PLACES OF INTEREST AND TRANSPORT

     Some of the most visited sites in Ireland include Bunratty Castle, the Rock of Cashel, the Cliffs of Moher, Holy Cross Abbey and Blarney Castle. Historically important monastic sites include Glendalough and Clonmacnoise, which are maintained as national monuments in the Republic of Ireland.

    Dublin is the most heavily touristed region and home to several of the most popular attractions such as the Guinness Storehouse and Book of Kells. The west and south west, which includes the Lakes of Killarney and the Dingle peninsula in County Kerry and Connemara and the Aran Islands in County Galway, are also popular tourist destinations.  Achill Island lies off the coast of County Mayo and is Ireland's largest island. It is a popular tourist destination for surfing and contains 5 Blue Flag beaches and Croaghaun one of the worlds highest sea cliffs. Stately homes, built during the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries in Palladian, Neoclassical and neo-Gothic styles, such as, Castle Ward, Castletown House, Bantry House, are also of interest to tourists.

   Some have been converted into hotels, such as Ashford Castle, Castle Leslie and Dromoland Castle. Ireland has five main international airports: Dublin Airport, Belfast International Airport (Aldergrove), Cork Airport, Shannon Airport and Ireland West Airport (Knock). Dublin Airport is the busiest of these, carrying over 22 million passengers per year; a second terminal (T2) was opened in November 2010. All provide services to Great Britain and continental Europe, while Belfast International, Dublin and Shannon also offer transatlantic services.

   For several decades until 2007 Shannon was a mandatory stopover for transatlantic routes to the United States. In recent years it has opened a pre-screening service allowing passengers to pass through US immigration services before departing from Ireland. There are also several smaller regional airports: George Best Belfast City Airport, City of Derry Airport, Galway Airport,Kerry Airport (Farranfore), Sligo Airport (Strandhill), Waterford Airport and Donegal Airport (Carrickfinn). Scheduled services from these regional points are in the main limited to flights travelling to other parts of Ireland and to Great Britain. 

                             

       

Culture and Tradition

• St Patrick’s Day Celebration and Tradition

        Irish tradition is probably hundreds of years old and some still seen as a common tradition for many families.

March 17th marks the day of St Patrick, celebrated by millions of people around the world. In Ireland, St Patrick’s Day was always held as an important religious day to celebrate the teachings of Christianity by St Patrick.

As St Patrick is the Patron Saint of Ireland it became a major day in Ireland’s religious calendar and has always been mainly associated with Christianity.

It’s now known in Ireland as St Patrick’s festival which takes place over 5 days with events including art shows, plays, concerts, fun fairs and themain parade.          

PARADE

• The wearing of the green on St Patrick’s Day

        Many people wear something green on St Patrick ’s Day which is known in the U.S. and other countries as wearing of the green. Usually people would wear green to show their Irish heritage culture  on the day that everyone’s Irish but in Ireland the wearing of the green doesn’t really exist, well in terms of celebrating your culture. However, they wear Shamrocks to symbolize the teaching of the holy trinity by St Patrick. A small bunch of Shamrocks would be pinned to the breast of our outer coats.        

                                                

• What’s mean the Shamrock in  St. Patrick’s Day?

        According to St. Patrick's Day lore, Patrick used the three leaves of a shamrock to explain the Christian holy trinity: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

•  Holy day of obligation

        Most Christians in Ireland will attend Church as they would every Sunday and treat it as a day of rest to spend with the family. Family members would attend Church wearing their shamrocks and afterwards head home for a large roast, similar to a typical Sunday roast. Some families would sit around and watch the St Patrick’s day parades take place in Dublin, New York, Chicago and other major cities.