The Murphy's icecream in Dingle

Yes, you will probably find this place reported also in your guide..(in mine, Lonely Planet, it is reported ;)) ...but probably you will not give attention or a chance to it if someone did not tell you that it is worth (especially if you are Italian! ;))

In my case it was my great Irish colleague who, amongst the several tips, told me to come here when he knew that I would have gone in Dingle to swim with Fungie...;)

The particularities of this ice-cream parlour are the unusual flavours and that all the ingredients are local, ....from the milk of the Kerry cow....to the salt of the Dingle sea...

The great thing is also that you have the guys and girls of the shop that let you taste all the flavours you want...and they are local as well ;)...in Dingle you can meet also the nephew of one of the owners serving ice-cream! :)

So, I tried Honecomb Caramel (I loved it!), Kerry Cream Vanilla, and of course Dingle Sea Salt!! :)

It was good!

Only one con: the price...from 4 euro to 7 euro...but ok, think in this way...when you will have again the possibility of having an ice-cream done with the salt from the Irish sea?!?!?! :)

http://www.murphysicecream.ie/

The flavours! :) (photo taken with a compact camera)

 

 

...and the prices ;( ...

 

mine!!! :)

  

 

Also the napkins are local!!!! :)

Ok, this is just for information...but who cares!!! ;)

from outside...(photo taken with a compact camera)

Inis Mór: its Seal Colony and my new 200 mm which was not enough

I had read about the seal colony, in the north coast of the Island (beach of Portmurvy), in the guide, and I did not want to miss it...well, also to try my brand new lens...70-200 mm f4....:)

It had to be my first stop...but I guess I missed the place...as I could not find it..

Lost all the hopes, and with just half an hour before the last ferry of the day would have left the island....cycling to go back to the harbour..I found this signal...

I literally jumped off the bicycle, found a place where to change the lens..covered myself and the camera with the jacket to make this delicate operation ;) (without caring if people was thinking I was crazy), and run towards it (as much as possible) on muddy rocks and with a "baby" of almost 2 kg in my neck...

This is the result (cut from the originals)...I would have needed a 300-400 mm...but ok....

PS: yes, I was still able to take the ferry ;)

 
 

 

Temple Bar, Dublin

This is probably one of the most known place in Ireland...at least from the week-end travellers...

Temple Bar is famous as the best place in Dublin for meeting, drink beer, listen music at high volume...well have fun in pubs full of people...

I do not like beer, I normally have a different concept of "fun" ;)...so I opted for the afternoon version, a vibrant quartier, a little vintage, full of colours and energy.

See below how I have lived Temple Bar...;)

For those interested in the history of the area and to know where the name comes from...in the wall of the "The Temple Bar" you can read the history...

Fungie the dolphin - Dingle (part 1)

The reason why I have decided to go to Dingle, to wake up one day at 6:00 am to be at the harbour at 7:15 am, to wear there - in a desert and still sleeping village - a 7 cm thick swimming DRY-suit (included its shoes), and at certain point between 8 am to 10 am to jump in an almost zero degree water....is a DOLPHIN...

More exactly, a well-know dolphin, FUNGIE....and from what I had read and been told...a very friendly dolphin with a preference for women ( ;)) ..I thought that could have been the occasion for realising my dream of swimming with dolphins..

Well, after some come-and-go, Jimmy told me to jump into the water..Jimmy is the nice and well-prepared man from the Dingle Dolphin Boat Tours who brought us around within the two hours Early Morning Trip (well, the name says already a lot! :)) to try to get close to Fungie as much as possible.

So I did..I jumped...

I am a good swimmer...really...but when I entered in the water I was shocked...

It was my first time I was wearing a swimming suit, and the sensation of being immobilised was quite scaring...together with the cold in my face and in the hands (then I put the gloves on)..

The dark sky and the dark water were not helping much.

I really thank Jimmy for his ability to read my face....he told me to go close to the boat and he reassured me...he gave me then the life belt...and after that, everything was easy and nice...(but please, do not say this around..it would be a shame for my swimming trainer ;))

A part that, Fungie seemed not to like me too much..as he was neither interested to see who else was in the water...;(

Well, ...maybe next time a swim in Australia or New Zealand will be easier...;)

Here some photos of the morning trip, also with me...I do not like to put photos of myself in this blog..but well, this has to be remembered as one of the (several) "crazy" things I did in Ireland (ha, yes, as a parenthesis...I was the only one of the boat to swim that morning....;)..and yes, I think I had temperature!)

Me alone at the Dingle harbour at 7:15 am....with my fantastic swimming dry suit!!



 



Some visits  around the Dingle Peninsula...

 

 

 

 

And finally Fungie! :)

 

 

 

 Au revoir Fungie!!!!



 

*** All photos of this post have been taken with a compact camera



Inis Mór: let the heart go back there...

...and it will release...

Play the music,....and meanwhile see the photos...

This is Ireland....

Inis Mór (or Inishmore) is the largest of the Aran Islands, with a population of about 840 inhabitants.

Inis Oìrr: its dolphin and its beach

Inis Oírr is one of the Aran Islands.

If you want to escape from civilization and get lost amongst green fields, ancient ruins, animals, clear beaches, etc...so go to the Aran Islands.

They are three: the Inishmór (the biggest), the Inishmaan (the middle one) and Inis Oírr (the smallest).

I have been cycling ;)  Inishmór and Inis Oírr (cycling is the best way to visit the islands, and you can rent the bike for 12-15 euros directly when you arrive on the Islands).

I will come back to these two islands with other posts...

Here I want to tell you about its dolphin...

Several beaches in Ireland have their own dolphin who became a kind of mascot..the most famous is for sure Fungie in Dingle (well, I will also tell you soon or later how I woke up at 6 am to try to swim with him in an almost zero degree water)...

And Inis Oírr has Dusty, Sandy, Clet..well I did not know this otherwise I would have been gone prepared instead of taking out running shoes and rolling up the jeans for quickly enter in the water and taking the pictures...

Now probably you are also thinking the same of what I thought when I saw the girls swimming without the swimming suit...Irish mysteries...and Irish strength! ;)..or just being young! :)

This father was fantastic...he chased the dolphin for 15 minutes for bringing the daughter as close as possible...

And this is the amazing multicolour beach of Inis Oírr... 

 

and the small island seen from the boat... 

More info on Inis Oírr
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inisheer
http://discoverinisoirr.com/

And on the dolphin :) http://www.dustythedolphin.com/

PS: nice photos (;))..nice to see children with dolphins, swimming with a dolphin is my dream..BUT NOTE that dolphins in the sea are wild dolphins, and attention should always be placed for our and their safety!

 

The Zeltik Festival in Dudelange (Luxembourg)

Well..there is people that think that in this small country (yes,...Luxembourg is a city, but Luxembourg is also a country!  ;))..nothing happens...

I live and work here and I can tell you....nothing is missing here (we had also Ramazzotti,..what else? ;))

One event that I could have not missed was the Zeltik Festival in Dudelange, on the 12 of March 2016....

This event takes place every year...but this was the first year I heard of it and went.

It is a kind of celebration of the Celtic music...with artists from all over Europe...

All started with the BEOGA...

Beoga (photos taken with a compact camera)

Then they were followed by the DANCEPERADOS OF IRELAND, who sing the stories of the Irish travellers and the music they were bringing with them. 

 

 

 


Danceperados of Ireland
(photos taken with a compact camera)

Danceperados of Ireland
(photos taken with a compact camera)

And at the end the star that everyone was waiting (except me! ;) ..as it was the first time I had heard about him -_-) was CARLOS NUNEZ...which made a kind of show.....
 

Carlos Nunez
(photos taken with a compact camera)



 

Carlos Nunez
(photos taken with a compact camera)

The evening was very nice...full of people, nice atmosphere...

People enjoyed a lot Carlos Nunez. Well, not me. He presented how the Celtic music is played all around the World...and this is could be also interesting.

What I did not really like at all is that he transformed the Celtic music in a show...when the Celtic music is something much more intimate. It is something that is song for the pleasure to stay together and to express its own feeling, and cannot be transformed in a kind-of Madonna concert.

The skill of the singer/player stays in the ability of let you feel emotionally involved, no matter if you are listening him/her in a pub in a small village or in a stadium with hundreds of people...

And when I say emotionally involved, I mean the ability to arrive to your heart and not to stop to your ears. And no matter how much loudly Nunez was singing/playing...his music just stopped there..

Now I feel a little a fish out of water, as so much people loved him..well the music is great as everyone can have his/her taste...and maybe not everyone spent three weeks and half in Ireland! ;)

Anyway, back to Ireland, this is a small piece of the Danceperados of Ireland!!

Enjoy!! :)


 

 



http://www.zeltik.lu/