Ireland...The ''green'' island

Hello! As you know, the group of Mrs. Manon Murray is going to participate in a letter exchange with people of other English speaking countries around the world. The chronicles registered under the label '' Places around the world where we speak English...'' will present a few of these places. We start our visit with The green island of Ireland. Enjoy your trip and don't forget to look at the diaporama which presents pictures of this great country.
 Bonjour, comme vous le savez , le groupe de madame Manon Murray participera cette année à un projet de correspondance à l'étranger avec des pays où l'on parle l'anglais. Les courtes chroniques classées sous cette section ont pour but de présenter quelques régions anglophones autour du monde. Nous commençons notre visite par l'Irlande. Bon voyage et n'oubliez pas de regarder le diaporama. Vous y verrez des images de ce magnifique pays.

     Ireland is an Island ( île ) situated in western Europe. It is seperated from the neighbouring  (avoisinant) island of Great Britain by the Irish sea. Its largest cities ( villes ) are Dublin and Belfast. Its mountains surround large plains which are very green. This is why its nickname ( surnom) is ''The emerald isle''.

Population : 6,399,152 people

Spoken languages: Irish and English

National holiday: The irish national holiday is St- Patrick's day. It is celebrated by the Irish descendants in Québec every year.
Music: Many rock groups come from Ireland, but the most popular one is without a doubt, U2. It is a rock group from the great city of Dublin. They made many hits such as '' Sunday bloody sunday'' and '' I still haven't found what I'm looking for''.

There is also the rock group '' The cranberries'' which was very popular in the 90's.
Another style of music occupies a large part of the irish culture and that is Celtic music. It roots ( trouve ses origines) back to the middle ages (moyen âge) and its legends. This style colours the songs and music of artists such as Enya and Loreena Mc Kennit.

Sports: 

Gaelic Football

Gaelic football, hurling and handball are the best-known of the Irish traditional sports, collectively known as Gaelic games.

Food: Black pudding ( boudin noir), breakfast rolls ( breakfast) , Irish stew ( ragoût), boxty ( galettes de pommes de terre),  colcannon ( mashed potatoes and cabbage )and beacon and cabbage ( chou). They also make hand-made cheese  and sausages called Blaa.

Beverages: Whiskey , Baileys ( cream liqueur) , Guinness beer and red lemonade.


Places of interest: Ireland offers many beautiful places to visit. For example, the Giant's Causeway is an area of about 40,000 interlocking basalt columns, the result of an ancient volcanic eruption. It was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1986.

Bunratty Castle is a large tower house in County Clare, Ireland.

The Rock of Cashel was the traditional seat of the kings of Munster for several hundred years prior to the Norman invasion. It dates back to the 12th century ( 12e siècle ).

The Lakes of Killarney are a renowned scenic attraction located near Killarney, County Kerry, in Ireland. They consist of three lakes - Lough Leane, Muckross Lake (also called Middle Lake) and Upper Lake.

 Lakes of Killarney

Rock of Cashel

Giant's causeway

You can visit the great cities of Dublin and Belfast. Moreover, Ireland has many breathtaking landscapes     ( paysages) with large sea cliffs ( Parois escarpées sur le bord de la mer). Green plains, home to castles, legends and historical sites. If you have a chance to visit Ireland one day, you are sure to love it!