Killybegs, Donegal IRELAND - 1 of 5

We took a great full day tour with Joe, the owner of Chieftains https://chieftaintours.com, of Killybegs on the Ireland West coast. He also played the flute at the pub! Beginning with a Fáilte (their welcoming hello) ride along Ireland's beautiful coastline, visit to a Castle and Abbey, an Irish pub for lunch, time in the capital town of Killybegs, and then daring landscape and cliffs of Donegal. In Ireland, many homes and pubs have a sign “Céad míle fáilte", A Hundred Thousand Welcomes, and that’s how we felt in this Country in every place we went. Note: there is a great book, “Ireland: A Hundred Thousand Welcomes” (done worry, its leprechaun size) by Claire Gallagher.

After a wonderful discussion of Irish history and Donegal (where he was born and his family all grew up) we learned about Gaelic. Joe taught us all about the origins of the area and the famous Gaelic language (compared to Irish spoke today and English too) which was outlawed since 1600 and has all but disappeared due to colonization, immigration and marriages. He is one of a few (less that 1%) people of Ireland that still considers Gaelic his first language. It is very interesting language and sounds like no other you have ever heard. Ireland has 32 counties (26 in Republic of Ireland and 6 Northern Ireland --- if you don’t understand, see our Belfast writeup).

We visited the County of Donegal (Gaelic for fort of foreigners, referring to the Vikings from the 9th Century that were there) has 177,000 people and is called the land of Saints and Scholars (or Sinners, depends who you ask).

Killybegs is the largest fishing port in all of Ireland and one of the oldest inhabited areas, since prehistoric times, with influences from the Church in the 6th and 12th centuries. Donnegal hand-knotted carpets are world famous as are the sweaters and coats weaved there (see our photos/video of the weaving at Triona and SJP making it famous). Our first main stop was the Donegal Castle named for the O’Donnels who built it in 1474. The photos in this posting (and the next) speak for themselves as to the majesty and beauty of this old castle and its background.

We started this posting with Fáilte and will end with another expression that is common among the folk here. Used humorously or to convey defiance the phrase “Pogue Mahone” reflects an irreverent attitude in Irish culture.Read more