Marathons. And Moving from Dingle to Limerick. September 3, 2016

Spent a really fun morning and part of the afternoon continuing to explore Dingle, which is clearly a very special place – even for the Irish who seem to consider it Nirvana. Mike and I went our separate ways and met up after about two hours or so at the finish line for the Dingle Marathon – cheering the runners past the finish line. Mike got there early enough to see the first place runner cross (at 2 hours 39 minutes) and I got there in time to see the woman who placed second and also a group of Americans cross the line. There were about 2,800 official runners. Everyone seemed to really enjoy it with runners saying it was one of the most gorgeous courses. Unfortunately the late place runners who were still chugging away after five hours were doing it in the rain, but they seemed happy to finish. Lots of kids joined parents as they ran across the finish line. And in true Irish sprit, all those who completed the race were invited to an after-party at a local pub with the first beer on the house. Note, photo above of Mike with his new hat (hasn’t lost it yet), by popular demand.

As I described yesterday, Dingle is one of those wonderfully interesting small towns with a reputation that outsizes its tiny population. It is a major tourist destination because of the beauty of the Dingle Peninsula and also because of the preponderance of artists who have settled here. It has the feeling of the nautical town that it is, with a port, lots of sailing and all sorts of water sports. And in typical Irish tradition, you can go into some sports shops to get tackle and equipment, and also have a beer as they seem to merge diverse operations – always with a pub. Dingle also has a distillery and they make Dingle Whiskey. Dingle also has a street (Green Street) which has a mini-Grauman Chinese Restaurant Walk of Stars… where they have the names of famous people who have some tie to Dingle inscribed on pavers… They seem to be very cozy with Julia Roberts because they have inscribed her name as “Julie”…. The only other comment about Dingle is that it is afloat with color… colorful buildings, colorful signs, colorful flowers adorning every house.

We had a quick lunch at a pub in Dingle called Ashe (owner’s name is John Ashe, and there are pictures of the owner on the wall with several movie stars like Gregory Peck). Mussels and salad. And then headed on the road to Limerick…which turned out to be complicated because so many roads were closed due to the marathon. Took some very circuitous route out of town and drove the two-plus hours to Limerick. The drive went through several small villages and farming areas and a few towns that were definitely not at the economic strata of Cork or Dingle. Stopped in a little shop to get us some snacks for the road and the cost was about ¼ of what it would have cost in Dingle.  

Our approach to Limerick took us through an old working class area with interesting row houses. Getting to the hotel proved challenging as apparently the Internet address had a street name that was changed recently, so we went around in circles for a bit, but eventually got where we needed to go – to the Absolute Hotel (interesting name?) – a strange very modern building at the outer edge of what is the downtown. But totally adequate, despite its effort to be chic. We opted to head for dinner to a restaurant we saw on the web, called Sash. It was about a mile+ walk from the hotel… had it not been raining (sort of drizzle that increased as we walked), it would have been very pleasant. The city is divided by a river but given the quays and the frequent pedestrian bridges the city does not appear to have the typical divide like what happens with major roadways or rail road tracks, etc.

Anyway, to get to Sash we walked through downtown and past several art galleries and museums, but all in all, Limerick still (on this quick first night glance) seems to be more of a blue collar town. Sash was clearly upscale – catering, I’m guessing, to the professional class in town. Dinner was quite good: started with mussels in a spicy Thai sauce, followed by steak tartare, followed by a chicken dish (with “garlic mash” as they refer to mashed potatoes and kale). Mike is becoming quite an aficionado of Irish whiskey, so he tried two different ones. I stuck with wine.

Given the weather and the fact that it was dark, we were stuffed (which would have been a good reason to walk), and we were tired from another long day – and I had work to do back at the hotel, and had to write this note to you – we opted for a taxi. 

That’s it for tonight and today… Tomorrow, we’ll check out Limerick briefly (it was always just a stop on the road from Dingle to Dublin); we drive to Dublin tomorrow.

Best – and have a great Labor Day weekend.

Fern