Donegal | The Traveling Overeducated Housewife

After we had our Guinness at The Reel Inn in Donegal, Bill and I had lunch at a very cool restaurant called The Olde Castle Bar. We were mainly attracted to the restaurant because of the menu, but I have to admit that it was a very striking place with its stoney architecture.

The Olde Castle Bar.

A friendly waitress invited us to pick a table. Bill ordered sparkling water and I ordered a local craft beer made by Donegal Brewing Company. Established in 2011, the Donegal Brewing Company has been making interesting new suds for Irish people. I found the Atlantic Amber Ale a nice change from Guinness.

Atlantic Amber Ale, very nice beer from Donegal Brewing Company.

Delicious seafood chowder. Truthfully, this would have been enough food!

Lobster! And it didn’t cost over 60 euros, like it did in Germany!

Chips and salad… and a shell cracker that caused me to pinch the hell out of my fingers!

Hearty seafood pie with vegetables.

Obligatory shot of Bill!

For lunch, Bill and I split a delicious seafood chowder that was creamy and full of potatoes, salmon, shrimp, and scallops. It came with hearty brown bread. Bill had “seafood pie”, which was basically a thicker version of the chowder topped with mashed potatoes. I had a bay lobster, which came with fries, mashed potatoes, and a salad. It was a lot of food and I was pretty well sustained for the rest of the day! If you’re in Donegal, I would definitely recommend the Olde Castle Bar for a meal. The food and service are great and they also display lots of patches from police departments, many of which were in the USA. I even saw one from Germany.

From lunch, we decided to try to get to Slieve League, which is a mountain park where one can see some of the highest sea cliffs in Europe. We had very good intentions of getting there and plugged in the town in the GPS. Unfortunately, we plugged in the wrong town and ended up hell and gone from where we were supposed to go! By the time we got to the wrong town, it was getting dark and gloomy anyway. We did manage to see some beautiful scenery, though. At one point, the GPS had Bill going through some very wild territory with narrow roads. He almost ran our rental car aground letting someone pass. Good thing we sprang for full insurance coverage on the car!

A stop at a gas station reminded us that we had ventured into an area where people typically speak Gaelic. There were signs in Gaelic everywhere! Maybe we’ll try to find the cliffs again if the weather clears up today.

We drove back to our cottage in Sligo, which took some time. After a night’s rest, we woke yesterday to our anniversary. Because it looked kind of gloomy yesterday morning and we didn’t really feel like trying to go anywhere, we stayed in and hung out with each other. I got many amazing photos of the beach, as well as a photo of one plucky lad with a surfboard. Apparently, there is a surf school near Aughris and people go surfing year round.

Surfing in Ireland in November? Who knew!

Last night, we had a lovely dinner at a restaurant in Sligo called Coach Lane. It was recommended by a bell hop at The Marker Hotel in Dublin. Our waiter was a very pleasant fellow who took great care of us, even as we were sitting in the vicinity of a group of rowdy Polish men. Our waiter explained that those guys had been coming around all week. Apparently, one or two of them was working in the area.

Bill at the Coach Lane Restaurant.

More seafood chowder! It was so good, but I had to pace myself.

Bill had a scallop tart.

Delightful roasted duck and vegetables for my main course…

Bill had a sirloin with portobello mushroom.

And for dessert, a nice little panoply of treats. We shared it.

Before the tip, our dinner came to about 115 euros. We brought home leftovers from our main courses, which will probably get eaten for lunch today. Below are some more beach scenes from yesterday. It’s a real pleasure to get to see the weather and tide affect the sea… And, as someone who grew up near the Atlantic Ocean, I am very pleased to get to see it from the eastern side.

Aughris!

Bill called our hostess, Helen, who was going to come over and show us how everything in the house works. Our rental house is called The Water’s Edge, and it definitely is at the water’s edge! While we were waiting, I noticed that she left us two bottles of wine and Lindor Swiss chocolate truffles. I also noticed all the signs on the walls, no doubt inspired by previous guests who either didn’t clean up after themselves or stole from the cottage. What a shame.

A nice welcome surprise!

The master bedroom.

Living room.

Kitchen/dining area. There’s a nice wood stove.

Guest room we aren’t using.

Bathroom we aren’t really using.

Another guest room we aren’t using. Has a twin sized bed. All of this for just 440 euros through Booking.com (or 400 euros a week directly).

Helen turned out to be a very friendly and funny lady. She showed us how to use the wood stove and the coin operated power meter, as well as the electric showers. I got a laugh when she showed us the power meter, which runs on two euro coins. She said she didn’t know how long two euros lasts. We got here Monday and so far, we still have power. When it inevitably goes out, we will deposit another two euros. Weird.

Coin operated meter!

After Helen left, Bill and I had a little late lunch/dinner procured from the supermarket. Then we walked to The Beach Bar, which is a cute little pub located just steps away from the cottage. Because it’s November, the Beach Bar only serves food on weekends. After next weekend, they will be closed for about six months as they renovate. I’m glad we had the chance to stop in for beer and whiskey. It’s a very cute little place, complete with cheeky signs on the walls, pictures of past events, and a nice fireplace.

Beach Bar!

Cute inside!

Yet another Guinness.

In the summer, this bar is supposedly packed! A lot of people come to Aughris to surf.

A little Irish whiskey. Bill finished off the bottle for them. There was just enough for a taste, so they didn’t charge us.

I had a full measure of another whiskey.

At one point, Bill asked about poitin. He was surprised by the bartender’s reaction, which seemed a bit abrupt. Apparently, poitin isn’t all that widely available. Or maybe it’s illegal? Based on the barkeep’s reaction, it seemed like a taboo topic. But then Bill overheard the old guy at the bar say something about the bartender chipping in on a still. Who knows?

The bar closes at 8:00pm, so Bill and I decided to make an early evening of it. We got back to our cottage at about 5:00pm and listened to music and the crashing waves of the ocean. We gazed at the super moon, which showed up pretty well. I think we were dead to the world by 9:00pm.

Super moon in super Ireland!

Yesterday morning, we had more sunshine, so we took some photos of the beach at low tide. Then we decided to drive to Donegal, since we’re pretty sure that might have been where Bill’s people came from before they were Americans. It turned out Donegal Castle was closed, but that was no big deal. Castles aren’t that exciting to me, anyway.

We parked the car and walked into the town, where I immediately spotted The Irish House, which was full of sweaters, tweed, hats and scarves. We ran into a nicely turned out local lady, who helped us select a Donegal tweed jacket for Bill and a big blue sweater for me. She noticed and admired my Bean boots, which I explained were great for keeping my feet warm and dry. I first started wearing Bean Boots when I used to show horses. They’re great for wearing in a barn, especially when you have to clean stalls.

All in all, we dropped about $400 there. They even threw in a free wool scarf. I’m glad Bill has a new jacket. I’m always trying to expand his wardrobe.

Naturally, talk turned to Donald Trump… as it inevitably has everywhere we’ve gone on this trip. It’s been interesting to hear Irish impressions of our president elect. The saleslady noted that Mr. Trump always has beautiful women with him. She also said he hires women. I said that was fine, as long as he didn’t grab any of them by the pussy.

In Donegal.

At the Reel Inn!

Next time we come to Ireland, we’ll need to stay a night or two in Donegal!

And… since I am a bit Scottish, we will have to visit The Reel Inn’s local competitor.

We ate lunch at this restaurant… I will write about it in part nine!

After we purchased our new duds, we went to an Irish pub the saleslady recommended called The Reel Inn. She said it was the best place for a Guinness, since the pipe to the keg was “short”. I’m not sure I know what she was talking about, but The Reel Inn did appear to be a very popular place for live music. I wished we were staying in Donegal because I have been itching to hear some live music and maybe join in myself.

The Reel Inn is a small place that originally celebrated its 10th birthday. The barman was working alone, though he was soon joined by an older man looking resplendent in tweed. I can’t be sure, but I think they were speaking Irish. They appeared to be old friends and I couldn’t understand a word they were saying.