‘Irish
eyes are smiling’
Long gone are the days when this country was one of the poorest
in Europe and its natives fled to all corners of the globe in search
of a new life.
Today, it is cool to be Irish and, thanks to the likes of the Boyzone,
Corrs and U2, images of Ireland now pervade
popular culture across the globe. The Ireland of the new millennium
is a progressive European nation whose ‘Celtic Tiger’
economy is booming. Not only Irish eyes are smiling as more and
more tourists discover Ireland for themselves.
Dublin
is the spiritual and cultural heart of the Emerald Isle. Crowding
around the banks of the River Liffey, the city, like the country,
is bound in layers of history, back to the days when the Celtics
wandered the peat bogs, to the present that sees the city overflowing
with hip bars and nightclubs.
The cities of Cork, Galway and
Limerick can boast their own charms, but it is
out in the rolling countryside that you can witness the idyllic
Ireland of the movies. In the atmospheric pubs, you can experience
the legendary ‘craic’ where music and
song lead the evening. You can ramble over the hills of Glenmalure
or sail through the mist shrouded Pater-Noster Lakes,
places that seem a million miles away from the touristy Dublin. |
