Frommer's Ireland from $90 a Day
Chapter One
The Best of Ireland
from $90 a Day
"The modern American tourist," wrote historian Daniel J. Boorstin, "has come to
expect both more strangeness and more familiarity than the world naturally offers."
That said, Ireland continues to offer more than its share of both.
At first glance, Ireland presents a familiar face to American visitors. The language is
the same, only more lyrical; the faces are familiar; the food, recognizable; the stout,
legendary. Many visitors, notably Irish Americans, experience their arrival as a kind of
homecoming. It takes a while for this superficial reverie to wear off. When it does, the
other face of Ireland shows itself, and this is when the country becomes truly exciting.
Ireland is a place of profound contradiction and complexity. For one thing, it is at
the same time both ancient and adolescent. Ireland's age is obvious to anyone with a
car. Within a half-day drive of downtown Dublin lie Neolithic tombs, Bronze Age
forts, early Christian monastic sites, ... read full excerpt from Frommer's Ireland from $90 a Day ebook
