Ireland: the Country of Delicious Guinness Beer

What is Ireland famous for? Its green clover, St. Patrick's Day, leprechauns, rugby, IRA, U2, dancing, harsh northern nature, triple distilled whiskey, Baileys liqueur and Guinness beer.

Guinness is practically the national drink in Ireland.


It is served in every pub.

Besides Guinness, pubs offer Smithwick's red ale and Bulmers apple cider.

The Irishmen prefer hanging out in pubs rather than in apartments or clubs. No longer young men put on their jackets and shirts and come there to spend an evening with a glass of Guinness black.

The second-known Irish drink is whiskey. The Irishmen consider themselves the progenitors of this drink. In Irish, the word "water " is written as "uisce", which was transformed into "whiskey".

Each pub has its own atmosphere created by various small details, like this sign on the wall in front of the female toilet.

In front of several restaurants there are signs that say "the best Irish restaurant according to the Bridgestone". Strangely, but some years coincide...

Some ancient buildings.

The appearance of the castle can easily reveal the purpose for which it was built. If windows are narrow, and there are loopholes on its roof, it means that this castle was meant for defense and military dominance in the region. If windows are wide, like in this castle, it means it was built for a beautiful life and parties.

These are the modest interiors of Dunguaire Castle dated back to the 16th century. It's one of the most popular Irish castles open to the public.

All floors are connected by tight spiral staircases with narrow loopholes.

The photo of this landscape wasn't taken on the Moon, but in Burren National Park. Here, in the cracks of the limestone plateau, coexist plants belonging to different ecosystems - alpine plants are side by side with sub-tropical, forest ones can grow in the meadows in the complete absence of forests.

Limestones were formed at a time when modern Ireland was at the bottom of a tropical sea about 350 million years ago. In the cracks you can find fossilized corals, sea urchins, crinoids and ammonites.

The territory of Burren Park houses one of the most visited sites in Ireland - Poulnabrone Dolmen which is translated from the Irish language as "hole of sorrows".

This burial tomb belongs to the Neolithic period and was built about 6000 (!!!) years ago. The remains of 22 adults and 6 children were discovered under it during the excavations of 1985.  

Another famous attraction of Ireland is the Moher cliffs. In good weather you can see the rocky ridge stretching for 8 kilometers along the coast.

These rocks "remember" the people who built Dolmen 6.000 years ago.

Sunny days in Ireland.



The coast in a small town of Galway.

The locals bath in the ocean, even though the air temperature is only +13 C.

A lot of people walk along the waterfront. All of them reach the end of the path and kick the wall with their foot.

About 100 years ago, a long path went through the town (it was about 8 km long), and local people adored walking along it. But when a local landlord built a house on the beach and surrounded it with a fence, the path became one third shorter than it had been before.

Since then, the locals have been trying to destroy the fence in such an original way so that to return the path its original form. The funny thing is that the landlord's house had already collapsed, but the fence didn't even sink to one side.

By the way, note that all the inscriptions are made in the English and Irish languages - in Ireland they both are equally used.

The main pedestrian tourist street of Galway.

People enjoy good weather and Guinness.

Local shops sell Aran fisherman sweaters. They are knitted from undyed wool, which is not fully cleared of natural fat. That's why they possesses water-repellent properties. The sleeves of such a sweater are slightly shortened. This is done to prevent them from getting wet while fishermen are working at the sea.

Each family used its own unique pattern, and sometime Aran sweaters served for identification of stranded dead bodies of fishermen.

Claddagh rings are sold on every corner. They are made in the form of a pair of hands that hold a heart and a crown. The heart symbolizes love, the hands - friendship and the crown - loyalty.

Claddagh rings are worn as a sign of friendship or engagement. In this case, there must be taken into account the following details:

• If the ring is put on the right hand and the heart is turned away from its owner (i.e. to the fingertips), then it says that the owner is currently searching for love.

• If the ring is worn on the right hand and the heart is turned to the owner, it means that he/she is in a relationship.

• The ring on the left hand with the heart turned toward its owner, is a wedding one.

On the streets, there are extremely many people-sandwiches with advertisements in their hands.

There is a stereotype that all Irishmen are red-haired but it's not quite evident.

Sweet aged lady.

Gilded youth.
via sergeydolya