The Naturally Beautiful Ireland
Ireland is a vast, striking country painted with bright green land across the horizon. From left to right, as far as the eye can see, are colorful, eye-catching features – ocean, rock formations, cotton-candy colored clouds – endless natural beauty all around. Moreover, it rains so much that there is almost always a rainbow to be seen in the sky.
Overall, Ireland reminded me of New Zealand. In fact, as the car cruised through the countryside, I almost forgot that I was in Ireland because it looked so much like New Zealand! The landscape was nearly identical with its long mountain ranges, cascading waterfalls, eye-catching cliffs, and timid sheep – many, many sheep. From afar, the grass appeared speckled with rocks, but a closer look revealed that it was actually sheep strayed across the mountains. This explained why most of the land was divided into squares by “rock fences.”
One of the curious aspects of Ireland is that the country is “bipolar.” I say this because Ireland is not one, but two countries. Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom and even has a different currency than the rest of the island. It is also “bipolar” in the fact that there are several cities scattered about, but there is quite a lot of countryside and mountain ranges as well.
While Ireland’s countryside is probably the most eye-catching part of the island, my favorite place, without a doubt, was Galway. Yes, I know most people might think of Dublin as the top place to visit, but it was very industrial and busy; similar to a downtown area. To be quite honest, if I had just stayed in Dublin and not been able to drive the coast and see the green grass and blue skies, I might not have had as good of an impression of Ireland. Galway, on the contrary, was a quaint little town with cobblestone roads and cute shops all around. In my personal opinion, the overall atmosphere was just better than in most of the other cities.
Likely the most intriguing thing about Ireland is the weather. Within one hour, every natural phenomenon would occur. When I was there, it was sunny for around thirty minutes, then it would rain for about ten minutes, then it would snow, and the cycle would repeat! It was never-ending. Coupled with the crazy wind, Ireland’s weather was pretty drastic, especially being from the south. When my family and I said that we were from Alabama, a local responded by asking what we did to deserve to be sent there because of the difference in the weather patterns.
Even with the insanity of the Ireland climate, exploring the country was a blast. Ireland’s natural beauty was its best feature – The Cliffs of Moher, Giant’s Causeway, Torc Waterfall, and The Dingle Peninsula being just a few examples. However, the sights including Newgrange, Blarney Castle, Kylemore Abbey, and Dublin Castle, were still spectacular. I was also able to visit some places where movies were filmed along the journey, like Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Game of Thrones (the Dark Hedges), and Harry Potter (Voldemort’s cave at The Cliffs of Moher).
Newgrange has quite the story behind it – this structure was made for old religious purposes. Only certain high-up priests and such were allowed in for the ceremonies that were held here. Light also comes in and brightens the cold, damp room completely during the winter solstice. However, not as much as it used to because when it was built, it was strategically built around where the sun was located so that this light phenomenon would occur. All this being said, the most impressive part of this major mound is that it is one-hundred percent free-standing – no stabilizers, no columns, just the rocks themselves. It also is water-tight, so there are never any leaks. There is also one small fact about Blarney Castle that I will share: there is a specific stone within the building that is called the Blarney Stone. Legend has it that if one kisses this stone, they will receive the gift of gab (talking…a lot).
Oh, and one more fun thing that we did was go to Riverdance 25. Riverdance is a traditional Irish dance that has been preserved through many generations. The reason for the 25 is that it was the 25th anniversary of the show Riverdance. It was also special because the particular show we were at was being filmed for a movie. Not to mention, they got every possible previous dancer from throughout the generations to come back and stand on stage after the show. This was truly an amazing event.
In conclusion, there is so much more that I could say about Ireland, but I could not possibly explain in near as much detail as necessary to give the true essence of the beauty behind The Cliffs of Moher, Giant’s Causeway, and the other absolutely breathtaking highlights of the terrain. To be frank with you, even the pictures do not tell the full story. One must see this island in real life to appreciate it.
