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