Ireland - Day 12
September 1, 2025: Today we made a detour from our original itinerary. Jimm had heard about Dingle from a Facebook feed and so we decided rather than shopping and walking in town, we would take a 90-minute bus ride to the sea to see what Dingle was all about. On the way, was beautiful green scenery and images of the ocean and a long beach. Dingle peninsula is on the Wild Atlantic Way and has dramatic sea cliffs and sandy coves. Unfortunately, without a car we were only able to see parts of it on this trip. The town itself has a colorful vibe with brightly painted building, lots of coffee shops and artisan craft shops. It is the home of Murphy’s Ice Cream which was founded in 2000 in Dingle by brothers Seán and Kieran Murphy, who had relocated from America to their ancestral home in Ireland. Their mission was to “make the best ice cream in the world.” Early on, the brothers committed to sourcing ingredients locally with no artificial colors, flavors, or powdered milk. Instead, they rely on fresh Kerry cow milk, local cream, free-range eggs, and organic sugar. Their flavors are interesting too including Dingle Sea Salt, Whiskey Chocolate, Irish Brown Bed, Dingle Gin and Lemon Curd. We tried the Whiskey Chocolate, Lemon Curd and Butterscotch. All were both delicious and SO creamy! We went to a famous pub in Dingle called Dick Mack’s. It has a unique dual identity as both a pub and a leather shop. Inside, one side offers a perfectly preserved pub atmosphere - snugs (we sat in one), packed wooden shelves, and spirits that go from Guinness to a selection of over 250 whiskies. The other side operates as a leather workshop, where handcrafted goods are crafted and sold. Unfortunately, we were there early and the leather shop was not open while we were there.
Dingle Distillery also makes it home in this little town. It is on the outskirts of town and we decided we needed the steps since we have been eating so generously this past 12 days, so we walked there (our step count for the day ended at almost 20,000). They do tours, but we just did a tasting. It is a fairly young distillery, the first spirit went into casks in December 2012, and their inaugural whiskey was released in December 2015. The distillery is part of Ireland’s broader whiskey revival, helping transform Irish whiskey into the third-fastest-growing spirit category globally. After we finished our tasting we headed back to town to find some local fish and chips. Our first choice, Dingle Ahoy!, was closed, but we found another place called the Fish Box. Their fish and chips lived up to their reputation and their tartar sauce was especially good. I don’t know what it is about mayonnaise and tartar sauce in Europe, but I love it here. I never eat it in the U.S., but in Europe I eat it all the time! Before we left Dingle we stopped at our 30th pub (Jimm is on a mission!) called Murphy’s. There was a copy of a book behind the bar and called “Murder in an Irish Pub.” When we asked about it, it turns out that the author had randomly stopped in and saw it on their shelf and said, “I wrote that book!” and autographed their copy. They let me read a few chapters while I had a Bailey’s and Coffee. Now I have to get a copy of the book just so I can finish it!
We caught the bus back to Killarney at about 4:15pm. We were both exhausted and full so we skipped dinner and just walked around town a bit before heading back to the hotel. Jimm stayed in the room, but I headed downstairs to read for a bit and it turned out there were two female musicians playing in one of the sitting rooms. It was fun to sit and listen to them sing both Irish songs and more popular music. One played the fiddle and the other sang and played guitar and a tin whistle. The amazing thing about Ireland is all of the local musicians in the pubs, restaurants and hotels. It feels like music is everywhere here. It is definitely a distinct part of their culture. Tomorrow we make our next transition to Cork. Just two more stops in Ireland before we head to our next adventure in Portugal.