Ireland – a state in Western Europe
SHOPPING
Large stores are open from 9.00 to 18.00 on weekdays, some supermarkets are open and on Sunday from 12.00 to 18.00. Many small shops work from 7.00 to 23.00 and longer.
One of the souvenirs brought from Ireland can be Irish whiskey. Spirits, including beer, are sold only in retail outlets that have special licenses for this (“Off License”).
In Ireland, you can buy inexpensive and high-quality homespun textiles: tweed, wool, cotton and knitwear. Especially popular are Irish sheep wool sweaters. From souvenirs, figurines of fabulous creatures from Irish myths, goods with Guinness symbols, are most often purchased.
When making purchases in Ireland, it is worth issuing special Tax Back forms so that, when leaving the country, to receive monetary compensation in the amount of 12-17% for exported goods.
WHERE TO STAY
Hotels in Ireland for every taste and budget: from 1 * (like hostels) to 5 *. In general, hotels are quite expensive, in service and rooms they always clearly correspond to their star. The overall level of hotels is higher than the average for Europe. Starting from 3 * each room has a hairdryer, TV, kettle. Meals – mostly breakfast. The breakfasts here are hearty with hot. In addition to hotels there are guesthouses and small private pensions, which are cheaper than hotels.
All hotels in the country are registered with the Irish Department of Tourism and are regularly inspected by inspections. Therefore, for a clear correspondence of each of them to the assigned “star” you can vouch.
SEA AND BEACHES
In Ireland, the long wide sandy beaches. A full-fledged beach holiday with swimming – only the weather interferes.
STORY
The first people settled in Ireland during the Mesolithic period, around 8000 BC, when its climate improved after the retreat of the glaciers. Gradually, the pre-Celtic population was assimilated, and its inhabitants from the middle of 1 thousand BC. e. became part of the Celtic population and culture.
In 432, St. Patrick, a native of Brittany, spread Christianity among the Irish. The tranquility that reigned on the island favored the development of scholarship among the monastics. Already in the 6th century, Ireland became the center of Western scholarship, preachers of Christianity on the mainland emerged from its monastic schools; their main source was a monastery on the island of Iona.
This education of the clergy disappeared as soon as the Vikings began to disturb Ireland with their raids, and soon they began to establish settlements on the shores of the island (in particular, Dublin). Only at the beginning of the XI century, the Irish, led by King Brian Bor, defeated the Vikings. Brian Boru died in the decisive battle of Clontarf in 1014.
At the end of the XII century, part of the territory of Ireland was conquered by the British under King Henry II. English barons took over the lands of the Irish clans and introduced English laws and control system. The conquered area was called the outskirts (the pale) and, both in management and in its further development, differed sharply from the still unconquered, so-called Wild Ireland, in which the British constantly sought to make new conquests.
In 1348, the “Black Death” came to Ireland, exterminating almost all Englishmen who lived in cities where mortality was particularly high. After the plague, the power of the English extended no further than Dublin.
During the English Reformation, the Irish remained Catholics, which created a split between the two islands that survived to this day. In 1536, Henry VIII suppressed the revolt of Silk Thomas Fitzgerald, an English protege in Ireland, and decided to re-conquer the island. In 1541, Heinrich proclaimed Ireland a kingdom, and himself – its king.
In 1641, more than 1.5 million people lived in Ireland, and in 1652, after Cromwell’s campaign only 850 thousand remained, of which 150 thousand were English and Scottish new settlers.
In 1689, during the Glorious Revolution, the Irish supported the English King James II, deposed William of Orange, for which he paid again.
In 1801, Ireland became part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Irish began to be supplanted by English.
At the beginning of the XIX century. about 86% of the Irish population was employed in agriculture, which was dominated by bonded forms of exploitation. Ireland served as one of the sources of the accumulation of British capital and the development of industry in England.
Since the mid 40s. XIX century. The agrarian coup began. The fall in the price of bread (after the abolition of the “grain laws” in England in 1846) prompted the landowners to begin an intensive transition from the system of small-scale peasant leases to large-scale pasture farming. The process of sgona small tenants from the land (the so-called cleaning of estates).
The abolition of the “bread laws” and the disease of potatoes, which was the main crop of the land-poor Irish peasants, led to the terrible famine of 1845-1849. As a result of the famine, about 1 million people died.
