Donegal Named “Coolest Place on Earth”

Last year the UK publication “National Geographic Traveller,” ranked Ireland as fourth on its list of the “Coolest Places on Earth,” so I was delighted to learn that this year the magazine made the specific selection of County Donegal as first on its list of places that readers should visit in 2017.

For the past three years Jim and I have stayed in Donegal for at least one week during our annual three-week trip to Ireland. This year, we spent the entire time in this beguiling county, where the combination of seacoasts, farmland, lakes, mountains, towns, villages and pubs are wonderful to enjoy and to photograph, and where the people who live there are so warmly welcoming. We divided our time between delightful B&Bs in the villages of Kilcar, Dunfanaghy and Greencastle, and they served as great home bases for our travels. In spite of the fact that we covered a lot of ground and were rained out only one day, we left knowing that there is much, much more to see and enjoy in this mesmerizing land.

At breakfast one morning, we chatted with a charming lady and her young daughter who make regular visits to Donegal from their home in London. After discussing the many reasons why we find Donegal to be so compelling, the English lady made this great statement: “I tell my friends in London that you either get Donegal or you don’t.” Jim and I most certainly do “get Donegal,” and it looks like an increasing number of visitors feel the same way.

I’m still working on 2014 and 2015 Donegal images to add to the Ulster galleries on this website, but here are a few that I made on our most recent trip:

 

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