Dingle 29 June 2007

On Friday we drove from Tralee to Dingle, or An Daingean as it now officially known. The Dingle Peninsula is a Gaeltacht, which is a designated Irish-speaking region. The Irish government supports the use of the Irish language here, and it is noticable that road signs and shop signs are all in Irish.

Not all signs though:

We went for a drive around the Dingle Peninsula, which is a rugged and beautiful spot, with the Blaskett Islands off the coast.

Ventry (Ceann Tra)

Along the way we stopped at an early Christian church, or oratory, at Gallarus. The Gallarus Oratory was built between the seventh and eight century and is the best preserved early Christian church in Ireland. It is built of stones and it is very impressive that it is still in such good condition:

We stayed the night at the home of another Marian, (O'Flaherty), a friend of Marian's from University days. Marian is a journalist with the local newspaper, Kerry's Eye, and invited us to a book launch at O'Flaherty's pub (no relation) on Friday night. The launch was for a translation of the memoirs of Mike Dineen O'Shea, a famous local author and musician, and was attended by a who's who of the Dingle literati. I managed to purchase a copy, and was lucky enough to get it signed by both the author and translator.

With the author Mike Dineen O'Shea (Maidhc Dainin O Se) and translator Gabriel Fitzmaurice

The traditional Irish music session that followed the launch was great craic. Many pints of Guinness were consumed while the band played a seamless series of tunes, following the lead of various lead-players with no words spoken and no sheet music. The highlight of the session was a beautiful solo acapella performance by Marian (Grealis), who sung "In the City of Chicago", a Christy Moore song about Irish immigrants. You could have heard a pin drop in the pub as Marian sung, until everyone joined in for the chorus.