From Killarney I took the bus on over to the tiny town of Dingle, which is on the coast of none other than the Dingle Peninsula. I arrived at my hostel to find the door locked, and when I knocked and rang the bell, no one answered. Hmmm. The worst of it was, I could hear lots of people inside!! What was the magic word, I wondered? Fresh out of "open sesames" I stood on the front doorstep and called the hostel on my cellphone.
"You're where??" The woman who answered asked me, puzzled.
"Outside your front door, if you would please let me in. I have a reservation." I curtly replied.
"You have a reservation??" The woman echoed, incredulous. "But we're booked full. There must be some mistake. Hold on, I'll be there in 15 minutes."
Well this was all too strange, I thought. 15 minutes- where was she? Was I not holding my confirmed reservation in my hands? Why the heck didn't anyone answer the door??
I waited, growing more wind-blown and grumpier by the minute. Eventually she peeled up and popped out of a mid-sized SUV, looking pretty scattered, with a vague air of Lorelai Gilmore. It turns out that she had mis-remembered the dates of the large group (sponsored by none other than Rick Steves, wouldn't you know it) that was taking up all the beds, and that they wouldn't be gone until tomorrow. Kindly, she arranged and paid for my stay at a hotel on the edge of town.
But the oddity doesn't end there! When I checked into the Dingle Harbor Lodge, as it was impressively named, I found that there was no key to my room- no lock! But no worries, the housekeeper who checked me in informed me that I was the only one in the 8 bed hostel-style room of the hotel. What's more, it felt like I was the only one staying in the whole of the Dingle Harbor Lodge! There was absolutely no one around.
While I was settling in the housekeeper came by and handed me a key, but not for my room, of course. No, it was the key to the front door of the hotel!!! Please, take a moment to let that sink in. There was no lock on my room door, but I was given the key to the front door of a massive hotel. "The owners are going out later, and so here's the key in case you get back while they are still out." she explained as if this was the most normal thing in the world. Wow.
Well from there I didn't have much planned so I walked into to town to give myself a little tour. It was pretty quiet- no surprise there, and endearingly small. Early on in my tour I happened to come across the Dingle Cineplex, which was a one-screen affair where the show played only once per day and changed nearly as often. With no other plans, I made a date with myself and the movie "There Will Be Blood" for the evening.
The theatre (not open yet) was next to a movie rental store, so I ducked in there to browse until they opened the doors. They had lots of titles, mostly of the vaguely familiar but dated and not particularly good variety. And you wouldn't believe the price- it cost around 4 or 5 euros just to rent a movie! At that price you might as well see it in theatres.
It was easy to tell when they opened up the Cineplex next door- the owner had to come through the rental store to do it! I later found out that, beyond the common tie of movies, they also shared restroom facilities- makes sense. I went into the theatre and time stood still- it was so classic! The seats were worn with use (although there doesn't appear to be as much of that anymore) and there was even a golden curtain covering the screen until the feature began, when it was ceremonially drawn back. A scratched grab bag of new and old advertisements for concessions and coke added to the authenticity. And then the feature film!
And what a film! Two hours and forty minutes of pure enraptured entertainment. It twisted my thoughts and emotions until I was simply hypnotized. Was it supposed to be funny? I often laughed, perhaps to protect myself from its disturbing ability to make me feel uncomfortable without being able to say just why. "There Will Be Blood" will be sticking with me for some time to come.
After a film like that, I just wasn't in the mood to go pubbing, so I headed on back to the lodge to see if I would be needing to use that key. Alas, the door was open, although in my excitement I momentarily confused "push" and "pull" and got my hopes up over nothing. I returned the key the next morning without fanfare.
A day full of surprises in Dingle, but things got even more interesting on day two...
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