Dingle and others

I was supposed to write this post a while back, but I was busy cause of work and last weekend I did a brief trip to Finland to a christening of my best friend's baby. So because of all this, I'm only now writing this.

Anyhow, over a week ago a friend of mine from Sligo times came to visit me with her boyfriend from Finland. Altogether we spent two days together in Galway and after that we traveled to Dingle, Co. Kerry, in Southern Ireland together.

The first two days I just showed my friends around in Galway. I showed them some of the best places in Galway, like Salthill and The Claddagh. It was cool being in Ireland with my friend again, after all, it was the thing that made us friends in the first place. So yeah, there was definitely some nostalgia involved as well. My friend had also booked an express tour to the Cliffs of Moher for her and her boyfriend, since you can't leave Ireland without seeing the Cliffs. Originally, I wasn't supposed to join them on that tour since I had just been at the Cliffs myself. But since the weather had been dreadful the last time, I figured I might as well join my friends on that tour. And I'm glad I did. The weather was quite ideal during our visit. It wasn't raining and it wasn't even that windy. And the visibility was great!

The Cliffs of Moher

The Cliffs of Moher

The Cliffs of Moher

Group photo!

While my friends were here, I even got to see some of Galway's nightlife. The last time I was in Galway with my friend, I had been on antibiotics, so we really couldn't go out then. So out we went. On the first night, we went to a pub by the Eyre Square. It was a nice place, with friendly staff and good cocktails. And the prices weren't that bad either. The next day, after the Cliffs of Moher tour, we went out to an actual night club. The place went to was called Carbon Night Club. Maybe we went there on a bad night or something, since I had heard good things about this place, yet, it was a bit of a disappointment. The place itself was quite cool and the prices weren't too bad. But the music.. This always seems to be a problem with night clubs in Ireland, it seems. The music was horrible remixes or some hipster shit we had never heard before. It only got good way after midnight. So yeah, definitely not as good a night club as I had thought, but oh well, I guess it could have been worse.

The next morning, it was time to head for Dingle. We were faced with over 5 hours of sitting on a bus. Dingle is a lovely place, so it is such a pity that the connections there are so bad.

Anyways, the bus ride turned out to be not so bad and it went by quite fast. But when we got to Dingle, we were faced with a problem. We couldn't find our B&B. And after quite a bit of wandering around and asking around, it finally dawned on us; the location on google maps does not match to the actual location of the B&B. It was weird. And very frustrating. But finally we got to our accommodation. The accommodation was quite nice, though the room we had was quite chilly. After getting some rest we decided it was time to get a first glimpse of Dingle and get something to eat. What surprised me, was that Dingle is actually even more touristy than Dublin is. Dingle is such a small place, so when a small place like that gets that many tourists, well, apparently that's what happens. It was kinda hard to find anything genuine there, and we were wondering how do the locals tolerate it all. And thing that shocked us the most were the prices, especially on food. They were some of the most expensive ones I've seen in all of Ireland, even more expensive than in Dublin. So in that sense, the loveliness of Dingle and the great things I had heard about the place hadn't really dawned on me yet. In all honesty, the place felt like a bit of a disappointment. Especially after all the travelling we've done just to get there.

The next morning it was so lovely to notice how the weather had pretty much gave up on us. It was storming outside. The wind was super strong an it was raining as well. There were even storm warnings all over the country. This meant that for example a tour to Blasket Island on a bout that were supposed to do today would be impossible due to the bad weather. But luckily, we found an alternative. A local taxi company also did tours around Dingle and the Dingle Peninsula. So we did that tour instead. And it was definitely worth it. Because the landscapes.. Wow. Just fucking wow! You literally didn't care anymore that the weather was crap, the landscapes were so amazing. And our guide was excellent as well. He was telling all sorts of stories about the surrounding area, its history and all that. And on top of that, he was perfectly bilingual in both English and Irish. So yeah, when he spoke some Irish to some government worker who was taking care of one of the attractions we saw on the tour, that was pretty damn awesome! Because to this date, I haven't met a single Irish person, who had been perfectly bilingual like that. Good at Irish, yes. But bilingual, no. But then again, Dingle is a part of the Gaealtacht, areas in Ireland where Irish is spoken on a daily basis, so I shouldn't have been to surprised about it. But since words cannot describe the beauty of the landscapes we saw, I'll just let the photos do all the talking.

Luckily,by the time we got back to Dingle from our tour, the weather had improved a little. This meant that we would be able to take part in a dolphin tour to go see the mascot of Dingle, the dolphin named Fungi. I never expected to be able to see dolphins in Ireland of all places, so doing this tour felt even cooler in that sense. The tour itself, even though it was supposed to be sightseeing in the Dingle Bay as well, not just the dolphin, was okay. We did get to see the dolphin and it was pretty damn cool! But other than that, there was no guide or anything who would have told us anything about the surrounding area, which kinda sucked. Sure, I was satisfied with just seeing the dolphin, since I had never seen one in nature before, but still, I felt like something was missing from the tour. They could have done a better job at it. But then again, I didn't hear any complaints, people were very happy just seeing the dolphin. And the landscapes in the Dingle Bay were beautiful as well. So I guess you don't really need anything else.

Somewhere in the Dingle Bay

Somewhere in the Dingle Bay

Somewhere in the Dingle Bay

Yes, I did manage to snap a photo of the dolphin! A bad photo, but still!

Fungi

Fungi

On our last day in Dingle, we decided just to go shopping and stay in Dingle. It was quite nice, even if I didn't buy anything. And we went out to eat at a couple of cafes and restaurants. The food in Dingle was expensive and the quality most of the time didn't meet the price, but we did manage to find a cool pub, where we had dinner. It was a lovely and cosy place, a proper Irish pub. And the food and service there was nice too. And compared to the rest of Dingle, the prices weren't as high either.
The next day it was time for my friends to head for Dublin, where they'd stay for two days before returning to Finland, and time for me to head back home to Galway. Almost 6 hours on a bus. So after that, it felt so good to be home.

At the moment I don't have much time for anything else, besides work. I was supposed to write a work related post some time ago, but I simply didn't have the time. So all I can say is that I'm working and I love the work I do. At the moment, I am also sending in job applications and I have even been called to two job interviews in Galway. So who knows, maybe I'll actually get lucky and I'll be able to stay in Ireland after all!
And next weekend I'll be visiting my first home in Ireland, Sligo. I'm going for the Fleadh Cheoil, the biggest festival of traditional Irish music in the world. And it's held in Sligo. So it'll be great not only go back to Sligo after being away for so long but also see the town buzzing with life and tourists. But I will most definitely write more about it next week.