Postcard from Dingle

“..I reject your proposal. I don’t wanna *not* make plans with you. I wanna *make* plans with you..”

I am a sucker for romantic movies. Unless it’s the latest release, chances are that I have seen the movie more often than not multiple times. Before we moved to Dublin , I watched two of my favorite romantic movies one more time – P.S. I Love You and Leap Year. Then there are these other movies – Harry Potter, Ek Tha Tiger, and Star Wars: The Force Awakens. You know where I am getting to. In my mind and my perfect world, I had decided that I am going to see all the filming locations when I am in Ireland. Well, we will get there in due course of time and weather permitting.

So, getting back to the point. Do you remember the last scene of Leap Year? The one where disappointed Amy Adams walks towards the end of a cliff overlooking the beautiful ocean at sunset. And then Matthew Goode (so handsome!) goes to her with her grandma’s ring to propose and that probably would be the most romantic proposal ever. But, for a moment forget that Amy Adams and Matthew Goode are there and picture yourself on those beautiful cliffs overlooking a sunset or just the ocean. Picture yourself with your husband / boyfriend / friend(s) / family / whoever. Then picture that you are on those cliffs enjoying a small picnic or maybe a yogurt, sandwich, or hot coffee. Picture yourself talking photos while doing all this. It is perfect and it is beautiful. In my head, that was dingle and dingle peninsula and I wanted to go there ever since. But the makers of Leap Year cheated me and thousand others who sadly don’t know that this beautiful place is actually nowhere near Dingle but it is in Dun Aengus. Even though the movie was wrong on multiple levels when it came to geography and Irish accent, it definitely did make Dingle famous for me and it is just so mind-blowing that we will go back again soon.

We took a day tour from Killarney to Dingle and Slea Head with Kerry Tours. Even though we don’t prefer taking tours much, at times that’s the best choice (Read – car rental companies closed on a Sunday) and you have no better option. The tour started at 11 am and ended at 5.30 pm. The tour driver stopped at all beautiful photo points and in Dingle town for lunch. Even though the tour was decent and we were lucky with a good non-rainy day, we felt that it was a bit rushed for time and we were left wanting for more. I feel Dingle can be best explained in photos and I leave you with some from our recent trip to give you an idea of what I mean when I say we couldn’t get enough of it.

For next time we have a few things in mind –

1. Stay in Dingle instead of Killarney and use it as our base to explore more.
2. Rent a bike and bike on the Dingle peninsula towards Slea Head. We saw a lot of people biking and I am sure it is going to be an amazing experience. It will give us more time to take breaks and soak in the gorgeous Irish landscape.
3. While on the tour bus we saw a lot of signposts saying “Hold a baby lamb” and I am dying to do this. Can’t get over how cute baby lambs are.
4. Visit Skellig Michael Island. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site and has the remains of a Christian monastery from the 6^th and 8^th century. The upcoming Star Wars movie was shot there. Need I say more?