Blogs from County Donegal, Ireland, Europe - page 7

Today we headed out to the Slieve League (Grey Mountain) cliffs, situated on the West coast of Donegal. The cliffs are said to be the highest and one of the finest marine cliffs in Europe with a three hundred meter drop straight down into the wild, Atlantic waves below. What a breathtaking view but a little scary too! Bob, Frank and I took the path up to the top of the hill overlooking the cliffs. A good cardiac workout too! Of course, it was raining the whole time. But our spirits were not at all dampened! After the cliffs, we headed to the tourist trap called Triona Design which features its woolen loom and its workings. We learned that it was a family run business of some 25 years keeping alive the tradition of handwoven Donegal ... read more

(From Notes left on the carving of a hooded hawk/human fashioned by the Poet, Wood Carver, Human Trove of Gaelic Lore and World Class Storyteller Michael Quirke) DOWA-COO Where is wisdom to be found? Irish File (Fill-leh: Poet Seer) answers: "LOOK WITHIN"... here in Sligo Sycamore Hero as hawk flies into the heart of darkness, seizes CnoFeaso- nut of wisdom in Aidlind Ashling Dream Vision... Exits with dream intact on the obverse Dowa-Coo Darkwet hound Powers: Salmon of Wisdom Aswim into consciousness... 50/50 Linseed on Turpentine mix and brush Michael Quirke (PS Michael was describing the themes he has carved into his figure of the Dowar Coo. Some of his notes were in Gaelic, and there's no way I could transpose them.) At Temple House, outside of Sligo, near the ruins of an 11c templar castle, ... read more

We are currently making our way back towards London, and then we will fly home on February 7th. We left Cork for Sligo which is in the Northern part of the Republic of Ireland. There is some beautiful scenery there, mountains, ocean, and some viking princesses buried there. We couldn't do too much without a car. We went to the Belleek factory and saw how it is made. We went to Carrick which is in Donegal. We wanted to see Slieve League and the Bunglas cliffs, which are the tallest sea cliffs in Europe. The weather was alright, the view was amazing and the sheep were plenty. Then we went to Portrush, not the most cosmopolitan place, more run down. It must be better in the summer. We went to Bushmills and sampled the whiskey, still ... read more

So with Cheryl here and all, we decided we would do the fastest tour of Ireland ever. To any travelers thinking of seeing as much as Ireland as possible in a short amount of time, this would be the way to go. Day 1: We started out the morning in Galway, exploring a bit of town and being extremely frustrated that our favorite bagel and coffee shop was not open (Cher became instantly obsessed with the 2nd best Chai Lattes in the world). Our first stop was the Blarney Castle, so with all three of us piled into our beast of a Volvo that the Budget car rental place gave us, we were off. As all car rides go, we sang, we laughed, and we invented car games. Cheryl and Brian invented “Slug Bug Castle.” Basically ... read more

We experienced a very typical wet Irish day today. It was raining from the time we stepped out of the cottage in the morning until the time we returned (past midnight). A lot of that was nothing more than a mist, but it was just a very wet day. But when you're in a place that gets as much rain as Ireland, there's no way you can let that deter you from seeing what you want to see. We set this day aside as our time to see some of County Donegal (the northernmost county in the Republic Of Ireland). Donegal is known for its unspoiled natural beauty and heavy "Old-Time-Irish" ways. Donegal is one of the three or four main pockets of "Gaeltachts," which are the areas in Ireland that use the Irish language (sometimes ... read more