Sliding into Dún Laoghaire upon two wheels feels like sailing: the gentle decline pulls the cyclist irresistibly down to the seafront. But Dún Laoghaire is not my destination – today’s destination is somewhere new. I cycle past People’s Park, where the Sunday market usually is, and navigate meandering bicycle paths until finally I arrive where I want to be: Dalkey.
With a weekly market granted as early as 1482, Dalkey is no stranger to footfall, but today is particularly busy as it’s the annual Dalkey Lobster Festival. Started during the recession, the festival aimed to reinvigorate the town, and the venture appears to have worked – although there are no lobsters to be seen at this early hour, there is life everywhere.
Under the white peaks of the pointed marquee tents, vendors prepare their wares and display their works. Artist Jennifer Fitzgerald has come from Kenmare, Co Kerry to be at the festival, and has painted a watercolour of a large-clawed lobster upon streaks of washed-out black for the occasion.
Present are also locals like the owner of Dalkey Handmade Soaps, who works in the town and usually stocks her goods in local shops. But today she is out talking to friends and customers from her stall, showing her soaps which feature in scents as exotic and enchanting as grapefruit with bergamot.
Most people greet each other by name, particularly the customers streaming in out of Doyle’s, the butcher-cum-vegetable grocers.
“They come in for a chat as much as to buy, which is really nice”, says Geraldine Doyle, who runs the place with her husband.
We are surrounded by the colours of yellow Kilcoole courgettes, plump red tomatoes and translucent green gooseberries. As we speak people trickle in looking for cuts of meat and Irish produce. A child runs in to show Doyle her new necklace, and she appropriately responds with an “ooh!” before the child runs off again.
She tells me about the “lovely atmosphere in Dalkey” and the “nice sense of community”.
“Some people come to buy for their dogs as well as themselves. It’s a really dog-friendly town. Every second person coming around has a dog. There’s one lady whose dog’s name I know and not her own – I really don’t!”
Early lunchers and late brunchers chat across the tables at Corner Note Cafe, where the traditional fry-up is available alongside palatable and sapid seafood dishes like mussels mariniere, prawn linguine, and the festival special Bulloch Harbour Lobster. Across the way, Pepper Laine, the one-year-old, eco-conscious, specialty cafe has younger, more coffee-conscious, consumers sitting on its bench.
The Queens Bar and Restaurant has set up a stall outside its historic premises. It is manned by a red-faced pot-bellied pitmaster, who cooks an array of sprawling lobsters and prawns on a doubly-decked grill. Jaipur, an Indian restaurant also on Castle St, has lobster being made by young chef Karan Mittal, who kindly shows me how it’s being cooked over the hot Indian charcoal barbeque.
That seafood is central to Dalkey is plain. From as early as the 13th century, Cistercian monks ran a fish industry there, proving the water that runs by its side has defined it for a long time.
Liz Crossen, a heritage worker at Dalkey Castle, recounts: “Dalkey became the main port to Dublin in the 1300s because the Anglo-Norman ships that came over were laden with cargo and very low in the water. There are sandbars and sandbank all around Sandymount so it was very dangerous to navigate.”
“Dalkey was chosen as an ideal place because of the shelter of the island. They could dock safely and offload their goods in the deep waters”.
Bulloch Harbour was built in the 19th century and is where local fishermen can be seen to bring lobster and crab onshore. Rock fishing is also done at Coliemore Harbour for the prize of mackerel and cod. The placement of Coliemore offers a clear view of Dalkey Island, whose history goes back 6,500 years, when the earliest settlers arrived in the Mesolithic period. A ferry takes passengers back and forth all day, joining the ranks of white sailing boats against the blue sky, for those wishing to see St Begnet’s Church and the Martello Tower.
According to Green News, the island’s most recent additions are six Arctic tern’s chicks, which adopted Dalkey as their new breeding ground. The swathe of salty seawater is carried by a breeze to all those rambling along the coastline, chasing the panorama of the Irish Sea.
Back in the town, I am encouraged to go on a literary Heritage Trail – to follow the lives of great Irish writers and their time in Dalkey. It transpires that George Bernard Shaw lived in Torca cottage for a year, and in 1904 James Joyce spent a term teaching in Clifton School, Dalkey Avenue – an experience that influenced the second chapter of Ulysses.
Marta who works at the independent seller Gutter Bookshop tells me: “There’s a huge community of readers and writers here – it’s brilliant. And once a year we have a Dalkey book festival, so that brings a lot of fantastic writers and people to the village.”
The shop and library also run book clubs, to help community reading, which inevitably lead to chats and wine drinking. Marta says that “the best thing about Dalkey is the people”, and as for where to find them, she directs me next door to Finnegan’s, Maeve Binchy’s favourite pub.
I walk into Finnegan’s to a wild ovation as its customers celebrate Ireland’s try against England in a Rugby World Cup warm-up – a great unified roar of triumph. Some patrons are sitting in chairs outside – with one ear turned towards the speakers – bathing in the sun.
Later I wander into Daisie Stone, a craft and gift shop. Sweet non-necessities that constitute luxury line its shelves. The high-quality goods compel customers to splurge on earthy Irish ceramics and hefty handbound notebooks as a souvenir. The shop itself is infused with the scent of soy candles and decorated with light from the shades of Eva Kelly glass.
On the way to get the DART home, I peruse some local artists’ work in the Gallery. It is a space full of clear blues – reflecting Dalkey’s seaside charm. As Marta says: “On a sunny day, nothing beats Dalkey. You know?”
