Dingle Peninsula - Ireland 2014 - page 341

Money: Two banks in town face each other across Main Street (Mon 10:00-17:00, Tue-Fri
10:00-16:00, closed Sat-Sun) and have ATMs. Expect to use cash (rather than credit
cards) to pay for most peninsula activities.
Internet Access: The Old Forge Internet Café isfriendlyandcentral,andhasWi-Fi(€3/
hour, June-Aug Mon-Sat 9:30-21:00, Sun 12:00-17:00, Sept-May daily 10:00-17:00,
Holyground). The old library has Wi-Fi and a printer. Its three terminals are often
busy, but you can drop by and reserve a one-hour slot anytime (Mon-Sat 10:00-17:00,
Thu until 20:00, closed Sun, Green Street).
Post Office: It's off Main Street, down the lane behind the Centra grocery (Mon-Fri
9:00-17:30, Sat 9:00-13:00, closed Sun).
Laundry: There is no self-service laundry in Dingle. Dingle Cleaners is convenient (€14/
up to 14 pounds, Mon-Sat 9:00-18:00, closed Sun, beside Moran's Market and gas sta-
tion, tel. [phone], run by Ciaran—pronounced KEER-un).
Bike Rental: Bike-rental shops abound, renting 21-speed hybrids. Try Paddy's Bike Hire
(€15/day, includes helmet and lock, daily 9:00-19:00, directly across Dykegate from
An Café Liteartha, tel. [phone]) or the Mountain Man (€15/day; for contact
info, see “Dingle Activities,” below). If you're biking the peninsula, get a bike with
skinny street tires, not slow and fat mountain-bike tires. Plan on leaving €20, plus a
driver's license or passport, as a security deposit.
Taxi: Try Colm Bambury (mobile [phone]), Diarmuid Begley (mobile
087-250-4767), Sean with S.O.L. Cabs in Dingle (mobile [phone]), or Tom
Kearney out in Dunquin (mobile [phone]).
Dingle Activities: The Mountain Man, a hiking shop run by local guide Adrian Curran,
is a clearinghouse for information on hiking, biking, horseback riding, sea kayaking,
climbing, peninsula tours, and trips to the Blasket Islands (the shop is the Dingle town
contact for the Dunquin-Blasket Islands boats—see “Blasket Islands” on here ) . Give them
a call a few days ahead to see which guided, scenic, mountain day-hikes are sched-
uled (daily June-mid-Sept 9:00-21:00, mid-Sept-May 9:00-18:00, just off harbor at Strand
Street, tel. [phone], www.themountainmanshop.com ) .
Dingle or An Daingean?
Linguistic politics have stirred up a controversy over the name of this town and
peninsula. Being a Gaeltacht, the entire region gets subsidies from the government
(which supports the survival of the traditional Irish culture and language). A pre-
condition of this financial support is that towns use their Irish (Gaelic) name. But
Dingle, a.k.a. An Daingean (“on DANG-un”) in Irish, has voted down this dic-