Ireland

I- First I am going to talk about the geography and the population of this country.

I must tell you the island is politically divided into two parts : the south with 26 counties with the capital Dublin and the smallest part, in the North which has Belfast for capital.

The official name of Ireland is Eire or the Republic of Ireland with a population of 4 109 089. (four million one hundred and nine thousand eighty nine inhabitants) and an area of 68 890 (sixty eight thousand eight hundred ninety square kilometres). There are 60 inhabitants per square kilometer. The capital city is Dublin and the currency unit is the Euro. The official languages are Irish and English. Ireland is a Western European country and has been a member of the the European Union since 1973.

The climate is temperate and oceanic: summers are generally mild (about 25 ° C) and winters are cool and rainy (about 0 ° C).

The country has been led by Michael Higgins since 2011.

The three colors in the national flag are green for catholicism, white for peace and orange for protestantism.

It is possible to hear some people speaking Gaelic.

It is a green country with lots of lakes and beautiful landscapes. For example Connemara is a famous region for its lakes.

II- The second part I am going to deal with is about Saint Patrick and the traditions of irish people.

St Patrick was born somewhere in England during the fifth century and was taken to Ireland as a slave. He ran away to Europe where he became a priest. He came back into Ireland as a bishop when he was 50 years old. He built more than 50 churches and converted Ireland to Christianity.

In Chicago, the river is dyed in green and in Washington, the fountain in front of the white house is also green. Even the drinks and the cakes are green and the people wear green clothes as much as possible. Some people even dye their hair, paint their faces or disguise in leprechauns. During the evening people drink pints of beer of Guinness which is the best known strong, dark beer. An Irish man consumes 100 liters of beer every year ! If you don’t like beer it is possible to drink irish coffee: It is a mix of whipped cream, coffee and whiskey.

III - I want to mention the legend of the elves

The leprechauns are creatures.They are solitary and they are usually represented as little bearded men, wearing a coat and hat. They are solitary creatures who spend their time making and mending shoes. If these creature are captured, they often three wishes in exchange for their freedom.

In conclusion, I think Ireland is a very nice and welcoming country for the foreign visitors who have lot of activities for example canoeing or rafting. I would like to visit in Ireland during the St patrick to see the rivers and drink Guinness.

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