Frommer's Ireland 2005
Chapter One
The Best of Ireland
"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. It's as young as it is old.
Ireland's age is obvious to anyone with a car. Within a half-day's drive of
downtown Dublin lie Neolithic tombs, Bronze Age forts, early Christian monastic
sites, Viking walls, and Georgian estates-enough antiquity to make your
head spin, all in plain sight. Centuries-old castles are as commonplace in Ireland
as Wal-Mart stores are ... read full excerpt from Frommer's Ireland 2005 ebook
