The Wild Coast of Donegal

On to Dublin, Ireland from Barcelona, Spain for our next adventure....again change of plans!  We had an old country home lined up to stay in for 10 days but it didn't work out.  The house was too rural and in need of care after being essentually unused during Covid lockdown.   So off we go with "PLAN B"....or was it C, D, or E?

On our last visit to Ireland in 2017 we spent 3 weeks exploring the Wild Atlantic Way, a winding connection of 2500 km (1,600 miles) of roads along the Irish west coast. We had complered 4 of the 14 stages of the route and decided to finish it.  Starting in Sligo, while we didn't drive every single little two- and one-land road, we did experience some spectacular coastal cliffs, hills covered with varieties of sheep with lambs, bogs and ancient castle ruins.  

Donegal Castle
Original home-turned-castle was the base for the mighty O'Donnell clan in 1500.  It was expanded by the English when they defeated the Irish in the Nine-Year War (1594-1603)

  

Amazingly this is the original stone floor!

We drove on along the coast in County Donegal and were enthralled about the story of Father McDyer's Folk Village in Glencolmcile.  Father McDyer came to the area in the 1950's to the impoverished community that had suffered 60% loss of population due to emmigration.  He vowed to stem that trend and spent 35 years bringing electricity, industry, education, jobs and tourism to improve the people's lives.  The Folk Village was built in 1965 to bring in tourists and share the historical culture.  

this stone home demonstrated the farmimg and fishing life in the 1500's 

the peat chimneys were just carved into the wall & open to cook and heat but created a lot of smoke inside

old rope thatched roof with straw

here's a short video about County Donegal craftmen thatching a cottage/pub  They are beautiful works of art that are still around in smaller villages.  Enjoy the accents!

Hedge schools" (Irish: scoil chois claí) were small informal secret and illegal schools, particularly in 18th- and 19th-century Ireland, designed to secretly provide the rudiments of primary education in Irish to children of 'non-conforming' faiths (Catholic and Presbyterian) during British occupation.  Those caught teaching could be arrested and executed.

little spots carved into hedges

In Killybegs we took a 3 hour walking tour offered by the Tourism Center and it turned out just to be us.  It was supposed to be less than 2 hrs but I was still walking slowly.  Many Irish towns & cities have nonsensical names which were anglicized from the Gaelic.  Killybegs comes from the Gaelic "Na Cealla Beaga" that translates to "small cells"-referring to the early settlement of monks in the area who lived in little stone "cell" dwellings.

Sometimes the monks "hid" in these cells to write and translate religious writings.  They would use a rope to climb into the window then pull it up to protect the inhabitants..

Killybegs is the largest fishing and processing port on the island.  However the industry is reducing drastically and these million dollar boats go out only a few months a year.  Like many production communities, the locals can't buy fresh fish caugh by their fishing boats.

ruins of the church of St Catherine (of Egypt) started in the 1400s 

The historical timeline of Killybegs even includes the Spanish Armada when the ship La Girona, a galleass merchant ship developed for military purpose, docked in 1588 for repairs and they picked up survivors from other wrecked ships… but it overloaded the ship. 

see the castle ruins on the cliff

The most northern Antrim Coast is loaded with unique sites.  The rugged cliffsides and beaches provide many seaside resorts such as Portrush where we stayed.  This town looks very much like an old-fashioned seashore resort like we see in British television and has been filled with holiday makers since the 1800's. 

the kitschy rides at Portrush 

Dunlace Castle

Dunlace Castle, perched on the cliff edge, was built in the Middle Ages in several stages and housed several Irish Chieftain families.  Remember the La Girona, the Spanish Armada ship?  It wrecked against the rocks here just after leaving Killybegs in October 1588 and 1300 sailors perished leaving only 9 survivors.  Wreckage from the ship was used in the castle.  Dunlace was lived in until mid 1600's until the stormy weather began chopping away stone walls and they fell into the sea below.  The REAL stories of the constant flighting, killing and vicicious chieftain lords certainly leant reality to the series "Game of Thrones" which was filmed in many sites around here, including this castle.  

A tour with tasting at the oldest licensed distillary in Ireland.

I had heard about the Giant's Causeway but couldn't imagine the unique geological rock formations.  The local myth tells of the mighty giant, Finn MacCool, who built the stone bridge to cross over to Scotland to fight his rival giant.  But there are also other plausible theories of origin put forth by Neptunists (rocks cryatallized under the ocean) and Volcanologists (basalt columns formed from lava and cracked as they cooled).  Not too many years ago scientists calculated the temperature that lava turns to rocks in volcanic  Iceland and related this to the causeway pillars- so I guess the volcanology won out over the giant.  

the "steps" and columns have 5 or 6 regular sides

most are regular hexagons

We stayed in a many unique bed 'n breakfasts, old Irish guest houses, small hotels and rooms in private homes.  Our last night was on a farm in the centuries old stone house that was the original farmhome.  We were treated to fresh chicken and duck eggs for our breakfast.

Totally Unpredictable Travels

So the Adventures continue…our flight from Portland, Oregon to Miami had only 52 minutes to change planes in Dallas and American Airlines wanted us to route through Los Angles instead.  Okay:

1.  This would make us arrive at 6 AM on Saturday instead of Friday (we always plan to fly in the day before a cruise)…

2.  But the plane in LAX was late arriving which delayed from 8 pm departure to 10:30 pm…

3.  That delay made the flight crew unable to fly due to the number of hours that they had already flown, so…

4. AA “delayed” the flight until Saturday morning departure 11:30 am…which made us miss the cruise…

5. We spent the night in the airport trying to book anything that would get us to Florida in time to make the cruise but there was nothing available…

BUT while waiting to board the flight the next morning, we were lucky to find a last minute cruise departing the following day with a different itinerary ending in Barcelona which we booked quickly!

Our ordeal continued with a 3 hour process to embark the ship and a “surprise” Covid testing of  all 1,600 passengers! (All passengers had to have negative tests to board so we were not sure why this extra precaution but we were fine with it).  Once we got on board, because we booked just the day before, they did not have a room for us as somebody else was already in the assigned room!  All in all, after the first two days of trying to get things straightened out it has been good. They actually upgraded our room to a little larger room-still interior but at least larger. In addition they gave us two complementary dinners at the specialty restaurants and some onboard credit ($100).  Now we are hoping we can get our original cruise refunded or at least a credit for a future cruise but that will have to wait. 

My ankle is improving but my hand still hurts. It has been challenging navigating the rocking and rolling of the ship. I did manage to get into the hot tub a couple of times!

We sailed across the Atlantic and arrived in Ponte Delgado, Portugal (our first port).  The crossing was pretty good, mostly smooth, with only one or two days of light rain. We saw one whale and some dolphins which was really cool and have met such interesting people!! Lots of people told their stories of being on “”World Cruises” that got canceled & left somewhere in the world due to Covid  

Gibraltar 

We traversed the Straits of Gibraltar three times because we went to Ceuta first!

Other ports included Ceuta (a Spanish city on the north Coast of Africa), Càdiz, Malaga, Alicante and Barcelona

Pillars of Hercules in Ceuta depicting the split mountains of Gibraltar on one side and the other Monte Hacho on opposite side of the Mediterranean  

. 

In Màlaga we went to the Picaso Museum that we saw about 8 years ago  His work is always fascinating!

Our final port was in Barcelona where we stayed 3 days more. We did a lot of walking but we couldn’t miss the Temple of Sagrada Familia by Gaudi. There has been more completed since we were there 12 years ago but it still won’t be finished for many years. 

On November 29, 2021 the Sagrada Família lifted the star of the Virgin Mary into place. This was a historic moment, as it is the final piece of the tower and changes the Barcelona skyline.

The interior is simple and the windows are spectacular  The columns are designed to resemble trees teaching to the heavens

The virtual completion