Rough Guides - The Rough Guide to Ireland (Travel Guide with Free eBook)

Introduction to Ireland

Over the past three decades, Ireland has transformed itself with quiet determination. Gone or certainly on its way out is the image of a conservative, introspective, dourly rural nation, while the infamous unrest and violence of the Troubles has, mercifully, faded away. An outward-looking Ireland has stepped forward, energized by rejuvenated cities, where the fresh ideas introduced by immigrants and returnees during the Celtic Tiger years of the 1990s are maturing nicely. Of course, its not called the Emerald Isle for nothing and Irelands physical appeal endures clear and true as a jewel but its by no means a blanket of green. From the Burrens grey limestone pavement and the black peat bogs of the Midlands (where some of the prehistoric gold ornaments on show in Dublins National Museum were dug up) to Connemaras gold- and purple-tinged mountains, Irelands smouldering even unnerving good looks can send a shiver down your spine. And when the sun is shining the sky throbs bluer than anywhere else on earth or so the Irish would have you believe.

While Dublin, Belfast and the other cities are cranking up the cosmopolitan from hipster coffee shops to edgy, internationally relevant arts scenes their on-message worldliness is not the be all and end all: traditional culture is cherished by even the most city-slicking of the Irish. Moreover, as Northern Irish historian J. C. Beckett (191296) noted, his homeland has no natural focal point, no great crossing-place of routes, no centre from which influence spreads naturally. The lay of the land and the road network lend themselves to a democratic exploration, with each part of the country fair game, and youre unlikely to feel swallowed up by the cities gravitational pull. In rural areas , switch modes to walking boots or two wheels (motorized or otherwise) and youll be in no great hurry to return to the urban sprawl, however vibrant.

In some areas public transport coverage fades to black, and you have no choice but to feel your way the perfect opportunity to get to grips with Irelands rich textures. The west coast is famous for its long beaches and windswept cliffs with views of the western islands; the drama of the landscape here is awe-inspiring, not least to the surfers who flock to Donegal and Galway. In the east , outside Dublin, the crumpled granite of the Wicklow Hills sits in stark contrast to the lush central plain just a few kilometres away. Cross the border into Northern Ireland and it is a short journey through rolling hills known locally as drumlins to the spectacular coast road that leads to the geological wonder of the Giants Causeway .

Scattered across these landscapes is an abundance of historic sites . The very earliest of these include enigmatic prehistoric tombs, stone circles and hill forts. It is possible to trace the history of successive waves of immigration, whether Christian pilgrims, Viking raiders or Norman settlers, through the stone churches, distinctive round towers and high crosses strewn across the landscape. Irelands monasteries were important centres of Christian learning during the Middle Ages, and the monks elaborate craftsmanship is preserved in surviving illuminated manuscripts, such as the Book of Kells , held at Dublins Trinity College. Doughty castles and tower houses record the twelfth-century Anglo-Norman invasion, while numerous stately homes from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries attest to the wealth and political power of the Protestant Ascendancy both north and south. A remarkable aspect of Irelands landscape is the tendency for physical features to have sacred associations few counties do not shelter a pile of stones called Diarmuid and Grinnes Bed, where the star-crossed lovers are said to have slept together on their flight from the great warrior Fionn Mac Cumhaill.

The rocky shore at Dunaff in County Donegal

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Inseparable from Irelands history is its cultural heritage, a happy coming together of millennia and myriad influences from home and abroad.