Come in Irland

More than 5 million people live in the island – fewer than before the great potato faminine of the 1840s. Emigration was high until recently, but now the popolation is finally on the rise. The are 2 Irland: the 26 counties of the Republic of Irland (Eire) and the 6 counties of the British-Governed Northern Irland. This gives the island 2 capitals: Dublin and Belfast.

(Above the typical painting of Belfast)

There is no single Irish character. The northern protestant is generally regardered as being more earnest and less imaginative than the northern catholic, who in turn is seen as more introverted and less impulsive than southern catholic. Irland was the only western european country where the people were converted without a single Christian being martyred. On 17 of march people celebrate the only one triumph of crusade: Saint Patrick’s day. One of the worst disaster of the 19th century europe was the great famine potato. The problem emerged in september 1845 when potato blight was found on farms in southeast Irland. The british governament set up an investigation, but the outbreak was mis-diagnosed. The cruel winter weather and the outbreak of diseases added to the horror of starvation: over 1 million people die; the survivors fled to Liverpool, Halifax, Boston and New York. At the end of 19th century the nationalist sentiment was encouraged, and manifested itself in the formation of such groups as the Gaelic athletic association and the gaelic league. As britain entered World war I, activists planned an opportunistic revolt. After the 1919-1921 Anglo-Irish war, the traty creates the Irish Free State, excluding the 6 counties of Northern Irland with Protestan majorities. Only in the 1937 the Irland adopted the own constitution.
What to see in Irland:
- Galway’s city centre is the place to head for taditional pubs, seafood and salty air.
- The book of Kells at Trinity College, Dublin (monastic Heritage).
- The ancient monastery Glendalough.
- Temple Bar the lively hub of Dublin’s nightlif.e
- Cork, the Republic’s second city, has an old fashioned charm.
- Grafton Street in Dublin..
- The idyllic Dingle Peninsul.a
- The Crown Liquor Saloon in Belfast has a magnificent tiled interior and beautifully carved private snug.
- Donegal, a wild beauty that hasn’t been spoiled by tourism
- Newgrange’s burial chambers form a major prehistoric site.