Around the Island
Ireland is shaped kind of like a fallen soufflé, raised on the perimeter and fallen in the middle. The central part of Ireland is mostly flat, a base of prehistoric limestone covered with rich soil or raised bogs. The town of Birr is at the geographical center of the island; ancient writers called it
Counties Louth, Monaghan, and Cavan occupy an area known as the Drumlin Belt. Drumlins are small, teardrop-shaped hills that were created by retreating glaciers during the last Ice Age, and this area is covered with them. The name
The Southeast
The southeastern corner of Ireland is separated from the rest of the island by the Wicklow Mountains, which form a natural barrier from western attackers. The people who have lived here have historically had more to do with England and Europe than have people in the rest of Ireland. The Vikings settled here, especially in Waterford, Wexford, Wicklow, and Arklow. The southeast is known to have more sunny days than the rest of the island, and the local geography and sea currents have produced a string of calm, sandy beaches along the coast. These beaches attract tourists from Ireland and all over Europe.
The Southwest
The southwest of Ireland is one of the most beautiful parts of the island. The Kerry Peninsula juts out into the Atlantic, a landscape of rugged cliffs descending into crashing waves. The Gulf Stream warms the coast, making the area fertile to both plants and animals. Seabirds love the islands off the coast here; the Skellig Islands are home to many gannets, and the aptly named Puffin Island is home to thousands of puffins. Cork has long been the port from which people come and go to the European continent, and Kerry has been the traditional point of departure for the Americas. The Dingle and Iveragh peninsulas are very isolated from the rest of Ireland; for this reason the Irish language has survived there.
If green mountains, pristine lakes, and grazing sheep are your idea of a good time, then the Ring of Kerry, a circuit of the Iveragh Peninsula, is one of Ireland's must-see destinations. The Ring can get crowded with tour buses, though; the nearby Dingle and Beara Peninsulas have equally stunning scenery and far fewer tourists.
The West
The west of Ireland, traditionally called Connacht, includes the Counties Mayo, Galway, Leitrim, Sligo, and Roscommon. The region is beautiful but quite rocky. The cliffs, although dramatic, don't offer many good places to launch or land boats. That's why people in the west have congregated around Galway Bay and the Shannon Estuary, which offer relatively safer waters. Though it's no farmer's paradise, even rocky Connacht can support quite a few people; before the Great Famine of the 1840s, Ireland's rocky west was feeding a good portion of Ireland's 8 million people with potatoes grown on hillsides.
The Connemara Mountains and the Aran Islands are stunningly beautiful and full of history; early Christians sought out these remote areas as safe havens. The Irish fled (or were banished) to these areas when the English took over, and the remoteness helped them preserve their culture and language. Connacht continues to be home to a number of Irish speakers. County Sligo was the favorite landscape of William Butler Yeats, who celebrated the region in his poems.
The Northwest
Up in the northwest corner is County Donegal, a remote area of mountains and beaches. The coastline is full of jagged cliffs, home to seabirds that enjoy fishing in the ocean there. Humans also fish; lobster is one of the most important catches in the area. The most famous product of Donegal is its tweed cloth, traditionally dyed brown with a fungus scraped off of local rocks.
