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Dingle All The Way
The
Dingle peninsula in western Ireland offers a rich cocktail of
stunning seascapes, world heritage monuments
and gastronomy
Foam-flecked
Atlantic waves crashing on the shore, precipitous cliffs perched
above breathtaking panoramas, seaside
resorts honeycombed with beaches,
epic views of the Slieve Mish mountains...
The Dingle peninsula in Ireland's
County Kerry lives up to every postcard
cliché.
Given
its salubriousness, it came as no surprise that this Gaelic-speaking
western-most
Irish enclave is also a favoured Hollywood haunt. It was the setting
for
the 1970 Robert Mitchum Hollywood blockbuster Ryan's Daughter, as well
as
the Nicole Kidman-Tom Cruisestarrer Far and Away , to name a few.
Dingle
is also unadulterated Ireland -quaint, charming, individualistic.
Its
individualism manifests itself almost immediately to an outsider in its road
signs.They
are mostly in Gaelic, a quiet assertion of the region's distinct Irish
identity as well as its Celtic ancestry.Much
of the peninsula has also been declared
`Gaeltacht' or Irishspeaking, a concerted
attempt at cultural preservation.
“We're
struggling to revive our native tongue that was almost lost after centuries
of English domination,“ says Francis O'Brien,
a local shopkeeper. “So Gaelic
is taught in schools, we speak it at home
and make a conscious effort to
incorporate
it in our lives as much as possible.“
To
the unaccustomed ear, Irish Gaelic sounds like gobbledygook -a cryptic
language that bears scant similarity to
English.Yet it remains a classic symbol
of
Dingle's rich heritage, engendering pride among the locals while acting as a
communitarian glue.
Cultural
Potpourri
Broadly,
Dingle's culture strikes as a complex product of native Celtic roots and
sundry external influences. Immigrants,
raiders, invaders, Vikings, Normans,
British and Spanish have all come here via
sea and land enamoured of its scenic
beauty. Inevitably, in the ensuing cultural
osmosis, they imbibed much from it
while
in turn shaping its lifestyle, music, arts and gastronomy. And of course
architecture. Dingle is nothing if not an
open-air museum peppered with
monuments
incorporating myriad styles. Hundreds of archaeological treasures,
some dating back to the Dark Ages -Celt ic
crosses, moss-sheathed Nor man
castles on rocky head lands, Iron Age forts,
church es, ancient sundials and
monasteries
-adorn its landscape.
The
architectural pièce de résistance is of course the Gallarus Oratory,
a 1,300-year-old sandstone church situated
three miles northwest of Dingle.
We get here on a rainy, thunderous day,
elemental fury amplifying the iconic
landmark's mystery. Shaped like an upturned
boat, the church dis plays ingenious
craftsmanship as well as longevity remaining
intact even over a thousand years
later.
“The
church was built with dry-stone corbelling, a technique developed by
Neolithic tomb makers. It involved laying
stones at an angle -lower on the
outside
than the inside -to allow free flow of water,“ the guide informed us.
Myths
and legends swirl around the oratory. Apparently, there's a curse on
anyone
taking a stone from here. That person, it is said, will not be able to
sleep
until the stone is returned. Another legend has it that if a person climbs
out of the building's 18 cm-by-12 cm window,
his soul will be cleansed.
A
physical impossibility, even for the size-zero segment! There are a raft
of
islands off the coast of Dingle that offer remote wildernesses to explore.
Slea
Head is one of them. It unrolls as a pastiche of ancient sites, cosy villages
and leafy expanses offering rich pickings
for the camera. The headland that
gives
this route its name is marked with a dramatic white crucifix silhouetted
against
the rocks and an ocean side scenic pull-off. Unhindered views of the
Blasket Islands and Dunmore Head loom in the
distance.
Being
a fishing port, Dingle's Bay offers plenty of sensory stimulation.
Cruise
ships depart from here for fishing expeditions deep into the Atlantic.
There's much to reel in -pollack, mackerel,
ling, cod, conger, tope, bass,
dogfish,
trout, golden grey mullet, turbot as well as others which flow in
from
the Gulf Stream and the Mediterranean.
One
early morning, we skimmed the glutinous water body to pluck fruits
of
the ocean. The excitement in our ship was palpable as Timmy, a skipper
who had spent a lifetime at sea, initiated
us into the nuances of angling.
A
short demo later, we were in business. The first half hour proved uneventful.
But
then suddenly, just as sighs of disappointment were becoming audible in the
group, a member landed a five-kg pollack
eliciting whoops of joy from all. After that, sporadic cheers rent the air
each time somebody landed a fish, with Timmy capturing the joyous moment in a
selfie.
Catch
and Cook!
Post
the cruise, we headed to The Boatyard restaurant located just across the
marina.
Within an hour, the chefs rustled up a tasty feast for us from our catch
.
Coupled with a chilled glass of chablis, it was food for the soul.
Apparently,
this
is a ritual at all of marina's eateries under their `catch and cook' policy.
They
cook the catch the tourists bring in and serve it to them. Win-win if you
ask me -while the punters save on fish
money, the eatery gets business.
Pubs
are an intrinsic part of Dingle's social scene, pretty much like the rest
of Ireland.These outfits are also where you
get to feel the real pulse of the
place. The atmosphere is made all the more
convivial with traditional music
-usually local musicians congregating and
playing impromptu. A fiddle, a
flute
or a tin whistle, a guitar, a bodhrán (goatskin drum), and an accordion
are all that are needed to get a session
going. The result is engaging and
interactive
entertainment -accompanied by much clapping and thumping
of
feet -that draws all into its joyful embrace.
Locals
claim that Dingle, with 52 pubs for its 1,300 residents, has more
watering
holes per capita than any town in Ireland. They also proffer
delicious
grub, mostly traditional dishes such as Irish stew, soups and
chowders. Some even offer specials like
coddle (bacon, pork sausages,
potatoes, and onions stewed in layers),
collar and cabbage (boiled bacon
coated in bread crumbs and brown sugar, then
baked and served with cabbage),
boxty (potato pancake filled with fish,
meat, or vegetables), and champ
(potato
mashed with milk and onions).
Dingle
balances the competing imperatives of medieval and modern with
bursts of cosmopolitanism. This is most
apparent in the downtown area
where
street façades mimic the cheery and colourful doors of the national
capital city of Dublin. Boutiques showcase
pretty hand-made lace and
crochet
apparel, musical instruments, utensils and other bric a brac.
Atmospheric
cafes welcome visitors with warm croissants at breakfasts
and croquemonsieur at lunchtime. There is
organic coffee as well as
hundreds
of types of tea served with homemade cakes and scones.
Generally,
Dingle's food is a manifestation of the triumph of local culture.
Fresh
fish is supplied from the local fishing boats while meats and vegetables
are sourced from regional farmers. We try
some of these at Out of The Blue,
a funky blue-and-yellow, fishingshack-style
restaurant on the waterfront.
The
menu here proudly announces `No chips'.There's a fervent devotion
instead
to fresh local seafood. So much so, that if the pernickety chefs don't
like the catch, they don't open. There's no
set menu either. Inventive dishes
showcasing the freshest of produce change
daily and include steamed crab
claws
in garlic butter, beer-battered fish or panseared scallops flambéed in
Calvados.
Who needed chips?
Fungi
-the Famed Fish
Dingle
has a “national hero“ -Fungi -the dolphin which has been delighting
tourists for over three decades. It is
believed that Fungi was born in the
mid-1970s, and washed up ashore to the
Dingle harbour in 1984. Although
dolphins are known to be clannish, usually
travelling in pods, Fungi loves
the
company of humans and spends his days swimming with the local boats
and tourist tours.
Today,
a whole industry has spawned around the bottle-mouthed Fungi with
tourists rushing to visit him. Dingle has
even honoured its celebrity resident
by commissioning his statue on the pier.
Three years ago, when there was a
scare
that Fungi had died, local authorities sent out frantic search parties to
locate
the fish. After breathless live coverage on local channels, normalcy
soon
returned when it was discovered that the fish was alive and well.
When
we got to the pier to say hello to the famed fish, it took its own sweet
time to pop up. But when it did, its
showmanship was endearing.
Fungi
frolicked and jumped and splashed water all over with child-like glee.
He
was warm and personable, much like the locals themselves.
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Neeta Lal
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ETM6SEP15
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