went walking in the sand. The water was cold, but the sun made it nice.
Then we stopped off at a cultural center to learn about the
Blaskets. We finished the tour by
walking in the rain to see a 1,300 year old church. It is a small stone structure made with no
mortar and 3-4ft. wide stones. It is the
only one of its kind in the area to still have its stone roof intact.
Wednesday I went to see the new Wes Anderson movie and got
my first Irish Guinness and fish and chips.
The group went out later that evening and got to hear some live Irish
music.
Today we climbed up a mountain. I will be very sore.
Friday we have the afternoon I am going to Killarney with
some girls from the group. Saturday we
will come back and may join the group in a fish fry. Sunday I may rent bicycles or get a boat ride
over to the Blaskets.
We don’t have Internet at the cottages, so I likely won’t be
able to update again for a few days.
Hope everyone is doing well.
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