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County Donegal Travel Blogs

Background: Celtic tribes arrived on the island between 600-150 B.C. Invasions by Norsemen that began in the late 8th century were finally ended when King Brian BORU defeated the Danes in 1014. English invasions began in the 12th century and set off more than seven centuries of Anglo-Irish struggle marked by fierce rebellions and harsh repressions. A failed 1916 Easter Monday Rebellion touched off several years of guerrilla warfare that in 1921 resulted in independence from the UK for 26 southern counties; six northern (Ulster) counties remained part of the United Kingdom. In 1948 Ireland withdrew from the British Commonwealth; it joined the European Community in 1973. Irish governments have sought the peaceful unification of Ireland and have cooperated with Britain against terrorist groups. A peace settlement for Northern Ireland, known as the Good Friday Agreement and approved in 1998, is being implemented with some difficulties.

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By alanamadeleine
May 13th 2007

Aran Islands

Europe » Ireland » County Donegal » Arranmore

Cliffs at Dun Aengus

I spent the last week and half between Galway and the Aran Islands, mostly on Inis Mor, the largest island. I had only planned on staying maybe three days, but liked it so much I stayed longer. There wasn't tons to do, but it was a nice quiet village (especially when the day-tripping tourists left) with a nice hostel. The hostel had a good kitchen and there was a market near by. I cooked a lot when it was too windy and rainy to go out...we watched DVDs in the nice common room and ate hot choloclate chip cookies. I [View Full Entry]

By EmilyZ
May 3rd 2007

Inis Mor

Europe » Ireland » County Donegal » Arranmore

Inis Mor

When you think of Ireland, you picture rolling green hills, stone walls, etc. Basically what you picture is Inis Mor. I arrived on the island (the largest of the three islands that make up the Aran Islands, and also the most popular) on Thursday with three of my friends at about 11:30am. The sun was shining, it was warm (hot even) and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. It was basically perfect. After unloading our stuff at our hostel we decided it would be best to rent bikes (seeing as the island is only 9 miles by 2 miles) as [View Full Entry]

By Smartie
March 15th 2007

My Last Few Days in Bundoran Ireland

Europe » Ireland » County Donegal » Donegal

The Coast in Bundooran
This is on the beach in Bundoran. One of our nice days since we didn't have to many of them.

Hey Everyone, How's it going? Hope all is well at home. I've now been in Ireland for 2 weeks. The two nights we stayed in Dublin were a lot of fun. We left Dublin on the Firday morning to catch a bus to Bundoran. We had to catch the tram to the bus station and we couldn't find it so we asked a guy to direct us to the tram station. We thought we had found it cause the sign said Temporary Garda Station!!!! We all went in with our packs on and knocked on the window. A man with [View Full Entry]

By AnneMarie
January 31st 2007

Little Fish in a Little Pond

Europe » Ireland » County Donegal » Letterkenny

Glenveagh
many weekend afternoons spent wandering around this national park!

Wow, its a busy week! Actually it would be if I got around to doing anything. As it is, my head is just busy, but nothing is getting done So here I am in Letterkenny, Co. Donegal - up in the north-west of Ireland. Letterkenny originated as a small fishing village and has grown to be the largest town in the north west. Strange then, that they don't have a fishmongers ... Anyway, as the tourism website for the town states, "Come and stay for a night, a weekend or a week and we know that you will be back for [View Full Entry]

By jrfromafar
October 20th 2006

Mac-a'bhaird

Europe » Ireland » County Donegal » Donegal

The Bard

My Irish claim to fame, my great grandfather was Michael Augustus Ward (Mac an Bhaird) from Donegal. My grandmother (Ellen Ward) full blooded Irish. Michael Ward (Bhaird or 'bard') married Mary Moran, daughter of Martin Moran (married Ellen Rogers), immigrant to Genesee, Pa (Potter County) in 1840 (before the potato famine. Genesee ended up an Irish haven. Martin was one of the leading citizens. He immigrated from Mayo County. Michael Ward was very young when he immigrated fro [View Full Entry]

By JessRK
August 29th 2006

Up North!

Europe » Ireland » County Donegal » Donegal

The Outside Track (Alan's Band)
Barry's Music House, Grange, Co. Sligo, Ireland

First... Paul... yeah... I can't believe I was witness to the amount of music I was during this summer. I feel so honored... it was absolutely amazing. Cormac's Parents... your excitement was spectacular... I am so glad you enjoy this... Keep in touch and thanks again for reading... ----------------------------------- Hey all... Well... Elaine did not head up to Letterkenny as planned last Tuesday so we headed out to Róisín Dubh to see Solas play (second show of theirs) and it was fantastic. The small and intimate nature of this place always makes shows just beautiful. After that, we [View Full Entry]

By paulmm1
August 12th 2006

Day Trip to Inishmaan

Europe » Ireland » County Donegal » Arranmore

InishMaan

Today we took a day trip by ferry to Inishmaan, the middle island of the Aran Islands. The place is desolate and sparsely populated but has its fair share of cows and stone fences. We spent the day walking around, had a picnic, Karen bought a sweater from the local mill and we dipped our toes in the Atlantic Ocean. [View Full Entry]

By Rookirk
August 5th 2006

AND...we're back.

Europe » Ireland » County Donegal » Donegal

Average view in Ireland
In Ireland the prime real estate seems to go to the animals

Okay, first things first. We're sorry for dropping our last blog entry after we got back. However, when we returned from Ireland to our new home in Boston first things were also first, and those first things were things like moving and weddings and unfortunately not wrapping up our last blog entry. Anyway, when last you heard, we were about to leave Germany for Ireland... We loved Ireland. Loved, loved, loved it. It may have been the friendliest, most beautiful place we visited. The fact that the Irish speak English helped, but the green, sheep-studded landscapes, thousand foot sea [View Full Entry]

By KatieW
July 28th 2006

Lepracheans and clovers

Europe » Ireland » County Donegal » Arranmore

group photo
This is all of us at the top of a cliff after passing the "terrifying" rope bridge!

Hey everyone, So, I haven't written in a while and probably should upadate you all on Ireland! Firstly, it is so amazingly beautiful and I am in love with it; the island has so many varied types of lanscape- from mountains to beaches and so on. The land is so very green and the sites are amazing; I have taken way too many pictures, but oh well. So, I am now on a 8 day tour of Ireland with a group of 25 other people; it has proven very exciting and I wouldn't do it another way. We started out in [View Full Entry]

By angelino
June 17th 2006

Aran Islands and Malin Head

Europe » Ireland » County Donegal » Arranmore

the shamrock

OK, so we didn't find the shamrock at the bottom of the cup, we found it at the top. It was a very big moment in a remote pub in Malin Head at the farthest northern point of all of Ireland! After Dingle, we cruised farther north, but kept to the west coast. WOW! The rugged coastline was so nice, and the sun held out for us. By this point we had both had enough of the beaches, Carlee was actually peeling and I was a little pink, so... We went over to the Aran Islands for a few days. This [View Full Entry]

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