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Background: Celtic tribes arrived on the island between 600-150 B.C. Invasions by Norsemen that began in the late 8th century were finally ended when King Brian BORU defeated the Danes in 1014. English invasions began in the 12th century and set off more than seven centuries of Anglo-Irish struggle marked by fierce rebellions and harsh repressions. A failed 1916 Easter Monday Rebellion touched off several years of guerrilla warfare that in 1921 resulted in independence from the UK for 26 southern counties; six northern (Ulster) counties remained part of the United Kingdom. In 1948 Ireland withdrew from the British Commonwealth; it joined the European Community in 1973. Irish governments have sought the peaceful unification of Ireland and have cooperated with Britain against terrorist groups. A peace settlement for Northern Ireland, known as the Good Friday Agreement and approved in 1998, is being implemented with some difficulties.

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By Zoe and Dave
May 24th 2008

Galway and Dublin

Europe » Ireland » County Galway

The Maniac
Zoe did the driving this time. Very impressed, only a few near misses.

Well it's been a while since our last update, haven't been up to much just chilling out and saving some cash for the main event. A few months ago we went to Galway so we're catching up on that one. Zoe was the driver this time. I lost a couple of years of my life to many near misses. Na, she was very good but the navigating was exceptional (yep, we had good road signs to follow this time). It was very nice, a place that everyone over here goes on their hens and bucks nights. So you could imagine that [View Full Entry]

By johnstonsineurope
May 5th 2008

Galway

Europe » Ireland » County Galway » Galway

View from our hostel window
Just what I need to redeem Ireland to my heart

The drive across Ireland was not looking promising, it’s not ugly but it’s no where near as pretty as England and Wales have been, Galway though has redeemed my spirits. It’s gorgeous; it has a lively (and touristy) lane down the middle of town with quaint streets and shops running off it. Our hostel’s in this lane with bars and restaurants all around, busker’s playing music downstairs. And people are speaking Irish (and English with a few other languages as well). Now I’m happy. [View Full Entry]

By Overlanders
May 5th 2008

An Exciting Proposal!

Europe » Ireland » County Galway » Aran Islands

Wildflowers

As we biked along the azure coast of Inishmore (the largest of the Aran islands) off the West Coast of Galway, we basked in the sun’s warm glow and drank in our idyllic surroundings; stone walls interspersed with wildflowers, undulating hills, grey seals languishing on warm rocks, cows lazily grazing in green fields, and the clear blue waters of the Atlantic ocean sparkling like a sea of diamonds. Dave sidled up to me on his bike and we laughed together, held hands, enjoying the (rare) Irish sun and discussed how much we loved being together, and how blessed we were that [View Full Entry]

By Barb and Greg
May 2nd 2008

From Galway

Europe » Ireland » County Galway » Galway

Hi Bloggers, Kate helped me with kick starting this blog so although I've arranged an alternate I thought it would be good to use this blog to see how it works for us and you. So, although you've heard this before I'll prattle on for a bit to make use of the log-in. We went to a pre-wedding party at a local restaurant last night and it was lovely meeting the lovely bride-to-be and her friends as well as Brad's Aussie and local friends. Brad is Paul and Cheryl's son. Their other son and wife and newish baby arrived yesterday - [View Full Entry]

By tarheel790
May 2nd 2008

Apparently, she has very nice teeth...

Europe » Ireland » County Galway » Galway

Shop Street, Galway, County Galway, Ireland

Jessica finally finished her paper...she is done with school until the fall! We picked her up at Corrib Village and drove her to the school to turn in the paper. We then went down to the City Center to do some shopping on Shop Street, which is right next to Merchant Street (these Irish come up with some clever names for their streets). I picked up an Aran sweater, and Pam managed to find gifts for all the nieces and nephew. I got a few shots of Shop Street and Eyre Square. Later in the day, we dropped Jessie and one [View Full Entry]

Eyre Square, Galway, County Galway, Ireland

By tarheel790
May 1st 2008

Let's keep going...it's got to go somewhere!

Europe » Ireland » County Galway » Connemara

Coral Beach, County Galway, Ireland

Today was supposed to be a visit to the Aran Islands, three islands off the coast of Ireland, just out of Galway Bay, where the people still live much as they did over a hundred years ago. This is also where the Aran sweater originated, the traditional Irish wool sweater with different designs woven into the sweater. Each design has a meaning, and each family had a specific pattern which identified their family. The sweaters were worn by the fishermen and helped identify their bodies if they were lost at sea and washed up onto the beach. We missed the first [View Full Entry]

Descriptive sign, Unknown Location, County Galway, Ireland

Village of Leenane, County Galway, Ireland

By Lanalu
April 29th 2008

An Irish Bender and a Bump In the Road

Europe » Ireland » County Galway » Galway

guiness!
guiness and the irish face

I'm assuming you're wondering where I went. Mostly, I've been living the Irish dream. And by that I mean drinking. And by that I mean I've had more to drink that someone of my height/weight should probably consume in four days, but that is Irish culture. I thought the exessive amounts of drinking was just a stereotype, it is not. Irish people like to drink, and so does Jessi, so it's been a good time. Early Monday morning Jessi met me in Dublin. She's still as funny looking as I remembered, but I decided to have pity on here. After a [View Full Entry]

By tarheel790
April 29th 2008

Arrived in Ireland

Europe » Ireland » County Galway » Galway

We're finally in Ireland! We arrived in Dublin at 9:30am and unbelievably so did all our luggage. Yea Delta! We had too much luggage for the car we rented...must have been the bag full of shoes for "you know who". Upgraded to a Hyundai SUV Diesel...gets good mileage but sounds like a truck. We made our way cross-country and arrived in Galway around 2:30pm. Met up with Jessica and after lots of hugs and kisses, we checked into the bed and breakfast. It is a nice place overlooking Galway Bay. We have a room with a balcony that looks out over [View Full Entry]

By tarheel790
April 29th 2008

But what about the weather?

Europe » Ireland » County Galway » Galway

Forgot to provide an update on the weather. It was sunny and 65 when we arrived. We had sunshine for our entire cross-country trip. When we arrived in Galway it turned overcast and cool. While we were out walking on Quay Street (pronounced "key" street), we experienced one of the notorious freak hail storms that Jessie has been telling us about. One minute nothing, the next minute it is raining hail. Everyone on the street just walks to the sides under shop awnings or in doorways to escape the hail storm. They just keep talking on their cell phones and chatting [View Full Entry]

By Brian Brook
April 21st 2008

over to Ireland

Europe » Ireland » County Galway » Connemara

4.18.08 Update since back in London… Dartmoor was incredible. Got back into London, and enjoying it better this time. A tale from the hostel...(rated R) First night back at the hostel a pretty young lady stepped in the room while I was about to go down and make dinner. We got to chatting and decided to go get some dinner at a Greek restaurant just down the street, it was raining. She’s Canadian and lives and works in Wales and was down in London to go on a cooking network TV show. We had a bottle or so of wine, and [View Full Entry]

Travel Blog » Europe » Ireland » County Galway