Today’s focus is on the scenic Dingle Peninsula, widely regarded as one of the most beautiful areas of Ireland. It was the location for the 1970 movie Ryan’s Daughter starring Sarah Miles. The movie was an Ireland-based adaptation of Madame Bovary and a favorite of Roselie.
It stopped raining early this morning, the sun is shining and it is cold. As the clouds dissipated and the fog began to lift, we saw the surrounding mountains all dusted with snow – like powdered sugar. The snow line is at about 500 ft. It will be an enjoyable day.
Back into our car, we turn on our music to the theme from Ryan’s Daughter. No singing this time….just humming. We took the Conor Pass to the coast of Dingle Bay. It is the highest mountain pass in Ireland. As we weaved through the mountains on this difficult road, the view of the snow-covered mountains is spectacular. Martin had never seen this before – sunny day, snow covered mountains. We stopped at every available turnout to admire the view.
Snow Dusted Mountains On Conor Pass
Views From Conor Pass
After reaching the coast, we stopped at the beach where they filmed some of the scenes in Ryan’s Daughter. The sun makes the beach look mystical. The coastline gives us a new view at every turn. We can’t stop taking photos.
Dingle Peninsula Coastline
Dingle Peninsula Coast
Along the way we found Clochán (stone huts) dwellings that look like beehives and most likely housed a single family. While the sign announced them to be built in 2000 BC, there is little ancillary evidence that they existed much before 800 AD. Made completely from gathered limestone rocks, they were constructed in a stone ring or layer upon layer with each slightly smaller, until they joined at the top to form the roof. The mountainside was covered with these beehive huts and rock fences to contain their animals.
Peninsula Coast
Beehive Stone Huts
Dingle Bay
Beach On Dingle Peninsula Used In Ryan’s Daughter
Next stop was the beach made famous in a key scene in Ryan’s Daughter. Father Collins, the village priest, confronts Rosy about her liaison with Doryan. So the following is our attempt at a re-enactment.
Sound: Ryan’s Daughter theme is playing in the background; waves breaking on the beach and against the rocks
Beach Location For Shoots In Ryan’s Daughter
TAKE: Act 2, Scene 4: Father Collins confronts Rosy on the beach
ACTION!
“Rosy! Are you happy? What more you wantin’ now?”
“No! I don’t even know what more there is!”
CUT! PRINT.
Well, as they say, I guess you had to be there, or to have seen the movie. Martin, who was our cinematographer, was so focused on his job, he didn’t notice a rogue wave breaking and coming in to soak him and his clothes to his ankles.
After the exhausting takes, we were ready for pub food in Dingle town. It is a small, very popular fishing and tourist area. It has a population of about 1900 and 52 pubs….one for every week of the year.
Dingle Harbor
Lunch At The Dingle Pub
Main Street In Dingle
We returned to Killarney by way of the town Tralee, to end a wonderful day.
As we’ve experienced visiting the towns and sites today, tourism is a large component of Ireland’s economy. Putting this in perspective, last year there were over nine million tourists in a country of five million people. Americans represent the largest segment. It is especially popular with golfers. American tourist visits increased by 18% last year. Coming here in June-August requires planning and advanced reservations at hotels, B&B’s or vacation homes.
Overall the economy is grounded on fishing, food products, and IT. Fishing, the traditional mainstay, is under pressure because of reduced fish stock. The government imposed rules that strictly limits quantity and regulates how fish may be caught by commercial fishermen. While I laud their commitment to preserve the environment, the financial impact is going to increase. They considered moving to fish farming, like Norway, but the residents rejected that approach. It is an ongoing flash point between the fishing industry and the populace. This would suggest that overtime, the fishing industry is going to continue to decline, and another segment of the economy needs to pick up. Food production, as an export, is continuing to increase – beer, whiskey, free-range beef, and lamb are examples.
The fastest growing component is Information Technology. When I was working at Hewlett-Packard in the 1970’s and 1980’s, we hired many Irish engineers. The education system in Ireland produced many engineers with excellent work ethics who could not find work. The US companies were in constant search for a supply of technical people. So, many Irish immigrated. To stop this ‘brain drain,’ the government created incentive tax breaks for US companies to open development centers in Ireland. It worked!
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