Ireland

The Place

Ireland is a beguiling mix of hidden loughs (pronounced locks) and ancient towns, prehistoric burial chambers and strange stone crosses, round towers and ruined castles, holy wells and high-spirited waterfalls. Racehorses are the local heroes and the villain is anyone too hurried to bid the time of day to a neighbour in a civilised manner. Kerry beckons with opulent valleys, wild fuchsia and scented orchids. Killarney's jaunting cars and leprachaun lore are designed to charm the money from tourists' pockets The remote Irish-speaking Gaeltacht in the far west contains mile after mile of magnificent emptiness.

Dublin is increasingly anglicised, Americanised and hamburgerised, yet still the least lonely of cities. In the river Shannon you could knock a dozen salmon senseless with a single brick. Fermanagh's resplendent lakeland is inviting if not only because boats are still gloriously few and far between while County Clare's is home of the bleak but fascinating Burren. Northern Ireland's civil strife is there to see, but even more evident are gorgeous lakes and glens, a stunning coastline and a wealth of golf courses.

Ireland is a small country but, like vintage wine, it should be savoured slowly. A signpost may present you with three ways of getting to a destination or it may show none. Ask a passer-by and, if he decides you look a bit tired after a hard day's sightseeing and comparing pints of Guinness, he'll probably assure you that it's "just a wee way ahead" because he doesn't wish to distress you by telling you it's really 60 km by a narrow, twisting road.

Ireland, in the end, is less a place on a map than a state of mind, induced by exposure to its restful yet excitable people, who view life as a chaotic comedy. The inevitable, they promise, never happens in Ireland and the unexpected constantly occurs. Be prepared.