Ireland, Day 8

I stayed up too late last night reading The Blondes by Emily Schultz, so it was extra hard to be up and at 'em when our alarm went off at 7:45. Thank goodness our day was an easy one of scenic drives and beautiful views with nothing too arduous like hiking.

We drove about an hour to Malin Head, the northernmost tip of Ireland, which ironically is part of the Republic of Ireland (southern). It's a beautiful spot with windswept cliffs and sandy beaches, and I guess they just finished filming some key scene for the next Star Wars movie there.

We entered County Donegal, which some say is the most beautiful county in Ireland, and still a holdout for many of the traditional old Irish customs and ways of life. We saw lots of thatched cottages and piles of drying peat, and I loved driving on the twisty turny roads and seeing all the different views and landscapes. 

We visited the Famine Museum, which was kind of quirky. Samuel Chestnutt had never been there before, but someone had told him it was great, so he took us. It was obviously a passion project for the guy who owned it and showed us around, but there was actually not so much about the famine and more other stuff like The Troubles, and old Irish customs, and then a haunted house (or cottage) thrown in for good measure, and a bit about seaweed and geology too. It could have benefited from some editing and upkeep. We all didn't know quite what to make of it, but after the museuming, we were hungry.

Samuel Chestnutt drove us to the town of Buncranna to meet two friends of his, Ruth and Andrew, who fed us a delicious lunch of soup, brown bread, sandwiches, brownies and cupcakes in the town community center, and then showed us around town. 

Buncranna is where John Newton first came ashore after being stuck in a terrible storm and then having a conversion experience and writing the song "Amazing Grace". Ruth and Andrew have done a lot to bring that story to people's attention and put Buncranna on the map as the "Amazing Grace Town" including erecting plaques with Newtons story, creating a garden, and starting an annual festival.

After seeing all the sites, and singing Amazing Grace of course, we headed back into town where we had a quick rest at our hotel, before heading out again for an evening walking tour. We had a local guide who was very good, and he took us up on the medieval city wall and told us the history of the city, including lots about The Troubles, Bloody Sunday, etc. 

There are lots of political murals, but many of them have been changed to reflect the current times and are not so sectarian or divisive.

We ended the night with a late dinner at a pub called Fitzroys, and it was very good. We told the wait staff it was our driver Nialls birthday, so they'd bring him icecream and make a fuss so we could embarrass him. That was fun.

Tomorrow is our last day in Ireland!