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Dingle is a harbour town, once fortified and seeped in history. Ryan’s Daughter was filmed in the area 30 years ago. The town also is the gateway to the Gaeltacht, where Gaelic is the first language.
Mountains at its back, Dingle faces comfortably onto a sheltered harbour. From level ground at Strand Street on the harbour's edge and at the Mall beside the Dingle River, three main streets rise: Green Street, John Street and Main Street. About 1,200 people live in Dingle, but it serves the larger population of the surrounding countryside, and in the summer months it caters for many visitors.
As a market town and fishing port, Dingle has long been well supplied with pubs; in recent years the number has hovered around 52, and the variety is almost as great as the number. There are large, modern pubs and pubs so small that five's a crowd; one that sells wellingtons and leather belts, another that sells sheets and blankets, and another that sells everything from beds and bicycles to creosote and fertiliser. Much of the social life of the town revolves around the pubs: during the winter there are card games and quizzes. In the summer pool tables are removed to leave more room for tourist customers, and Irish music is played almost every night in about ten pubs.
The town is renowned for its restaurants, most of which offer excellent local seafood. There is a wide variety of restaurants in Dingle, from burgers and chips to pub grub to fine dining. Most places today have several vegetarian selections on their menus.