We’ve gone and done it again: we’ve fallen in love with an entire country.
In Portugal and Spain we found an affinity for Americans among their people. In the UK we found a kinship. In Ireland we found soul mates.
There is a deep connection between the Irish and Americans. From Irish convicts shipped by the English to American penal colonies in the 18th century, to the flood of Irish immigrants fleeing the potato famine of the 19th century, Ireland’s greatest export to America has been people. Generations of Irish have crisscrossed the Atlantic, creating a bond that is much more blood than politics.
And the feelings are mutual. Americans love Saint Patrick’s day, when we all claim a little of that Irish blood. The day we arrived in Dublin, Penn State and the University of Central Florida were in town to kick off the American college football season, and it was as much a party atmosphere as in any football-loving American city. And for the next ten days we would encounter more Americans than Irish, way more Americans than we see in any other European country. Clearly, Americans love Ireland.
As Miriam, one of our two AirBnB hosts, said the day we left, “Ireland should just become a state of the United States.”
Yet Ireland maintains as strong a national identity as any European country. They have an amazing culture of music, stories, and conversation. All signs throughout the country are dual language: English and Irish (they reject the Anglicized label “Gaelic” in favor of calling their unique language “Irish”). While they play European football (soccer) and rugby, they are most passionate over the very ancient Irish game of hurling (think soccer played with a baseball and hockey sticks). And then there are the rolling hills and fields, dramatic cliffs, ancient Druidic stone circles and graves that predate the pyramids, and seemingly innumerable Norman churches and ruins and abbeys and Celtic-crossed cemeteries.
You should visit France and Italy for the amazing cuisine and wine, Spain for the wine and history, Switzerland for the stunning natural beauty, and England for the history and kinship. But for Ireland, the greatest site to see is–like their greatest export–the warm, welcoming people. We only visited this wonderful country for ten days, joined by Lori’s sister Susan and her husband Randy (our frequent travel buddies), but that’s all it took to fall in love with Eire (what the Irish call their country in their own language).
Stay tuned for tales of how this love affair started, and let us know if you too think we should start an “Ireland: The 51st State” campaign.
