The most famous attraction in Dingle Town is Fungie the dolphin, which is a surprisingly odd name for a dolphin don’t you think? Sounds like a mushroom. But this fully grown male bottlenose dolphin, which is rather large at 4 metres long, has been hanging around Dingle Harbour since 1984 and visitors can take boat trips to see him splashing around in the water playfully. Fungie often brings gifts of fish to divers, but won’t accept any fish from them. No-one knows why he came here or why he sticks around by himself, but Fungie is naturally curious and very friendly.
Since I feeling tired by this point, I didn’t go to see Fungie, but some of our Paddywagon group did take a boat trip and he appeared for them. There’s a money back guarantee if you don’t see him, but I don’t think that’s ever happened.
Dingle is a peaceful, sleepy town full of bright, colourful buildings. Blues, yellows, pinks, greens…all different colours.
Since Dingle is located on the water it has some excellent seafood restaurants, and I treated myself to some prawns in a fish and chip shop called Harrington’s on the waterfront. Harrington’s serves incredibly fresh fish and chips, and a really good seafood chowder too!
For dessert I went to Murphy’s ice cream parlour, and ordered a combination of two really interesting flavours: sea salt, and brown bread. You would think that a salty ice cream would taste really weird, but in fact it was really unique and delicious!
Dick Mack’s is the most famous pub in Dingle, and has a Hollywood style ‘walk of fame’ outside with the names of famous people who have visited the pub. It’s half leather shop, half pub, so you can purchase your boots on one side and order a pint on the other! I ordered a pint of Guinness in here- I love a really good pub, and this had a brilliant atmosphere with loads of memorabilia.
