In 2015, my daughter and I had the opportunity to visit Ireland.
We had heard from a woman who shares the same Irish ancestors about research she’d done. She told us our ancestor, Henry Baylee, had lived in Kilkishen, County Clare.
Ireland is wonderful. When we flew into Dublin, it felt like I was coming home. It’s very green, just like the Seattle area where I live. The weather is similar – lots of rain.
I recommend visiting Ireland. Here are 10 reasons why:
1.You could have Irish ancestry. About 31.2 million Americans, or about 9 percent of the population, claim Irish ancestry. This makes Irish ancestry the second-largest group in the United States after German ancestry.
2. Dublin is a marvelous city to visit. In addition to fun pubs, it has art galleries and museums.
3. You’ll get informed about Irish history. I learned a lot about the Irish War of Independence, 1919-1921, and the Irish Civil War, 1922-1923. I also found out that some Anglican churches in Ireland are being repurposed because of a decline in membership. About 70 percent of people in Ireland are Catholics and 4 percent Anglican.
4. The small towns and countryside are worth exploring. We visited Kilkishan where the former Anglican church has been remodeled and is now a community center. That’s how we learned about our ancestors in the area. The Kilkishen Development Association reached out to descendants living abroad in their fundraising efforts.
5. You can visit enchanting castles and ruins. We enjoy Bunratty Castle in County Clare, which was restored in 1954. Its Bunratty Folk Park has village streets with a school, post office, doctor’s house, hardware shop, print shop, church, farm, and pub. The church, a former Anglican church, was dismantled brick by brick and moved from Conor in County Tipperary.
6. You can go to the Cliffs of Moher in County Clare and see if you can see them. It’s often raining and blustery. Check out my photo in this article that was taken just as the bad weather paused for a moment.
7. The six national parks are worth checking out. We visited the Burren National Park, which has the ancient Poulnabrone Doleman, a huge, single-chamber, tomb made from stones. See a photo here.
8. The people are friendly. People talk to you and the pub culture encourages conversations with strangers.
9. Guinness, whiskey, and other drinks are fun to try. We both enjoyed going on a tour of the Guinness Store House in Dublin. They don’t let you tour the actual factory, but they have a large tourist facility, which includes, of course, tasting.
10. Ireland has lots of scenic highways, which are great for road trips. Among them are Wild Atlantic Way, Conor Pass, and Doolough Valley.
Happy travels. I hope you get to visit Ireland.
