IRELAND ON OUR CRUISE

Our next stop was in Cork, Ireland. We took a tour out to the countryside and were amazed at the vibrant green everywhere from abundant rain (52 inches a year) and the lime in the soil. The weekly farmer's market was in full swing when we got to the small town of Kinsale, so of course, we had to explore it. We bought a chunk of a local smoked cheese, a baguette of wheat bread and a meat pasty (meat pie) that we had with a bottle of red wine from our mini-bar for dinner that evening on our veranda.

Everywhere we went we saw large posters for and against Ireland approving the Lisbon Treaty that would streamline decision making in the EU. It is a very hot topic in Ireland. They have since approved it. The voters are hoping it will help their economy that, like the US, has been in a severe downturn from the 1990s boom period. It always amazes us the lack in the the US media of news happenings in other countries.
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Dublin was our next stop in Ireland. We toured the city with the first stop at Trinity College, the
oldest university in Ireland, founded by Elizabeth 1 in 1592. It covers 40 acres with buildings mostly from the 18th and 19th centuries. The famous Book of Kells (900AD), a beautifully illustrated text by monks of the four gospels, is in the library here and is thought to be the oldest book in the world.

A stop at the St. Patrick church enlightened us that he was neither Irish nor Catholic but Welsh and Protestant. Also he probably did not drive the "snakes" from Ireland but that was probably a metaphor for his conversion of the inhabitants from animism to Christianity. Jonathan Swift of Gulliver's Travels fame was the minister here for many years. Zoe was interested to hear that he suffered from Menier's Disease like her. But, unlike her, he thought he was going crazy.

A short history of "The Troubles" was shared about the control of the island by the British who did not allow the Irish to education or positions and only potatoes to eat. Independence from England was granted in 1782 but Parliament abolished that in 1807 by the Act of Union. This was followed by the Potato Famine in 1845 where many starved or immigrated to the US, Canada and Australia. Today there are more Irish in the US than in Ireland. Ireland was partitioned in 1913 after a war of independence but England kept Northern Ireland. The rest of the Island is the Irish Free State.